All posts by chivacongelado
Dispatch from New York City
Comercial en inglés, comercial en español
Lo interesante de este comercial, estarán de acuerdo conmigo, es que en lugar de utilizar servicios de doblaje simplemente tomaron a la misma persona de su versión en inglés y lo pusieron a hablar español, con resultados aún más cómicos que el comercial original (abajo). Además, estoy seguro que el mismo comercial en español no funcionaría fuera de Estados Unidos porque sonaría demasiado raro a todos aquellos que no están acostumbrados al acento de un angloparlante. Creo que es obvio que para los vendedores de este producto el mercado latino era lo suficientemente importante.
Travelling in NYC
I’m currently in New York on business. Plenty of what passes as insight in this blog will be available as soon as I have time to write. In the meantime, you can see what I see.
Spring sunset sequence
9:58 p.m.
10:17 p.m.
11.37 p.m.
Leaves in the trees
Slowly but surely spring is coming to Finland. It did rain twice over the weekend, and the difference is readily apparent. You can almost see the leaves grow right in front of you.
Mother’s Day
In Finland, mothers are celebrated on the second Sunday of May. In Mexico, the date is fixed on May 10th. Therefore, yesterday was the first in long time when I could celebrate at the same time with my mom and my in-laws.
Other than that, traditions are relatively similar. Family lunch and maybe some gifts or cards for the päivänsankari / homenajeada.
Learn to give presentations
One situation I encounter time and again is people who have great insight but cannot communicate it forward as they haven’t learned to give a presentation. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I’m an expert nor that it is easy to do. However, the ability to give presentations is an absolutely fundamental skill regardless of your profession, and is something that I feel is not stressed enough in Finnish education (I remember one of my teachers in Belgium used to complain about that after having seen many Finnish exchange students), to the detriment of business here (I am yet to count how many times I’ve heard that “We have great ideas but don’t know how to sell them“).
I haven’t tried them (most of what I know about speaking in public I learned in Models United Nations as a teenager), but I understand a good way to improve in this area is to try Toastmasters. They even have a Helsinki chapter.
Maybe people are getting used to “the different”?
Last week something interesting happened. I was walking to the store and in quick succession two unrelated strangers spoke to me in Finnish, like any other person, asking questions about the neighbourhood or directions.
Why is this significant? Because I don’t have the stereotypical Finnish complexion nor facial features and dress in a very particular way (jeans, black jacket and texano cowboy hat this time), so more often than not people will address me in English or refrain to do so.
As said in the title, maybe people around here are getting used to “the different”, as they have in other places like Brussels or Stockholm.
Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican Independence Day
That’s September 16th. I assume it’s celebrated in the United States for two reasons:
- It was a victory over the French and we all know how some sectors of the American public love to hate the French
- General Ignacio Zaragoza, who led the Mexican troops at that battle, was born in what is now Texas when it was still part of Mexico, so its background resounds with Mexican-Americans.
Although it is certainly celebrated in some parts of Mexico, the whole brouhaha they make north of the border as “Mexican heritage day” is as alien to most Mexicans as hard-shelled tacos.