Cfk And The Argentine Street

[scotttswan]

if you want a laugh check out the so called journalist "Martín Gambarotta" latest rambling mess of an opinion piece.

http://www.buenosair...he-‘8n’-bashing

I thought the BA Herald was supposed to be an English paper. I wonder if Martin is also writing the "google translate" news pieces too!

 

[sergio]

if you want a laugh check out the so called journalist "Martín Gambarotta" latest rambling mess of an opinion piece.

http://www.buenosair...he-‘8n’-bashing

I thought the BA Herald was supposed to be an English paper. I wonder if Martin is also writing the "google translate" news pieces too!

What's wrong with this article? It's a bit rambling but not badly written. Gambarrotta writes an excellent, highly informative weekly analysis of the news. Readers can learn a lot from his column. The Herald is an English-language paper but not an English paper. It started out as an English expatriate paper or "Anglo-Argentine" paper, apparently focusing on maritime issues many years ago. Until a couple of years ago it was owned by a company in South Carolina. Now there are local owners.

 

[scotttswan]

What's wrong with this article? It's a bit rambling but not badly written. Gambarrotta writes an excellent, highly informative weekly analysis of the news. Readers can learn a lot from his column. The Herald is an English-language paper but not an English paper. It started out as an English expatriate paper or "Anglo-Argentine" paper, apparently focusing on maritime issues many years ago. Until a couple of years ago it was owned by a company in South Carolina. Now there are local owners.

Did you a actually read it? It is all over the place, incredibly hard to follow and full of errors.

His grasp of English is not great.

 

[sergio]

I read it and have read his column for a few years. I did not see all the errors you speak of. Could you point them out? Yes, the style is rambling. Neilsen can be that way too. I believe most of the Herald's writers, even the proud Anglo-Argentines, think in Spanish. Despite the rambling nature of the article, I got something out of it. I always find Gamarrotta's columns informative. He writes a weekly analysis of the news so he HAS to cover a lot. The purpose is not to stick to one topic but to analyze the major events of the week. The Herald has a limited budget and there is not a big pool of knowledgeable, bilingual people around who can write in English on Argentine politics and economics. Someone who has lived all his life in Argentina is likely to have a different perspective from a young person out from England or the US for a couple of years and I personally am interested in that. Gambarrotta's writing is a lot better than I see from many official translators and better than some emails I have seen from the US embassy. A recent US embassy notice referred to the last demonstration as a "manifestation"!

 

[sleslie23]

I read it and have read his column for a few years. I did not see all the errors you speak of. Could you point them out? Yes, the style is rambling. Neilsen can be that way too. I believe most of the Herald's writers, even the proud Anglo-Argentines, think in Spanish. Despite the rambling nature of the article, I got something out of it. I always find Gamarrotta's columns informative. He writes a weekly analysis of the news so he HAS to cover a lot. The purpose is not to stick to one topic but to analyze the major events of the week. The Herald has a limited budget and there is not a big pool of knowledgeable, bilingual people around who can write in English on Argentine politics and economics. Someone who has lived all his life in Argentina is likely to have a different perspective from a young person out from England or the US for a couple of years and I personally am interested in that. Gambarrotta's writing is a lot better than I see from many official translators and better than some emails I have seen from the US embassy. A recent US embassy notice referred to the last demonstration as a "manifestation"!

One of the meanings of manifestation in English is: "A collective action (e.g. a procession, public meeting, wearing of badges, etc.) adopted by a political party, etc., for the sake of calling attention to its views."

This article wasn't too bad, but in general the Buenos Aires Herald is unreadable. It's full of horrible errors that first year English students shouldn't even be making. One example: an article a few weeks back referred to CFK as "him."

I understand they don't have a large budget, but they really need to hire an editor and stop using Google Translate.

 

[sergio]

The definition of "manifestation" that you cite is a secondary one not understood by most native speakers of English. This sort of usage is common among people who speak English as a second language. The US embassy hires a lot of Argentines to do their work and I suspect this is an example.

Glad you have concluded that Gambarrotta's article is not so bad after all. I really find him a very informative journalist. Agreed that the Herald needs more editing. Unfortunately they are the only English language daily.

 

[scotttswan]

Glad you have concluded that Gambarrotta's article is not so bad after all. I really find him a very informative journalist. Agreed that the Herald needs more editing. Unfortunately they are the only English language daily.

I'm afraid not, his clumsy rambling writing style hurts my head.

Surely you still remember the massive anti-government protest of November 8? Well now everything that comes after it will be judged in the light of that show of saucepan-bashing, flag-waving and placard -brandishing against the administration of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. The bashers of saucepans are also the bashers of the government. If you ask them, the protest will have huge gravitation on events to come all the way up to the midterm elections, scheduled for October of next year. Events can still prove the demonstrators wrong; time often alters things. But the protest, the massive turnout at the Obelisk in Buenos Aires, is still fresh in the minds of everybody.

:blink:

 

[sergio]

You have to read it carefully, probably twice. After many years in Argentina I am quite used to fractured English so it doesn't bother me as much as it does you -- and this piece is not fractured! Actually Neilsen can be more difficult to read. As for the passage above, it is actually perfectly grammatical. He uses a semi-colon after "wrong", separating two independent clauses. I fail to see any grammatical or punctuation mistakes. "Gravitation" sounds like Spanglish but I think we know what he means. By Herald standards Gambarrotta is a good writer. I am assuming that he doesn't have any Anglo-Argentine background though I could be wrong. Spanish, as you know, tends to be more florid and wordy than English. The comma is used rather extensively in Argentina. No doubt Gambarrotta is influenced by the language that he uses most frequently. In the end I appreciate his pieces no matter the stylistic challenges occasionally imposed on his readers.

 

[scotttswan]

You have to read it carefully, probably twice.

Because he is a terrible writer.

http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/117327/middle-east-and-the-fiscal-cliff

Patricio Navia here writes in a clearer way, maybe he could give Gambarrotta some lessons.

 

[sergio]

"Moreover, since the next electoral cycle has already began — with Vice-President Joe Biden and Secretary-of-State Hillary Clinton as the early favourites — Obama will gradually start to lose influence as his allies begin to take sides in what will certainly be a tough battle for the control of the Democratic Party."

This is your idea of good writing? Last I heard the past participle of "began" is "begun"!

Why don't we just agree that the Herald in general needs to improve its writing!