When I first arrived in Spain to live,
I soon encountered an unexpected phenomenon in
public offices and many shops: a disinterest
in customers or clients and a stubborn refusal to admit error, both of
which are clearly dysfunctional to the conduct of daily business. One
of my first sketches for a blog had the headline you see above. But
then I thought, let's cool it. We all have our quirks. And many
foreigners coming to Spain are quite overbearing. I laid that blog on
ice.
Still, these
impressions on my part assumed that those Spanish habits were only
directed at foreigners. Later I realized I was wrong. The
post-election circus of January-February surrounding the formation of
a new national government is revealing of just these tendencies. The
insistence on being right and holding their own line is not just a
way of facing foreigners; it is how Spaniards treat each other, at
least in public affairs.
Two words in Spanish
may illustrate. First, equivocarse, "being wrong". Spanish is a
language kind to people in the wrong. It assumes that a person who
acts contrary to rules or logic is not wrong, he or she only mistakes
one thing for another, or does something poorly, or misunderstands.
To be wrong in a more direct sense is not part of the picture. If a
Spaniard acts contrary to rules or logic, it is not because he fails
to grasp, to understand things, or because he intentionally breaks
the rules. Doing so would assume he is
either stupid or criminal. The prevalence of this
kind of attitude smooths relations at all social levels, at least for
those who understand what's going on. It may also serve to hide the
truth from others, who don't really get it.
Not surprisingly, therefore, there is
no direct translation. The Spanish word for
being wrong is «equivocarse», quite close
to the English word equivocate. You
know what that word means in English;
it signals ambiguity, to speak with double meaning. In French it
connotes uncertainty, dubiousness, misunderstanding. In
the Spanish language «equivocarse»
is the nearest one can come to saying someone is in error. In my
Spanish-Spanish Diccionario de Bolsillo the verb «errar» (Eng.: to
err) is defined as «equivocarse». But there
can be no doubt the etymology is about "two or more equal
calls", two voices, two meanings. Nothing about error.
What is the broader significance of
this? It shows a cultural reluctance to admit error,
to refuse to take the bull by the
horns (sic!), or to confront error with a correction. Errors are not
really errors, just mishaps. Corruption is not really corruption, it
is rather just something that oils the machinery of public affairs.
Nothing wrong with that, is there? In general the soft tone of
equivocarse
may be irritating, or sometimes even charming. Nevertheless, in
public administration and politics it can cause complications.
Next word:
«compromiso».
Unless you know the language you might think it means compromise, but
in a timely article in El Pais, John Carlin points out that the idea
of arriving at agreement by making mutual concessions is foreign to
Spanish political culture. The word compromise evidently has no
direct translation into Spanish.
(See "Una
palabra elemental que no existe en español", El Pais, January18, 2016.).
Now, clearly there
are other expressions in Spanish that convey that meaning, for
example "transigir"
(to make concessions). That goes as well for being wrong,
"equivocarse".
My point is, though, that compromise and equivocate are words
familiar in the political discourse of other European languages, but
their meaning in Spanish is shifted to something else. The underlying
tendency in their Spanish sense is to avoid losing face if you fail.
Barring that, stick to your guns and press others to concede.
This tendency of inflexibility is
reflected in the actions of the major party leaders in Spanish
politics after the elections of December 20. They stick to their "red
lines" (irrevocable positions) despite knowing well that nobody
else will accept them. With open eyes, and the deadline fast approaching for
deciding on new elections, they are heading for the precipice. New
elections. As if that will save them.
