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saffron
10th October 2010, 09:28 PM
Yes I know i should write this in Spanish and place it in another place.

I have found the coverage of this incident on the BBC fascinating, particularly in the last 48 hours and wondered what coverage it is receiving in the USA and Spain. I read el País sometimes and know they have covered it well. In the UK the BBC has 24 hour news and I have read they sent 75 staff to the mine - more to follow. Tim Willcox has been reporting from there for nearly 3 weeks.

The interesting thing for me is, as the news has intensified, they are showing many of the interviews in Spanish particularly as Tim Willcox has a degree in Spanish and is doing his own translating. The more usual way is to fade out the Spanish and have the translation as a voice over - very annoying. On Spanish/ USA TV do they sub title or drown out?

I now know words for hammer, drill, squashed and rejoicing but can get by without them.

I have been impressed by the excellent English of many of the chilean politicians - not just their comprehension and vocabulary, but their accents. Apart from Nick Clegg most English politicians are very poor at other languages.

Lets hope there is a happy outcome, though the mine is unlikely to reopen and the poor locals are likely to become even poorer.

Uriel
10th October 2010, 11:39 PM
American TV does the same thing -- they let you start in your language, and then drown it out with a voiceover. I guess it's only annoying when it's Spanish and I'm trying to listen -- I find I don't mind it at all when they drown out Polish or Swahili.;)

I tend to read the BBC news online, so I couldn't tell you what US coverage has been looking like lately on this matter, but I do notice that what's headline news for the BBC can be minor or unknown in the NY Times, and vice-versa. Looks like today, however, the story leads the World section of the NYT, and is also a headliner in El Diario's international section (although that's Mexican, not Spanish).

Stephen
11th October 2010, 10:08 AM
The Daily Mail says 25 BBC staff have been sent to Chile. If it was more the DM would say because they love to bash the BBC.

Does anyone else think much of what is going on now is a PR job for Chile? All this touch-feely stuff getting in psychologists, nutrionists, and people from NASA even. And yet there is very little mine safety legislation in Chile. Usually miners just die in these accidents in Chile and nobody apart from the families gives a toss.

saffron
11th October 2010, 01:38 PM
Mm not sure where I got the figure for staff from - I dont have any inside info. General tone is they have a lot of staff there.
Chile is managing the incident to give the country/ government best PR. Clearly there must be major concerns about working conditions in the continent particularly the copper mines. Perhaps the international media will not immediately pack up and go and may seek to influence the safety, but mines tend to be in isolated areas where the locals are extremely poor. If it had been a couple trapped or even if sadly the men concerned had all died there would have been little or no news as per mine incidents in China and Russia.