Perhaps surprisingly for a European capital city with such a thriving tourist industry, English is seldom available in museums or on information panels around the city. That said, some establishments are clearly making an effort to change this, and are adding English translations. This tendency has only just begun to develop and is understandably experiencing some teething troubles. This in turn provides a constant source of entertainment to smug Anglophones such as yours truly. I call to witness the Museum of El Escorial where, for instance, you can read all about “the Navel battles of the Armada” and marvel at “Goya’s Cartoons”. Particularly amusing, a mythical Arabian phantom described somewhat flatteringly as a “Genius”.
Sometimes translation zeal goes a little too far, as in the case of the amusingly re-titled “Don John of Austria”. There are many more I fail to remember, but The Museum of Archeology provided my particular favourite: a life-size statue of an anonymous roman figure in customary roman robes was described by the adjective togado in Spanish, meaning “wearing a toga”. The translators were evidently having none of that, and valiantly translated it as “Togated”.
