Send LALA quotable comments about language from recent media clips.
"Veía los canales en inglés pero estaba desesperada porque casi no les entendía. Como a las siete de la tarde los policías—uno hablaba español—llegaron a mi apartamento para decirme que tenía que irme porque corría peligro."
"I watched the English channels but it was hopeless because I can hardly understand it. At 7:00 p.m., the police came and one spoke Spanish, telling me to leave my apartment because of the approaching danger."
— Noemí Orozco of Ramona, Calif., in an article about inadequate Spanish-language television coverage of the wildfires affecting the region, quoted in San Diego's Enlace on Oct. 22, 2007. The translation appeared Oct. 24 in New America Media.
"When these people begin the transition from Spanish to English we lose them. No more."
— Emilio Azcárraga, CEO of Mexico's Grupo Televisa, commenting on U.S. Latino viewers and a deal with Lions Gate Entertainment to co-produce films and English-language versions of Spanish-language television shows, quoted in Daily Variety on Oct. 10, 2007.
"La droga," Medina Albarrán said. That's Spanish for "drug"—Mexican slang for a crippling debt. The people of West Camile Street, she said, are "endrogados"—hooked on debt.
— Angelita Medina Albarrán of Santa Ana, Calif., discussing working class Spanish speakers who have been targeted by subprime lenders in the past few years. The sentence is taken from the Orange County Register of August 12, 2007.
Send your own Quotables, with sources and dates, to lalamag@international.ucla.edu