Even as The Gay Translator, Gay Spanish for Love + Hookups, and the other GayBabel phrasebooks continue to rack up sales in North America, we’re also catching on in Europe, where in addition to the books we sell on this side of the pond we’ve also come out with local editions in French (Le Dico Gay), German (Der Schwule Übersetzer), and Spanish (El Traductor Gay), with the Italian Il Traduttore Gay on the way.

Furthermore, one of France’s top gay magazines, Têtu, has just given our French-English phrasebook, L’Anglais Pour les Gays, a rave in its April 2008 travel issue. Check it out:

“Thanks to the pioneering L’Anglais pour les gays from the editors at BabelCom, there’s no more need to comb through hundreds of porn flicks to find the line that kills. For example, you’ll have a lot better chance of getting a hot session going with your brand-new partner if you can throw out a ‘You’re wild in bed!’ instead of translating ‘You’re a good shot!’ literally from French. This phrasebook’s a hoot yet also useful: consider the ‘Cockulator,’ which at a glance lets you figure out when your hottie torridly proclaims an 8½-inch cock that’s he’s packing 22 centimeters – which should definitely do the trick! Plus, ‘threeway’ isn’t exactly something you’ll find in Webster’s dictionary! This phrasebook has plenty of other pluses besides letting you put together a porn actor script with your New Zealand boyfriend. It’s got everything you could ever need for the urban gay lifestyle: shopping, Internet, sports, clubbing…”

–Dominique Chaudey

(And if you want to take a crack at practicing your French, see the original below)

The Europeans are proving more enthusiastic about our books than anyone, since many of them travel abroad far more than people in the U.S. and Canada. So if you make it across the pond this summer – to Prague, Paris, Ibiza, Mykonos, Rome, Berlin, wherever – who knows, you may just meet someone toting The Gay Translator.

Happy homo trails…!

Yours truly,
Dave

Grâce à L’Anglais pour les gays, pionnier du genre des éditions BabelCom, plus besoin de se farcir des centaines de films porno pour connaître la réplique qui tue: par example, vous aurez davantage de chances de renouveler un plan cul si vous lancez un «you’re wild in bed…» à votre tout nouveau partneaire que si vous lui assener un littéral «you’re a good shot!» Ce dictionnaire est drôle mais aussi fonctionnel. Pour preuve son «bitomètre», ou «cockulator, » qui permet d’un coup d’œil de vérifier pourquoi une bombasse annonce fiérement une bite de 8,6 (inches): 22 centimètres, ça le fait quand même! Et dans quel dictionnaire pourra-t-on trouber la traduction de «are you into threeways?» Le plan à trois, ce n’est pas très Harrap’s! Ces deux lexiques ont de nombreux avantages outre le fait de pouvoir jouer à l’acteur porno dans le texte avec votre amoureux néozélandais. On y trouve tout ce qui touche de près ou de loin au mode de vie du pédé urbain: shopping, Internet, sport, clubbing…

One of the world’s hottest homo hotspots right now, the capital of Argentina famously invented the original dirty dancing – the sexy, sultry tango – and in the beginning it was in fact commonly danced by men only in the city’s whorehouses. Well, dude-on-dude tangoing has made a comeback – in a slightly different context, see below – and its graceful moves and smoldering looks do a pretty good job of summing up the appeal of Buenos Aires.

I admit, over the years I’ve met lots of porteños (as B.A. residents are called), and used to find them pretty insufferable – a view shared throughout Latin America. They were forever burbling on about how Buenos Aires is so fabulous and “muy europeo!” Few other Latins have been seen as so smug and self-congratulatory – though, for sure, the economic collapse that hit in 2001 did take ’em down a few notches.

When I finally made it down to this city of 10 million, I found that compared to most other Latin American capitals, they do have a point: B.A. is indeed plenty happening and sophisticated, with a look and feel that reminded me sometimes of Paris, sometimes Barcelona, sometimes Milan. There is lots of cool stuff to see and do, shopping bargains galore, and world-class restaurants and nightlife. Gay nightlife, in particular (and daylife, for that matter) is second to none in Latin America – well, maybe with the arguable exception of Mexico City. And the men? Some of the hunkiest in the hemisphere – a mix of Italian, Spanish, and other Europeans with others with a look that’s more mestizo (mixed Euro-Indian).

One key sign of how big gay tourism’s gotten is the October ’07 opening of the first offshoot of Barcelona’s fancy-schmancy “hetero-friendly” Axel Hotel (Calle Venezuela 649, 011.54.11/4136.9393), a chic, sleek 48-roomer on an edgy edge of the quaint, somewhat boho San Telmo neighborhood. Rates starts at US$174 a night for a single person, but if you can’t drop this kind of dough, don’t worry. Just stop off at the Axel for a drink at the stylish bar or tote your swimsuit to the weekly Sunday tea dance/pool party, and look elsewhere for a better deal on a good (and even stylish) night’s sleep – not at all a stretch, thanks to the lingering effects of the abovementioned economic crisis. Other gay options include B&B’s like the half-dozen-room Bayres (Avenida Córdoba, 4772. 3877; $35-75) in hip Palermo Viejo, Big House (Calle Bolívar 920, 4362.0701; from $25 single, $50 double), with five rooms in San Telmo; Calden Guest House Boutique (Calle Reconquista 755, 4893.1060; $55-$90), smack in downtown’s “Microcenter” behind the Belle Époque Galerias Pacífico mall; Casa Bloody Mary (Pasaje Volta 1867, 4777.7106; singles from $35, doubles from $80), a spiffy five-room Tudor manse in the trendy Las Cañitas nabe; Lugar Gay (Calle Defensa 1120, 4300.4757; $25-$65), an eight-roomer in a historic San Telmo building; and the five-room Palermo Viejo B&B (Calle Coronel Niceto Vega 3629, 011 4857 9131; $30-$50). Another good option for maximum privacy is to rent an apartment, and gay-oriented Friendly Apartments (in U.S., 619. 841.0054) rents out a swell and central selection of 120 ($80-$120).

You can easily keep yourself busy for a week or more here, cruising the shops (etc.) of downtown’s big pedestrian boulevard, Calle Florida and Calle Lavalle; taking in some of the 130 museums (yes, including an Evita Perón museum); the splendid Recoleta Cemetery; the museum/tour of President Cristina’s house, the Casa Rosada; the grand Colón Theater; the slightly touristy but still soulful tango vibe of the La Boca neighborhood; and San Telmo’s cafés, cobblestone streets, and street market. Daytrips include cowboys and ranches of the pampas, the Mendoza wine routes, and a ferry across the river to Uruguay (its hopping capital Montevideo, its chic beach resort Punta del Este, or its lovely UNESCO World Heritage town of La Colonia del Sacramento); if you can spend more time, the ecotourism glories of Patagonia are a don’t-miss and the gargantuan Iguazú Falls are spectacular.

But after the sun goes down and you’ve had your disco siesta, it’s time to fiesta. Most nightspots are located in Palermo and Barrio Norte (a subsection of Recoleta), on Avenida Santa Fe between Callao and Pueryrredón. For a tasty dinner, head to Chueca (Calle Soler 3283, 4963.3430), a hip gay eatery in Palermo with a cute clientele and entertainment that’s alternately hilarious and sexy, or the slightly older-trending Inside (Calle Bartolomé Mitre 1572, 4372-5439). Faves for postprandial drinking/hanging include Barrio Norte’s trendy Bulnes Class (Calle Bulnes 1250, 4861.7492), followed by dancing/shenanigans till the wee hours at the gay-heavy but more mixed megaclub Amerika (Calle Gascón 1040, Almagro, 4865.4416); there’s loads more – even gay tango spots like La Marshall (Calle Maipú 444, 4912.9043). And to get down to “business” more directly, there’s always sex clubs such as Full (Calle Viamonte 1770, 4371.7263) and Unikus (Calle Pueyrredón 1180, 4961.7792).

More info: Argentina Government Tourist Office reachable by phone in North America at 305/442-1366 and 212/603-0443; and the city tourism web site. Gay-specific sites include TheGayGuide.com, which BTW also runs gay-oriented sightseeing and nightlife tours, and GayBA.com.

C’mon down and you’ll see it’s true: ¡la vida es un tango, che! And of course don’t forget your Gay Spanish for Love + Hookups or Gay Translator…

yours truly,

Dave

How about a sultry Latin fate-tempter from Xavier B. of Halifax, Nova Scotia?

I love Latin America, and especially Cuba. I first visited in 2000, and have been back many times since — in spite of its awful dictatorship it’s one of the coolest countries I’ve ever visited, and Havana may be falling apart but beauty-wise it’s really up there with Paris, Buenos Aires, Prague, and cities like those. And the people are not only mostly friendly (including to Americans) in spite of their hardships, many of them are absolutely fucking gorgeous. On this first trip, I was on a tour bus heading toward Viñales and Pinar del Río, the tobacco-growing western part of the island, when it made a pit stop at a thatched-roof roadside restaurant, where, naturally, a band was cranking out Buena Vista Social Club-type tunes. As I walked back to the bus from the bar, I passed a tall, well-built guy who reminded me of Antonio Banderas except even more handsome, and we both turned around to eye each other. He went around the side of the restaurant and I followed. I had to get back on my bus, but we said hi — his English was good, turned out he was a Havanatur guide — and he gave me his cell number.

That night, back in the Hotel Nacional, I called Eloy and we made a date to meet in Old Havana for a mojito at La Bodeguita del Medio, the bar where Hemingway used to booze it up (terrible touristy, I know, so shoot me). We hit it off really well, and strolled the cobblestone streets for an hour, then decided to head to El Morro, the big old stone fort at the harbor entrance, since I hadn’t been out there yet. I really wanted to go somewhere and rip his clothes off, he was so hot — but I also wanted to see the sights, and he was really into showing me around. So we took one of those old taxis out — it was a ’56 Packard in pretty damn good condition. It was a warm, sunny day and there were very few other people around. We roamed the ramparts, the courtyards, the barracks, took in some of the exhibits, and then at one point we found ourselves heading deep into the fortress through a chilly passageway that ended in a deserted dead end.

As we turned to head back up, we caught each other’s eye and I don’t know, something clicked, and when we brushed against each other, we just went for it — just started making out, and before you knew it we had our pants down and were jacking and sucking each other passionately. It was incredibly hot, maybe partly because it was incredibly dangerous — I can’t even imagine what the penalty for desecrating a national monument by having sex in it would be in a place like Communist Cuba. But before too long I think we came to our senses and put our pingas away before we got caught. Fortunately, we were able to have a proper follow-up the next night at the apartment of a friend of Eloy’s. And I realize how amazingly stupid taking a chance like that was. But I don’t think I’ll ever forget that historic humjob in one of the Americas’ oldest buildings.

In this forum, we’d like to hear about your hottest, most memorable, funniest, most romantic, or otherwise superlative date, instance of falling in love, or just good ol’ sex, with someone(s) from another culture—either abroad or in your home country.

Ever stayed in a “gay hotel” where the experience for one reason or another turned out to be less than fab? I’ll name no names, but it’s happened to me more than a couple of times. Let’s face it: for a long time, there was less competition, so gay innkeepers didn’t have to be good — it was enough to be gay, and so over the years, fags and dykes have put up with some pretty mediocre (sometimes downright dodgy) service and surroundings just for the privilege of “staying gay.”

That’s been changing, of course, but there’s still a lot of chaff among the wheat out there. Enter Pedro Castro, a tourism-industry pro – from Portugal, now based in Zurich – who has just launched the world’s first gay lodging brand. Starting with 30 small properties in 15 countries, Pedro’s Attitude Hotels’ seal of approval aims to guarantee travelin’ queers an experience that goes beyond merely gay to offer solid quality and value.

Come to think of it, scrap that “Leading Hotels of the World” comparison: Attitude does it better. Rather than handling only fancy-schmancy, stratospherically priced properties, it actually includes three categories, from pricey and upscale to good-quality budget digs, and you can examine and reserve all of them directly from the web site. Check out the list below, and for more details, log on to Attitude Hotels (the picture above, by the way, is of the Masia Casanova, near Spain’s gay-popular resort town of Sitges, just south of Barcelona).

And what’s all that got to do with us? Well, in the interest of helping guests put the beds in their lovely rooms to good use, Attitude and GayBabel have teamed up to publish a special Attitude Hotels edition of our seven-language Gay Translator, which obviously tickled Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit (below) at Berlin’s recent ITB travel show, when Pedro presented the openly gay pol with his very own copy. Is that like cool, or what?

Anyway, here’s the list of Attitude Hotels properties so far:

Austria Haus Romeo in Scheffau am Wilden Kaiser, the Alps

Belgium Maison Noble in Brussels

Britain MyHotel Bloombury and MyHotel Chelsea in London, Legends Hotel in Brighton

Czech Republic Nouvum Garden in Prague

France Hi Hotel in Nice, Domaine de la Millaserie in the Dordogne, Hotel Abbaye and Hôtel des Deux Amis on the French Riviera, Domaine Les Roullets in Provence

Germany Hotel Königshof in Hamburg, Stars Guesthouse and Tom’s Hotel in Berlin

Hungary Connection Guesthouse, Budapest

Italy La Residenza del Moro in Florence, Albergo Pietrasanta in Tuscany

Malta Adams Guesthouse in St. Julians

The Netherlands NL-Hotel in Amsterdam

Portugal My Rainbow Rooms and Palacete Chafariz d’El Rei in Lisbon. Casa Charneca and Casa Marhaba in the Algarve

Spain Liberty Hotel and La Masia Casanova in Sitges

Sweden Berns Hotel in Stockholm

Switzerland Design Hotel Plattenhof in Zurich. La Grande Maison de Chandolin in Valais, the Alps

United States Royal Palms and Flamingo Inn in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Pretty cool selection, eh? Stay tuned – they’re expecting to quadruple this within a year! Book one of them on your next trip, and tell ‘em we sent you!

Yours truly,

Dave