Definitely NOT self-conscious

A couple of years ago I had the misfortune to sit next to a very snooty journalist from Madrid at dinner. She spent most of the meal revelling in her own self importance, but she did tell me something that I found interesting and this was that the Spanish do not have a direct equivalent for the term ‘self-conscious’. She may well have been pulling my leg, but when watching Spaniards about their everyday business it does seem to make sense. They really do not seem to ever be stilted or self-aware. From the stalls in the market to the dining halls, where families indulge in long lunches in the middle of a weekday, there is an intoxicating conviviality that is not lost in translation.