The 'battleship box' and other pearls from the material list of a school in Palma
The 25-page document for Primary families mixes expressions in Catalan with incorrect translations and sentences that do not make sense
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PalmaA school in Palma, located in Son Espanyolet, has sent the list of school supplies for the 2026-2027 academic year to primary school families with numerous errors in the Spanish version. It resembles, setting aside the distances and the scope of the problem, that legendary 2013 Trepitja report, but in reverse. The 25-page document includes expressions such as 'battleship box', 'handlebar handle' and 'bag to carry spare clothes from the USA', which obviously do not correspond to the material requested from the students.
![A detail of the same section of both documents: the first, in Spanish, and the second, in Catalan.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1244 289"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The errors appear mainly in the school supply lists from third to sixth grade of Primary School, with incorrect translations, words that remain in Catalan, and expressions that seem to derive from a deficient review of the document. This is the case of 'capsa de clips' (box of paper clips) and 'Post-It grossos' (large Post-its), which coexist with other indications in Spanish.
Among the most striking expressions are 'Puedes temperas Jovi de diferentes colores', a phrase that changes the noun 'pot' for the verb 'poder' (to be able to), and 'Ferratinas blancas de tamaño folio' (white folders of folio size), which appears in the third and fourth grade list. One can also read 'Mango de barra gros' and 'Pega de barra grande', two different versions to refer to the same type of material.
![Another example of the two documents compared.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1465 129"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The document also asks for a 'handlebar grip' from fifth and sixth-grade students, while the sixth-grade list includes 'Brushes of various sizes and piece, t-shirt or smock, plastic bowl', an enumeration that is, to say the least, curious. Furthermore, the instruction 'bag to carry spare clothes from the USA' is a mistranslation of the Catalan 'bossa per portar roba de recanvi de l'EF' (bag to carry spare clothes for PE), where the translator confused 'EF' (Educació Física) with 'EE.UU.' (USA).
The errors are not limited to a single sentence, but are repeated in the lists for several courses. For example, 'You can Jovi tempera paints of different colors', 'Box of clips' and 'Large Post-Its' appear in more than one course.
