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Cat Forum / Cat Anecdotes / April 2004Encounters of the Italian kind
Jody... bless his little heart, had to travel to Milan yesterday on a business trip. He'll be there a full six days. No, he's not going to have time to tour, that would have put him over for two weeks instead of just the one. It's all business. But, that's another story. This one is about a small encounter with a hotel receptionist. *Insert beautifully spoken Italian greeting and hotel name* Gracie: Umm.. (remembering DH's warning they speak no English) Room *grimace* 203 please. (hoping they speak at least a tiny bit) Hotel Desk... Er... Sorry, no English.. *Insert rapid fire Italian* Gracie: Oh boy... *deep sigh and clearly speaking* 2.... Zero.... Three Hotel desk: 2... Si! Zero Si!! Three.. No no. Gracie: *rubbing forehead* AHA!! IGS. (the name of the company that reserved the room and the people Jody's meeting) Hotel Desk: OH! IGS! SI SI!! ... ONeal Gracie: YES! YES! ONEAL!!! Hotel Desk: Quel (I'm assuming it's Quel, it sounded like "K") Tardi. (more rapid fire Italian) Momento. "K" Tardi Gracie: (a hesitant) ok. Hotel Desk: ok *click* Two hours later, the same conversation ensues. (it's roughly 9pm Milan time. Approximately an hour after the end of *that* phone call, I'm in possession of an Italian to English dictionary armed with very rudimentary words for "wife", "please", "may I speak"... From what I translated, I believe he told me it was late, my husband was jet lagged and was asleep at the moment. Honestly, it was very considerate. But I'll kill 'em (the spouse, not the front desk) if he put a block on his phone calls. Wish me luck ;) I'll try again tomorrow morning. Grace who really believes we need to take a page from the Europeans and learn more than English. French and Spanish, and maybe a bit of German will get you very far in this world when you least expect it. > Jody... bless his little heart, had to travel to Milan yesterday on a > business trip. He'll be there a full six days. No, he's not going to [quoted text clipped - 44 lines] > more than English. French and Spanish, and maybe a bit of German will > get you very far in this world when you least expect it. Good luck, Grace. Next time, make him take a laptop or buy one when he gets there. ------ Krista > Gracie: Umm.. (remembering DH's warning they speak no English) Room > *grimace* 203 please. (hoping they speak at least a tiny bit) Try this: Stanza duecento (doo-eh-chen-toh) e tre per favore (fah-voh-re)  SignatureVictor Martinez Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM) Send your spam here: uce@ftc.gov Email me here: pistorLITTER@BOXaustin.rr.com >Try this: Stanza duecento (doo-eh-chen-toh) e tre per favore (fah-voh-re) Or this Buongiorno (Hello) Mi potrebbe passare (Could you put me through to) numero della camera (room number) duecento e tre (203) per favore (please). Also Lei parla inglese? (Do you speak English?) C'e qualcuno che parla ingelese? (Is there anyone who speaks English? Non capisco (I don't understand) Cheers, helen s --This is an invalid email address to avoid spam-- to get correct one remove fame & fortune h*$el*$$e*nd**$o$ts**i*$*$m*m$o*n*s@$*a$o*l.c**$om$ --Due to financial crisis the light at the end of the tunnel is switched off-- Thank you thank you!! I probably won't try again. I'll just let Jody call me but if I need him badly enough, I can always use this and tack on the italian version of "emergency, please call wife" to it :) Think I could get a couple more phrases translated please? Child is injured Wife is in jail Dad (his) needs you I love this group :) Grace > >Try this: Stanza duecento (doo-eh-chen-toh) e tre per favore (fah-voh-re) > [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > > --Due to financial crisis the light at the end of the tunnel is switched off-- > Think I could get a couple more phrases translated please? Sure, just use babel.altavista.com > Child is injured Il bambino è ferito. > Wife is in jail La moglie è in prigione. > Dad (his) needs you Il padre li ha bisogno.. Try >Child is injured il bambino è ferito >Wife is in jail La moglie è in prigione >Dad (his) needs you Il suo padre lo ha bisogno di (His father needs him) >I love this group :) I love Babelfish for this one ;-) Cheers, helen s --This is an invalid email address to avoid spam-- to get correct one remove fame & fortune h*$el*$$e*nd**$o$ts**i*$*$m*m$o*n*s@$*a$o*l.c**$om$ --Due to financial crisis the light at the end of the tunnel is switched off-- Guess what I found via Babelfish??? "Maggio le pulci di mille cammelli infestano il vostro armpit" :-D Always useful to have a good curse :-Þ Cheers, helen s --This is an invalid email address to avoid spam-- to get correct one remove fame & fortune h*$el*$$e*nd**$o$ts**i*$*$m*m$o*n*s@$*a$o*l.c**$om$ --Due to financial crisis the light at the end of the tunnel is switched off-- > "Maggio le pulci di mille cammelli infestano il vostro armpit" Hehehehe... though probably armpit does not translate quite as straightforward... :) SignatureVictor Martinez Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM) Send your spam here: uce@ftc.gov Email me here: pistorLITTER@BOXaustin.rr.com "GraceCat" <gracecat@bellsouth.net> had some very interesting things to say about Re: Encounters of the Italian kind: >Thank you thank you!! >I probably won't try again. I'll just let Jody call me but if I need him >badly enough, I can always use this and tack on the italian version of >"emergency, please call wife" to it :) >Think I could get a couple more phrases translated please? Try www.worldlingo.com . I'm told it does better translations than Babelfish does. :-) Signature"Don't mess with major appliances unless you know what you are doing (or unless your life insurance policy is up-to-date)." - John, RCFL *cries* I've never went this long since I've known him without talking to my husband. It's been over 24 hours, might be small potatoes to some but *wails* they keep hanging up on me. I've tried and tried and tried and nobody there speaks english and I'm apparently butchering this little bit of italian. Now they flat hang up on me when I call. Dad says how would I like it if I get a phone call of someone speaking chinese or something... *sniffs* I'm frustrated but I understand there's a language barrier there too. And I think they understand I want to speak to someone named Oneal there but then I get this rapid fire something and hell.. I don't know.. I'm throwing a pity party. Grace > >Try this: Stanza duecento (doo-eh-chen-toh) e tre per favore (fah-voh-re) > [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > > --Due to financial crisis the light at the end of the tunnel is switched off-- > *cries* > I've never went this long since I've known him without talking to my [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > I'm throwing a pity party. > Grace {{{Grace}}} You might check around and see if there is someone who speaks Italian in your area. Maybe a friend of a friend, maybe a teacher at a high school/community college/college/whatever, maybe a translating service. If you find someone there, they could try to handle talking to the hotel operator - or at least find out what the problem is. I hope that it's just a simple mis-communication. - Denise I've tried that Denise... Well, I haven't tried the translating service... hmmmm.... gonna have to check that one out ;) Grace > > *cries* > > I've never went this long since I've known him without talking to my [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > > - Denise >I've tried that Denise... Well, I haven't tried the translating >service... hmmmm.... gonna have to check that one out ;) > >Grace Is there a fax number for the hotel? If you don't have one - try Googling the hotel & chances are it's mentioned *somewhere* on the Net - then you can fax your nearest & dearest about the problem (tactfully, in case there is someone who reads English at the hotel...) --This is an invalid email address to avoid spam-- to get correct one remove fame & fortune h*$el*$$e*nd**$o$ts**i*$*$m*m$o*n*s@$*a$o*l.c**$om$ --Due to financial crisis the light at the end of the tunnel is switched off-- > *cries* > I've never went this long since I've known him without talking to my [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > I'm throwing a pity party. > Grace Purrs on the way for you Grace. Can't imagine not talking to Ramona while she's away. Here's hoping Jody will feel your "where are you" vibes and call you soonest! Sam Reminds me of the time my Mexican business partner and I had just bought a truck and were discussing where to sell it. Chuy was an intelligent, urbane older gentleman who spoke no English. Keep in mind we were in Corpus Christi, Texas, at the time, where 3/4 of the population speaks Spanish. He decided to call a friend in a small village in Northern Mexico to see if he wanted it. To reach him, one had to go through two operators, one on each end. I remember the friend's phone number was fourteen. Anyway, he picked up the phone, dialed the operator, and soon said, "Quiero comunicar con Poblado Anahuac, Tamaulipas." Pause. Again, "Quiero comunicar con Poblado Anahuac, Tamaulipas." Then he handed the phone to me. An operator was shouting in a very angry voice, "English! Does anyone there speak English?" I said, "Yes, Ma'am, I speak English." "What did that man say?" "He said (ready for this?), 'Quiero comunicar con Poblado Anahuac, Tamaulipas.'" In an exasperated tone of voice, she asked me, "What did he say in English?" I replied, "He didn't say anything in English. He said it in Spanish." I then hung up, waited a moment, dialed 'O' again, and got a Spanish-speaking operator. Almost all the operators in that region either spoke Spanish or were bright enough to ask for someone who did. > Jody... bless his little heart, had to travel to Milan yesterday on a > business trip. He'll be there a full six days. No, he's not going to [quoted text clipped - 44 lines] > more than English. French and Spanish, and maybe a bit of German will > get you very far in this world when you least expect it. > "What did that man say?" > "He said (ready for this?), 'Quiero comunicar con Poblado Anahuac, > Tamaulipas.'" > In an exasperated tone of voice, she asked me, "What did he say in > English?" > I replied, "He didn't say anything in English. He said it in Spanish." Dave, you're such a smart-a.s!! :) (She deserved it, though.) Joyce > Grace > who really believes we need to take a page from the Europeans and learn > more than English. French and Spanish, and maybe a bit of German will > get you very far in this world when you least expect it. I don't really SPEAK anything but English, but I had college Spanish, and have had a few lessons in French, German and Italian along the way. I have a fair vocabulary (if somewhat one-sided - most classical songs deal with love in some aspect or another) because I spent most of my life singing in those languages, hoping to become an opera singer. However, when it comes to grammar..... (IMO German is even harder than French and Italian, in that respect.) One thing I've found, since I've started to travel a bit in my old age - even if you don't speak their language well, being able to greet people in their own language goes a long way. If they speak any English at all, they'll meet you more than halfway in helping you to communicate! >> Grace >> who really believes we need to take a page from the Europeans and [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] >language goes a long way. If they speak any English at all, they'll >meet you more than halfway in helping you to communicate! Even if you don't know any of their language, keeping a friendly manner will usually get a friendly response, and you can usually work out some form of communication, by gesture if nothing else. If your manner is angry or condescending, people are much less likely to cooperate. I still wince at the memory of hearing an American tourist ask a Swiss souvenir-store clerk, "How much is it in REAL money?". Even at age twelve, I had better manners than that. Of course, such parochialism can show up in any culture, but the large size of the USA means that a lot of people don't have much contact with people who speak something other than English, or have different customs. SignatureJohn F. Eldredge -- john@jfeldredge.com PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu "Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria >Even if you don't know any of their language, keeping a friendly >manner will usually get a friendly response, and you can usually work >out some form of communication, by gesture if nothing else. If your >manner is angry or condescending, people are much less likely to >cooperate. The above is a good thing to do. At school I did some French and I did German to age 16. My French is extremely rusty - my German less so. My Italian might as well be non-existant. BUT, what I have found in all of the European countries I've visited is that if you at least *try* in good grace, to make an attempt at the local language, armed with a good rendition of "Excuse me, I'm very sorry but I don't speak (much) ******** (insert language as appropriate)" and armed with a good phrase book and a willingness to use it, with lots of "please" "thank you" and "excuse me" and most people will be friendly and willing to help you with an amazing amount of patience shown. When in Italy, with my virtually non-existent spoken Italian, I learnt a few key phrases before I went out there and armed with my phrase book, dictionary, writing pad & pen, I had some amazing conversations with the elderly owner of the apartment Vernon, Nathan & I stayed in. He could speak no English at all, but we'd have a darned good chat every day :-) Apparently the way I eat fresh figs shows I have the heart of an Italian ;-) Cheers, helen s --This is an invalid email address to avoid spam-- to get correct one remove fame & fortune h*$el*$$e*nd**$o$ts**i*$*$m*m$o*n*s@$*a$o*l.c**$om$ --Due to financial crisis the light at the end of the tunnel is switched off-- |
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