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  • #31
    Quoth skeptic53 View Post
    nor were they punking us,
    Bets?

    I've broadened my accent around Americans a time or five for effect.

    Mind you, they thought I was Australian...

    Rapscallion

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    • #32
      That was what was so funny about the movie "Snatch". Everyone spoke English, including Brad Pitt, who they captioned anyway. Sometimes it was hard to understand anyone, so we watched the entire movie with the captions on. At one point, Brad Pitt gets going and his captions just give up and read "??????"

      I can't remember the exact line, but at some point one of the American characters started busting on the English characters, saying something to the order of "Geeze, didn't you guys INVENT English???"

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      • #33
        When Snatch came out my hubby and I watched it together. About half way through the movie he says, "I wish I could understand what Brad Pitt is saying." I looked at him and said, "You've watched half the movie and haven't understood anything he said?"

        Then... I had to translate again...
        With that one though I was catching 3-4 out of every 5 words but that's enough to make the sentence.
        "I don't want any part of your crazy cult! I'm already a member of the public library and that's good enough for me, thanks!"

        ~TechSmith 314
        HellGate: London

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        • #34
          I had a year of German in Jr. High, a year of Spanish in High school and college. I liked Spanish the best.

          What I really wanted to learn was Lakota but the schools didn't offer it then, they do now. Probably would have driven myself nuts trying to learn it since I mix German and Spanish up all the time. Das ist verdad - for example.
          Figers are vicious I tell ya. They crawl up your leg and steal your belly button lint.

          I'm a case study.

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          • #35
            I love that movie. I'm usually the one that gets stuck with translation duties.

            The co-worker across the office has a policy of not quoting over the phone, but customers regularly go out of the way to find the phone number to request a quote over the phone. *shakes head*

            Anyway, every now and then she'll get one that can barely speak English. She had a difficult time with accents, so she'll usually just stonewall them and demand that they send a fax.

            The worst case of an accent that needed someone else to do the calling for them was someone who was originally from Asia and had learned English in the heart of Texas. One or the other and I would have been fine, but the two combined totally confounded me.

            It took me having her spell what she wanted before I could understand that she was asking for "sales." But that was like a Rosetta Stone for her accent. Once I had that, I could finally understand her.

            ^-.-^
            Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others. - Dresden

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            • #36
              And here is the quote I meant:

              Bullet Tooth Tony: A bookie's got blagged last night.

              Avi: Blagged? Do me a favor, Tony, speak English. I thought this country spawned the fucking language, and so far nobody seems to speak it.

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              • #37
                We sell overseas and overcome the language issue by referring tech support to local resellers who speak the language.

                However, some customers will contact us directly for support by email in their own language.

                Luckily, I can read French and Spanish. However, I can't write well in either language. So I reply in English.

                No complaints so far.

                We've been getting lot more direct sales in Mexico lately because our Mexico City reseller is a dishonest jerk (I've posted about him before and he's getting another thread soon for his latest antics). So I've been keeping my dictionary on my desk.

                We had one poor customer in Mexico who refused to purchase from the reseller and specifically asked if our software had a Spanish version. I confirmed that it did. She made the purchase and wrote back concerned because the box was in English.

                So I explained that ALL of our boxes are in English, but that the software would work in whatever language her Windows interface was in and we WOULD refund opened software per our guarantee if she wasn't satisfied. There was nothing to lose by installing it. Even if it somehow installed it in English, I could still help her manually switch the interface to Spanish.

                She wound up being very happy, even though I couldn't help her in Spanish.
                The best karma is letting a jerk bash himself senseless on the wall of your polite indifference.

                The stupid is strong with this one.

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                • #38
                  I don't do other languages very well, but I do have a smattering of accents at hand...British, Cajun, Australian, German/Klingon (they're pretty much the same LOL), etc.

                  I do know a bit of sign language, though. Sometimes when someone yells at me that I don't speak *language*, I start signing random things and say "Sorry, I wasted all my time learning to speak Deaf." That shuts them up. *snicker*
                  "Maybe the problem just went away...maybe it was the magical sniper fairy that comes and gives silenced hollow point rounds to people who don't eat their vegetables."

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                  • #39
                    Quoth ArenaBoy View Post
                    As for the OP, the SC was an idiot for not bringing in a translator. He planned it out months in advance, he knew that he would need a translator and yet he didn't go with one. People are amusing.
                    Many medical services provide translators, and can usually arrange for one to be present if needed. Though I would never suggest the gentleman acted appropriately in anway, we do not have enough information to know whether or not he had infact arranged for a translator to be present.

                    When my sister-inlaw first moved to this country she spoke very little english. When she needed to take her son to Dr appointments I would usually go with her. If I was unable to go, the medical facility would arrange for a translator. Unfortunately that process in imperfect, they only have so many translators available, there were more than a few times, the translator did not show up for the appointment, or was delayed.
                    Tamezin

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                    • #40
                      Mod Hat On:
                      Just a friendly reminder to keep this thread to the SC at hand and not turn it into a debate over languages, immigration, etc. Remember- there's Fratching for that.
                      /Mod Hat
                      "I don't want any part of your crazy cult! I'm already a member of the public library and that's good enough for me, thanks!"

                      ~TechSmith 314
                      HellGate: London

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