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Personal
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Written by Michael
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Friday, 29 February 2008 |
“My daughter speaks perfect English. After all, she spent a month in England with a native family”. That was the quote that caused me to simply give up, and it speaks volumes about Italian culture and the denial so many of them live in.
It happened this past October. I was in a local barber shop in Soriano nel Cimino. The barber was telling me of the frustrations he had been experiencing as he tried to communicate with the American tourists that t=started coming over the past few years. They would come into the shop, looking for a haircut, but he had difficulty communicating with them. After all, he doesn’t speak a word of English, and it certainly helps to know what kind of cut your customer desires.
I certainly understood, and promptly offered to help him. I explained that I would create a list of common (and not so common) terms that a barber would need to use, along with their Italian translations. He could simply give the sheet of paper to customers and solve most of his problems. I had done similar things for local restaurants, an ice cream stand, etc.
Imagine my surprise when he declined the offer. He explained that he had been asking his daughter to do such a list for him, but she lives far away, is busy, and has had no time. He explained that his daughter had studied English in school, and was therefore fluent in English. I explained to him that while she may have excellent English skills, it was highly unlikely that she would have many barber shop terms in her vocabulary. After all, what are the chances that she learned ‘buzz cut’ or ‘mullet’ in her studies?
I continued to explain that he had an American sitting in the chair, and while his daughter may be fluent in English, it could never be at my level, since it is my mother tongue. Additionally, I was there, ready to help, and he had said that she had no time to help him.
That is when he delivered the line. His daughter speaks perfect English because she spent a month in England. At that point, it becomes clear that there is no sense in continuing, but it illustrates a reality in Italian culture.
As visitors travel Italy, they invariably notice that signs, menus, notices, etc. are translated so poorly that they are all but incomprehensible. This isn’t limited to barber shops and little local businesses. The problem exists in government, major corporations; just about anywhere you see English translations. You see it in airports, major hotels, government websites… everywhere!
It’s the pride. Why have a non-Italian do a translation when we have a daughter, or a cousin, or a friend who claims to speak perfect English? It may spill over into the belief that the native-English speaking person can’t possibly do as good a job because they may not understand the nuances of Italian. I really don’t know.
Here is another great example: Soriano nel Cimino’s tourist board has a website, of course. Have a look at their home page . If that isn’t enough, keep digging on the site and try to read it. The kicker here is that for two years I have been offering to fix it for them… for free. I even went so far as to re-translate the site for them, and e-mail them a list of the mistakes with the changes they need to make. That was more than a year ago. I have explained to them in person why “The lucky hilly position” makes no sense in English. I explained how “the ideal place where to spend” is grammatically offensive. Did they change it? Why not? Nobody will tell, but I think it might hurt someone’s pride, so it is better to live in denial.
OK, I just felt like venting. I’m done for now. |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 29 February 2008 )
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Personal
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Written by Michael
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Thursday, 23 November 2006 |
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As if I haven’t been there enough this year, I am on my way back. I’ve barely been back a month, and now we have yet another trip planned for December 19th. This will be the first time we have been there for the holidays in 12 years. On this trip, Paola and the kids will be coming, and this will be Andrei’s first Christmas in Italy. Besides spending Christmas wtith Paola’s family, we will be having a New Years Eve party at the villa with a bunch of friends. The big motivator for going isn’t just the holidays, but the fact that the apartment rentals are beginning to fill up, and there is some unfinished business to take care of. For one thing, I need to get the computer in Ponticello running, since I blew it up last month. Additionally, Paola has some decorating to do, and I need to get a solid guest manual made for things like ‘How to turn on the heater’, ‘How to use the Satellite Remote’, etc. We’ll also be getting some faux finishing done on some walls in Ponticello. Beyond that, our friend Maurizio is opening up a B&B that is looking amazing, and we are starting to get overbooked during some periods in 2007. I want to get some pictures of his place so we can start sending some overflow to him. Additionally, this trip may bring 3 or 4 more apartments into the DiscoverSoriano.com mix, so there will be some checking out of a few places to make sure they meet our standards. Will post more as it happens… |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 11 September 2007 )
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Personal
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Written by Michael
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Thursday, 26 October 2006 |
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This is my last day in Soriano for this trip. Things didn’t happen as quickly as I had hoped, so I extended my stay 3 days. In about an hour I will close up the house one more time and say goodbye until my next trip (which is looking like Christmas). In these two weeks, much has been accomplished, however. The homes are fully outfitted, with the exception of a few small things that can be done while I am away. The satellite service is up and running, but the dishes won’t be installed until next week. The DSL is ‘on the way’, and at least one of the computers is installed (the other blew up, so I need to send a replacement). I’ve hung pictures, bought knick knacks, installed air conditioning, bought new furniture, coffee machines, dishes, silverware, etc. etc. etc. I have to say that the places look awesome! The funny thing is that before we outfitted the apartments, everyone was in love with ‘Il Ponticello’, and there has been little interest in ‘Vecchio Forno’. Looking at them now, while they are both breathtaking, Ponticello doesn’t hold a candle to Vecchio Forno. Anyway, I’ll write more about the two weeks here when I get settled back in California. |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 11 September 2007 )
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Personal
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Written by Michael
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Friday, 20 October 2006 |
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I’ve been here for 5 days now and have had no time to write as I have been so busy working on our apartments. However, yesterday I took my cousin to see Rome. After all, she has never been to Italy and it is less than an hour away from our house. It’s late october… we are pressing hard on low season here, but Rome was flooded with tourists. As we walked down the streets, all we heard was English and German. Every time we got near an ‘attraction', it felt like we were at Disneyland on a Saturday in June. The line to get into St. Peter's Basilica at the vatican consisted of tens of thousands of people. Everywhere we went was crowded beyond belief. You just couldn't enjoy a thing, and this is LATE OCTOBER! Ugh!  The tourist trap stands were out in force, and since it was raining a little on and off, there were armies of people trying to force umbrellas on us. Do people actually buy plastic St. Peter’s snow globes? I mean, where do they put this stuff when the get home, anyway? It was all just over the top. Maybe I was just tired, but it really showed what i always say about the touristy areas of Italy: They were once beautiful places, but have been destroyed by the ravages of mass tourism. The real Italy... the experience that really leaves you wanting to come back over and over... can only be found in the villages outside the cities.  As we left Rome last night, a sense of relief swept my body. The closer I got to home, the better I felt. I got home, went to bed, and woke up at sunrise. I made my coffee and went outside. After snappping pictures of the tourist traps of Rome all day yesterday, I couln’t help but snap a picture of the Alto Lazio and Umbria countryside at dawn from my house… such a contrast. No plastic towers of Pisa here. Just nature, peace and quiet. Ahhhhhh. |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 11 September 2007 )
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Personal Notes 
