Language Barriers

[Sparksy72]

Originally Posted by snowbelle

My name is Clare and when asked for my name in Starbucks in Naples I clearly said clare , when she gave me our coffees they were named Pat & Dan , my husband has a typical American name and they usual always understand it but not this time 😄

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Lol! I just don't understand how you get Pat from Clare? at least you got your coffee!

[Sparksy72]

Originally Posted by Dissuziq

Being understood is a daily thing, I work for a usa company for IT and as part of the follow the sun helpdesk we have US calls at the end of our day and the beginning of there's I at first I didn't realise how different our languages were sometimes I end up laughing as something as asking for there cell number is a nightmare

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I think you might need a medal

[Sparksy72]

Originally Posted by paw

My DH hasn't been allowed to order since 1989 when in MK he tried to order 3 chocolate cookies, including pointing at them, and was given 3 coffees. Despite saying no and handing them back they were just replaced with more coffee - 4 times until my then 7 year old took over.

Last year I needed a washing line and pegs for hanging washing in the garage. My mind went blank for the American words and the clearly American born assistant hadn't a clue what I was asking for. A detailed description of what I was going to use them for resulted in Ahh, clothesline and clothespins!

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Your poor husband obviously that is where I went wrong, I should have gotten my 10 year old to order

[laura]

hi, for some reason in Starbucks in Florida they don't understand me when I'm giving my name 'Mary', I don't no how many times I have to repeat it, I end up giving up & just use sons name, Shaun, one day I gave hubbies name, Joe, when it came to collection they called 'Toe', took me a minute or so to realise it was our order, I'm from Glasgow & usually say names clearly, they do say we roll our r's though, mind you I do have the same problem when visiting relatives in England

[skalexander]

Originally Posted by laura

hi, for some reason in Starbucks in Florida they don't understand me when I'm giving my name 'Mary', I don't no how many times I have to repeat it, I end up giving up & just use sons name, Shaun, one day I gave hubbies name, Joe, when it came to collection they called 'Toe', took me a minute or so to realise it was our order, I'm from Glasgow & usually say names clearly, they do say we roll our r's though, mind you I do have the same problem when visiting relatives in England

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This made me think of one of the girls I used to work with. We worked in the courts and she was on the phone to the prison trying to arrange for a prisoner to be brought down - she must have said "Karl" 15 times in her Glaswegian accent and gotten nowhere... so one of the other girls grabbed the phone and said "Karl", and they got it

[grottyrotty]

We had a problem ordering a tuna sandwich in IOA in 2015. It took is a good few attempts at saying "choona" in our best North West accents. It wasn't until I pointed to the one we wanted and the hostess said "oh, you want toona"

Don't think we've had any other problems whilst over there.

Deb

[Darwen Bird]

Originally Posted by laura

hi, for some reason in Starbucks in Florida they don't understand me when I'm giving my name 'Mary', I don't no how many times I have to repeat it, I end up giving up & just use sons name, Shaun, one day I gave hubbies name, Joe, when it came to collection they called 'Toe', took me a minute or so to realise it was our order, I'm from Glasgow & usually say names clearly, they do say we roll our r's though, mind you I do have the same problem when visiting relatives in England

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I never bother giving my actual name in Starbucks (even in the U.K.) as so many people struggle with 'Janice'. I either use my last name (which is used as a first name in the US) or just any old name I think should be easy for the server.

[Sparksy72]

Originally Posted by laura

hi, for some reason in Starbucks in Florida they don't understand me when I'm giving my name 'Mary', I don't no how many times I have to repeat it, I end up giving up & just use sons name, Shaun, one day I gave hubbies name, Joe, when it came to collection they called 'Toe', took me a minute or so to realise it was our order, I'm from Glasgow & usually say names clearly, they do say we roll our r's though, mind you I do have the same problem when visiting relatives in England

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Honestly that is hilarious... Toe! Who would honestly call that out? Also how is Shaun easier to understand than Mary? Baffling

[cherub85]

We had problems in Florida in Starbucks with Louise, seems to be an unfamiliar name. We actually had more language issues in Toronto, did better in Montreal as I speak some French! The accent was an issue in Toronto though!
On a similar issue, when servers and cast members etc ask where we are from I never know how to answer - is it obvious we are English and they want to know what part of England or do they not know what country we are from?

[Sparksy72]

Originally Posted by skalexander

This made me think of one of the girls I used to work with. We worked in the courts and she was on the phone to the prison trying to arrange for a prisoner to be brought down - she must have said "Karl" 15 times in her Glaswegian accent and gotten nowhere... so one of the other girls grabbed the phone and said "Karl", and they got it

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lucky there was interpreter on hand! Lol!