Thursday, February 7, 2008

Lost in Translation

So, my landlord in Sweden does not speak a lick of English.  He speaks Swedish and Spanish perfectly, but cannot hold a simple conversation in English.  It is actually quite frustrating because he never brings a translator over (wife/son) and always tries to tell me tons of stuff while he is here.  He tries to make it work with hand signals, but it is hard to say things like, "When can I pick up rent" with hand signals, so we are never on the same page.  Here is a good example, taken directly from his last email.

Hello Lucas we have reached an agreement and that agreement we must respect it your you said to me in repeated opportunities that you were going away to be all the month of March and I lamentably cannot change to the agreement I also I have many problems that to solve so I please ask to you to respect the agreements that we have had by others have not communicated to me when they are going to pay the rent of this month and all this situation is uncomfortable.I will take a carpet for you when she is going to pick up the money.Carlos

I have asked him many times to have someone translate his emails for him, and he keeps sending me this garbage.  It is really starting to get annoying.  I understand that it would be easier if I spoke the language of the country, but I don't.  His wife and son speak English, so why can't he have one of them help translate for him?  I've asked him enough, and he should get with the program.  I have even gone to the trouble of having people translate my emails into Spanish, asking him to get a correct translation, and he won't.  So annoying.


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