2mo ago

Is there a more convenient way to do this?

My sister Lena’s boyfriend Dominic has French parents who he says don’t speak any English at all. Dominic could just translate for them, but if our parents our meeting his, is there a more convenient way or will he just have to translate all the time?

Like, what if his parents just want to communicate with ours without Dominic or Lena? Do they just use the voice to translated text?

16 comments

unless anyone involved has any issues with alcohol, i STRONGLY suggest picking up a couple bottles of wine. this is not a joke.
- I played dominoes with a bunch of Cubans that didn't speak English, and I spoke very little Spanish. By the 3rd bottle of rum we all understood each other perfectly.
  
  two personal experiences i can add:
  i went to a resort in cuba and met a group from quebec. we were best friends and hung out at the open bar every night, but we couldn't do much more than say hi and smile when we passed each other during the day
  i moved to a city and used to go to the polish bar near my apartment a lot. i'd hang out with a bunch of old, fat czech dudes. never understood a word they said, never figured out how to properly say Tyskie, but always a ton of laughs and the only time i ever had vodka that i actually liked the taste of
- Ever been to Oktoberfest in Munich? 100% why everyone from around the world is having a great time together. It isn’t the bad English. Great advice!
- Make it a good wine.
I find Google's live translate makes things pretty easy, but it won't be as good as Dominic
- That’s fair!
People who really want to communicate with each other will find a way.
I think English<>French is a language pair you could get instant translations with the help of Google. So there's a tech solution that will cause humorous misunderstands but will make do. You could hire somebody who is bilingual for the first meeting to let the parents talk behind their kids' backs.
If they are French, they may actually be able to have a simple conversation in English but the boyfriend wouldn't know because they lose this ability the moment they cross the border back into France. That's a silly stereotype but I like it.
- If you have an iPhone, it has a built in translation app too, that does voice to voice with written summaries.
- That’s good advice! Thank you!
I'd imagine you could find a language instructor that could go both ways.
(you know what I mean. Teach the one family english and the other french.)
- How would a bi-sexual language instructor help?
Just pick up a little bit of French and then when you meet them, you can get by with a mixture of Frenglish, gesturing, cross-language dictionaries, and help from Domenic.
- That’s fair!

16 comments