On Mon, 4 Feb 2008, B Vaughan wrote:
> For 2) substitute http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html and you'll
> get the English language version. This will allow you to use the
Yes sure, I didn't notice the "it" in the URL I cutandpasted, anyhow
there are language flags (sorry, for English it's the Union Jack :-)) to
click upon and change the language. What's your opinion on the quality
of English on trenitalia's site ?
> English names of Italian cities instead of the Italian names, which
> may be unfamiliar to an English speaker.
But he'd better get familiar since only the Italian names are printed on
tickets and on station signs. The German site automatically recognizes
place names in a variety of languages and automatically redirects to the
national one. I do not know if trenitalia is so smart.
Anyhow there aren't that many cities which have a non-italian name, and
very few in the area where the OP is likely to travel (I guess only
Florence and Leghorn, which is one of the funniest adaptations I've
seen).
Humour note one : a funny exercise is the literal translation of a place
name "components" into another language. Compare "La Spezia" or
"Liverpool".
Humour note two : I was once on a train from Milan to Nice (which we
call Nizza). While stopping in Savona a young guy was called on the
phone, and they asked him where the train was going. He looked out of
the window, the board had the french destination "Nice Ville" but he
(speaking in italian) read "Nice" as English "nice" :-)
A nice ville, what has this ville to be so nice ?
Like "a fine tunnel, what has this tunnel to be so fine ?" (said by
a Japanese in Genoa, looking at the notice "A fine tunnel / spegnere le
luci" (at the end of the tunnel / turn off the lights) :-)
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