On Mon, 4 Feb 2008 18:42:16 +0100, Giovanni Drogo
wrote:
>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 ?
It's not bad, but they don't have an English version for all the
pages.
The last time I went to the .it site, I didn't see a link for the
English version.
>
>> 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) :-)
--
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup |
