Foreign Phrase Books

I don’t know if anybody uses them or if there is one specifically aimed at Truckers, but if you have any particular phrases that you would like to carry translations of, then Google, under Language Tools, has an inbuilt translator for European Languages.

Hence,

I am driving a big lorry and need to get on the loading bay. There is a car in the way. Do you know who owns it?

Translates to:

[F] Je conduis un grand camion et dois obtenir sur le quai de chargement. Il y a une voiture de la manière. Savez-vous qui le possède?

[ESP] Estoy conduciendo un camión grande y necesito conseguir en la bahía de cargamento. Hay un coche de la manera. ¿Usted sabe quién lo posee?

[D] Ich fahre einen grossen Lastwagen und muß auf der Ladenbucht erhalten. Es gibt ein Auto in der Weise. Wissen Sie, wem es besitzt?

And if anyone decides to try and use it to get past the Word Censor, then we can also add foreign words as well.

Nice idea, but it’s only part right (I’m only speaking about the french translation, dunno 'bout the German or Spanish versions)

If I went up to my local transport companies, TSA or Fiolet, and said that I think I’d be met with some rather puzzled looks. For a start, using a verb like ‘to get’ is too abstract, and can’t be translated as a parallel. What you end up with here is ‘obtenir’ which means ‘to obtain’, so the French person you’re speaking to starts to think you’re after a car, or something similar!

Also the bit about ‘Il y a une voiture de la maniere’ makes no sense at all as although you mean there’s a car blocking the road ‘in the way’ is translated in a totally different sense. For instance if someone was to comment about my accent they might say “You can hear he’s from Cornwall in the way he pronounces ‘lorry’” That use of ‘in the way’ doesn’t have anything to do with my accent blocking anybody’s path! See what I mean?

I’m no expert on French, (still struggling with proper English), but it’s fairly obvious that such a translation could cause you more trouble than it solves. Such devices are worth a look if there’s no other way of trying to find out what single words mean, but if anyone here is thinking of putting whole sentences into that translator and noting them down for future use abroad you’ll probably come up against a fairly steep wall of misunderstanding! Better rely on the time honoured tradition of gesticulation and repeating things slowly in English, or grabbing said person by the arm and pointing out the problem (my way of getting by in Germany when desperate)

If anybody’s really interested I can always translate a few common trucking sentences into French, and I’m sure other guys could do the same with other languages. Any suggestions?

Craig

Okay, the missus has just told me off for not writing the correct version, so with her native expertise here it is:

Je conduis un gros camion et je voudrais aller sur le quai de chargement. Il-y-a une voiture au milieu, savez vous a qui elle est?

Hope that helps

Craig

Just remember the B.B.C.
Beer
Beefsteak
Coffee or Cafe

These are universal words that are understood in most countries

For most other things a piece of paper to write on and a finger to point with are all you need

Thats a very lazy way of doing it Ted

Although you can’t be expected to become fluent in every European language, you can pick up a bit on each visit to each country and end up with enough to struggle by with in each language. One of those little electronic translators is very useful if you get stuck trying to explain something as well. I also found that if you make a reasonable effort in the local language, they were much more willing to speak English.
Paper n pen and pointing will of course be a useful last resort.
Think how you would feel if a foreign vistor to the UK kept jabbering on in their own language, grabbing your arm and pointing around