Driving where you don't speak the native language

[realjd]

They indeed appear to be for the chip-type credit cards. However, I have never had to enter my PIN at a toll booth. Gas stations and other locations usually require a PIN code though.

They're supposed to be able to accept an American card if you go inside to pay, rather than trying to use the pay-at-the-pump thing. I've never had a problem using an American credit card in Europe (including Estonia and Russia) other than at the pay-at-the-pump thing.

I have the same problem using my card at some American pumps which ask for your zip code. I have no option but to pay inside. It's about time credit cards were standardized throughout the world.

US banks have started slowly rolling out chip cards (chip-and-signature, not chip-and-pin). Wal-Mart in particular has been pushing heavily for it, and they recently went and installed chip readers on all of the registers in the central Florida area. I wish it was chip-and-pin like the rest of the world, but it's at least moving in the right direction.

I think the chip cards are a stopgap measure. I wouldn't be surprised if everything is NFC in the next five years.

[agentsteel53]

I wouldn't be surprised if everything is NFC in the next five years.

where do we have NFC currently? 

[realjd]

I wouldn't be surprised if everything is NFC in the next five years.

where do we have NFC currently? 

Any credit card terminal capable of contactless payments (very common around here at major chain stores) can also support NFC payments from a smartphone. A handful of newer Android phones support NFC payments via Google Wallet, which works at any contactless credit card terminal that supports Mastercard PayPass. It's not well used at this point, but the technology does exist and is available.

[Duke87]

The problem I have with using my phone to pay for things is that then I have to start securing my phone like I secure my wallet. No letting someone borrow it to make a call. No leaving it on my desk at work charging while I run to the men's room. No whipping it out on the street in public. And then it starts hampering my ability to use it as a phone.

Besides, then what happens when my phone breaks, has the battery die, or experiences some other situation that renders it unusable? A dedicated card is both more reliable and more secure. And not any less convenient, so where is the benefit to the whole Google Wallet thing?

It's another example of technology for the sake of technology, something which we seem to be seeing an awful lot of these days. It is in no way superior to existing methods, but it's modern and snazzy, so it exists purely to be fashionable.

[realjd]

The problem I have with using my phone to pay for things is that then I have to start securing my phone like I secure my wallet. No letting someone borrow it to make a call. No leaving it on my desk at work charging while I run to the men's room. No whipping it out on the street in public. And then it starts hampering my ability to use it as a phone.

Besides, then what happens when my phone breaks, has the battery die, or experiences some other situation that renders it unusable? A dedicated card is both more reliable and more secure. And not any less convenient, so where is the benefit to the whole Google Wallet thing?

It's another example of technology for the sake of technology, something which we seem to be seeing an awful lot of these days. It is in no way superior to existing methods, but it's modern and snazzy, so it exists purely to be fashionable.

My understanding is that NFC transactions require a PIN just like a chip card transaction in the rest of the world. This is more secure than our current signature-based authentication system. Apple's recent purchase of AuthenTec strongly suggest that they'll accept fingerprints as an authenticator for NFC transactions. Again, this is much more secure than the current American system.

Is it better, more convenient, or more secure than the chip-and-pin cards? Maybe, maybe not. But I stand by my prediction that it will be the most common payment method within five years.

[Brandon]

I'm not so sure I like the NFC idea.  Sounds like it would be too easy to steal a number, IMHO.  As for chips, we had them when I was in college for copy machines and the student cafe.  They seemed to get scratched easier than the magnetic strips, and put out of commission easier.  We could always use a plastic bag to make the strips work in the machine.  A scratched chip is done.

[vdeane]

Yeah, all you need is an RFID reader and to be within 8 feet of someone with a PayPass card.  Plus, I believe PayPass is signature-based just like everything else; the touted "security" is that you don't hand the card to a store clerk, which could also be solved by having everyone use customer-facing swipe machines that are used in supermarkets and the mall.

[huskeroadgeek]

Sometimes I look at GSV imagery in Europe and can understand most of the signs, but there are a few generic danger signs ( /!\ ) with text plaques under them that I was completely unable to understand in some countries (notably the Netherlands).

The Netherlands excels in putting numerous subsigns below regular signs to have sitautions legally watertight. It's usually "except for" or "except when" or something similar. No foreigner understands them and sometimes it's too much to get while driving even for a native Dutch.

I've been looking at a lot of GSV images in Europe recently, and I saw a recurring sign like this in the Netherlands with the general European "No passing(or overtaking)" sign with a sign below it of a tractor with the words "inhalen toegestaan"(which as Google's Dutch translation says means "overtaking allowed"). Without knowing what the words meant before I ran it through the translation, I pretty much guessed at the general idea of what it meant.
I find it fun to try and figure out what signs mean(road signs and advertising signs) before I run them through a translation. I know Spanish pretty well, which gives me a limited knowledge of French, Italian and Portuguese and there are sometimes enough German or Dutch words that are cognates of English words that I can figure out the gist of something.

[cpzilliacus]

Sometimes I look at GSV imagery in Europe and can understand most of the signs, but there are a few generic danger signs ( /!\ ) with text plaques under them that I was completely unable to understand in some countries (notably the Netherlands).

The Netherlands excels in putting numerous subsigns below regular signs to have sitautions legally watertight. It's usually "except for" or "except when" or something similar. No foreigner understands them and sometimes it's too much to get while driving even for a native Dutch.

I've been looking at a lot of GSV images in Europe recently, and I saw a recurring sign like this in the Netherlands with the general European "No passing(or overtaking)" sign with a sign below it of a tractor with the words "inhalen toegestaan"(which as Google's Dutch translation says means "overtaking allowed"). Without knowing what the words meant before I ran it through the translation, I pretty much guessed at the general idea of what it meant.
I find it fun to try and figure out what signs mean(road signs and advertising signs) before I run them through a translation. I know Spanish pretty well, which gives me a limited knowledge of French, Italian and Portuguese and there are sometimes enough German or Dutch words that are cognates of English words that I can figure out the gist of something.

For those that have not seen the "no passing" signs, here are two examples.

Swedish "No Passing" sign:



Swedish "Trucks No Passing" sign:

[kphoger]

Only half-knowing a language can make signs fun!

México has signs that say "NO TIRE BASURA".
My wife guessed at it:  "No tire trash"?

[1995hoo]

Only half-knowing a language can make signs fun!

....

As can not speaking the language at all and sounding out the signs, such as this one we saw in Stockholm (it advises you not to park in front of the door because it is an exit used throughout the day):

[J N Winkler]

Only half-knowing a language can make signs fun!

México has signs that say "NO TIRE BASURA".

My wife guessed at it:  "No tire trash"?

"TIRAR BASURA ES FALTA DE CULTURA"--to throw trash is a fault of culture?  "UN MUNICIPIO LIMPIO Y SANO"--a municipality clean and sane?

False cognates can be fun too.

[KEVIN_224]

I thought that said "If you fart, there's hell to pay!"

[cpzilliacus]

Only half-knowing a language can make signs fun!

....

As can not speaking the language at all and sounding out the signs, such as this one we saw in Stockholm (it advises you not to park in front of the door because it is an exit used throughout the day):

Not just all day, but at all hours, day and night.

On the same theme, there's this sign, which is common in urbanized areas of Sweden (even though this image appears to have been taken in a rural area):



Literal translation is "speed hinderance" (yes, "fart" translates to speed, as well as "motion"), but correct translation to English is, of course, "speed bump(s)."

[cpzilliacus]

I thought that said "If you fart, there's hell to pay!"

No, fart in Swedish means motion or speed (depending on context). 

Fartsyndare literally means "speed sinner," but translates to "speed limit violator."

It can get expensive, too.

These fines are for motorway and rural arterial highway speed limit violations (in residential and urban areas, with a posted limit of 50 k/h or 30 k/h), the fines are higher:

• 1 to 10 km over the limit is SEK 1,000 (about U.S. $150)
• 21 to 25 km over the limit is SEK 2,800 (U.S. $420)
• 31 to 35 km over the limit is SEK 4,000 (U.S. $540)

Conviction for speeding over 21 k/h over the posted limit (in 30 k/h areas) is can result in a suspension of driving privileges for at least two months.

Conviction for speeding over 31 k/h elsewhere can also result in suspension of privileges for two months (and the suspension period gets higher depending on the difference between observed speed by the police and the posted limit).

[Duke87]

Some European countries levy fines as a percentage of an individual's income rather than as a flat rate, which gives you stories like this.

A great idea in theory, though given the motivating factors of speed traps, what it would end up meaning if implemented here is that if you drive an expensive car, expect to get pulled over a lot.

[cpzilliacus]

Some European countries levy fines as a percentage of an individual's income rather than as a flat rate, which gives you stories like this.

Finland has long imposed a system of "day fines" on many traffic violations - "day" being one day of pay (based on your tax return from the previous year).   No, they don't use that schedule of fines if you are resident in a country other than Finland.

A great idea in theory, though given the motivating factors of speed traps, what it would end up meaning if implemented here is that if you drive an expensive car, expect to get pulled over a lot.

In Finland it is (generally) a non-issue.  Corruption in any government entity is extremely unusual (though someone did go to jail as a result of massive construction cost overruns for the Metrorail system in Helsingfors (Helsinki)).

[Chris]

"getting pulled over" is something that doesn't exist in Europe to an extent as it does in the U.S. The bulk of the fines are collected by speed cameras, rather than by police patrols.

[agentsteel53]

"TIRAR BASURA ES FALTA DE CULTURA"--to throw trash is a fault of culture?  "UN MUNICIPIO LIMPIO Y SANO"--a municipality clean and sane?

False cognates can be fun too.

those are cognates whose mistranslation is not catastrophic.  "fault of culture" generally gets the meaning across that littering is asshole behavior.

try "embarazada".  you'll never guess what it means.  no, not that.  not that either.  not anything close to that.

[NE2]

Tengo 30 anos.

[agentsteel53]

Tengo 30 anos.

that's not a cognate, as much as it is a missing tilde.

congratulations, btw, on your copious quantity of asses. 

may I borrow an ass?

[NE2]

Exactly. But I wouldn't call them false friends; I love them all.

[kphoger]

Exactly. But I wouldn't call them false friends; I love them all.

Pero ¿tienes hombre?

[huskeroadgeek]

Exactly. But I wouldn't call them false friends; I love them all.

Pero ¿tienes hombre?

It really bugs me when somebody is trying to say "he's a tough hombre", but because they pronounce the o in hombre like an "ah" sound, they say what sounds like "he's a tough hambre". He's a tough hunger?
Dealing with the "anos" thing-I once had a Spanish teacher stop in the middle of a lesson and go over to the chalkboard just to put a tilde on an n when somebody had written "tengo 20 anos". You could tell who knew what it meant by who was laughing.

[J N Winkler]

Gift has a very loaded meaning in German.