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12 April 2006

Existensial Question: When using an ATM, have you ever chosen to operate it in a language you don't speak, just to see if you could do it flying on pure instinct? Also, I bought the new issue of Wax Poetics yesterday. It's great as always. Plus, I got the Sporting News Baseball Annual. Lets Go Mets!

post by: jonmc at: 08:47 | 29 comments

Yes; I also enjoy using the supermarket self checkout in Spanish, and putting my operating system or browser in languages I don't speak.

posted by Wolfdog 12 April | 08:57

How many language choices does an ATM have up there in the Big City, jonmc?

(yes, but I only have Spanish as another option)

posted by rainbaby 12 April | 08:59

I did! I was somewhere (I think NYC) where you could do it in French, so I did that for kicks. Granted, I took plenty of French in HS and college, but still, I count it. : ) I've done it in Spanish, too. (ATM in Acapulco, Mexico) And I want to go to one of the ATMs in New York where you can do it in Yiddish.

Go Cubs!

posted by sisterhavana 12 April | 09:00

No, but one of the offices where I work has a multilingual speaking lift (elevator) control. It can speak English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Mandarin. Pretty cool.

posted by plep 12 April | 09:02

I've done it in Spanish, which I barely speak, but I'm too afraid of messing something up and getting hit with a ton of fees.

Cubbies Wooo!

posted by kyleg 12 April | 09:02

How many language choices does an ATM have up there in the Big City, jonmc?

Well, since those mini-ATM's hit the market, you see them not only in corner stores but bars, outdoor newsstands, and once on a construction site. It's nigh impossible to find a public toilet, but we gots cash on tap, with the side effect of having people with fat wallets pissing in alleys and elevators. As for languages, Spanish is almost always there, and usually Chinese and Korean, too. Hindi, French, and Italian I've seen, too.

posted by jonmc 12 April | 09:05

And the Mets are gonna make the postseason, mark my words. Our boy will lead us there.

posted by jonmc 12 April | 09:12

I do the metrocard machine in Polish all the time.

posted by Divine_Wino 12 April | 09:16

Here in Maine most of the ATMs speak French, but even though I speak some I got totally unnerved when I tried it and gave up quickly.

It tickles me that at the big "corporate" stores, like Walmart, the card-paying gizmo at the cash register offers Spanish as the only other option, even though that's not real common around these parts.

posted by JanetLand 12 April | 09:18

I don't think polishing the Metrocard is necessary man. It retains it's luster naturally.

posted by jonmc 12 April | 09:19

*wonders what jonmc does when he sees a "Polish Sausage" sign*

posted by Hellbient 12 April | 09:27

Well, I can never return to PolkaFest, hellbient...

posted by jonmc 12 April | 09:31

Oooh, yer takin' me down memory lane, all the way to Polock Johnny's, jonny.

posted by Hugh Janus 12 April | 09:38

Yup, french (easy) and chinese (just going on memory of the choice layout).

posted by Capn 12 April | 09:45

I do the supermarket U-Scan in Spanish all the time, I had memorized the English one down to the weird pauses. In Europe I remember several "Well, that seems like it might give us money" moments at foreign ATMs in a variety of new and exciting languages.

posted by togdon 12 April | 09:53

I've never tried it, but I've always been fascinated by the Braille on the keys. How does that work? The screen asks you questions - it doesn't seem like having braille is much help if you can't see the screen. Particularly on the drive up machines.

posted by mygothlaundry 12 April | 09:53

A lot of ATMs have a headphone jack for the blind. And what with the machines having to be secure and certified and rigorusly tested, it would be an extra pain to use a different keyboard on the drive-up ones and the street ones.

posted by Capn 12 April | 10:07

I do customer service options over the phone in Spanish. "Para servicia en espanol, oprima numero dos ahora." And surprisingly, I usually get through to a real live human being (who speaks English) much faster than I do when I choose to be put on hold in English.

posted by go dog go 12 April | 10:09

Next on "cliche stand-up commedian jokes answered as if they were real honestly asked questions": If they can make an airplane black-box survive a crash, why don't they make the whole plane out of that?

Well, because the plane would never fly, an entire plane constructed out of materials that could widthstand those forces would be far to heavy. Furthermore, even if such a plane could be constructed and fly, the passengers still wouldn't survive. The G-Forces from the crash would still kill them, rending them in twain.

posted by Capn 12 April | 10:21

Si uno considera un artículo de fabrica como, por ejemplo, una ATM — uno ve que ha sido hecho por un artesano que tuvo una concepción de ello; y él ha atendido, igualmente, a la concepción de una ATM y a la técnica pre-existente de la producción que es una parte de esa concepción y es, en el fondo, una fórmula. Así la ATM es al mismo tiempo un producible de artículo en una cierta manera y en uno que, por otro lado, sirve un propósito definido, para uno no puede suponer que un hombre produciría una ATM sin instruido lo que era para. Digamos, entonces, de la ATM que su esencia que deberá decir la suma de los fórmulas y las calidades que hicieron su producción y su definición posibles — precede su existencia. La presencia de tan — y — tal ATM así se determina antes de mis ojos. Aquí, entonces, vemos el mundo de un punto de vista técnico, y nosotros podemos decir que esa producción precede la existencia.

posted by Otis 12 April | 10:35

And don't try this in Australia.

posted by Otis 12 April | 10:44

I have successfully installed & configured Windows 98 entirely in Japanese. (insofar as any installation of Win98 can be considered successful, but that will remain a question for the ages)

posted by Triode 12 April | 11:09

I've set my cell phone to Portuguese, which I don't speak. It makes me happy.

posted by occhiblu 12 April | 12:01

Miguel lives in occhiblu's cellphone. Cool.

posted by jonmc 12 April | 12:06

I've held this crazy idea that when in foreign countries you won't get charged if you operate the ATM in said countries language (not true btw) - so I've even withdrawn cash in Japanese. That was a tricky one though.

Triode - windows? You're nuts. That is a tad trickier I bet!

posted by dabitch 12 April | 12:31

I always pick Polish.

posted by jrossi4r 12 April | 12:37

Otis: Why do I get the feeling those fees will show up in the US sooner rather than later?

posted by sisterhavana 12 April | 14:58

Yes! It's easy in Spanish, so I try to pick languages that I know absolutely zero about. Often I have to start over and pick English again.

posted by smich 12 April | 16:40

I have successfully installed & configured Windows 98 entirely in Japanese.
Ditto - many many challenges in that task, but I got through it successfully the first time around. Did it twice after that, but it never got any easier.

I like to set other people's cell phones in other languages aned then watch them try to get them set back to English. I'm cruel that way.

posted by dg 13 April | 05:39

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