City News

The end of the month sees Britain’s biggest and best attended overseas property exhibition return to Birmingham NEC for the third year running. Among the thousands of properties from over 40 countries, many of which are being sold at special exclusive low show prices, and the free independent advice on topics such as buying abroad safely, emigration and how to invest during the credit crunch there are also a host of new and interesting products that will help make your place in the sun an even more enjoyable experience.

Being launched for the first time at A Place in the Sun Live is the ‘USpeak2’, a clever and more successful take on the often feared phrase book. Have you ever found yourself desperately trying to find a phrase that isn’t in there or delivering your chosen phrase only to be met with blank looks or worse, fits of laughter? Well the ‘USpeak2’ can solve these problems. A small and easy to use digital translator, simply type in your phrase and the ‘USpeak2’ will translate it perfectly. With two screens, one facing you and one facing the person you are talking to, you can attempt to speak the phrase by copying the kindly provided phonetic pronunciation guide or they can read from the screen what you are trying to say.

In celebration of this very welcomed product launch, A Place in the Sun Live has found some of the best examples of language disasters trough talking to its visitors:

The top 5 most embarrassing examples are:

No. 5. After buying our dream home in France, the neighbours invited us over for dinner. Our French host was surprised and impressed when I announced Nous avons bougé la maison (literally, we have moved house). Then we realised he thought we had physically moved our house to different a location! It seems that the French don't move house, they changer de maison.

No. 4. In my early days while living in Spain, I called out to the waiter in a seafood restaurant: Camarón, venga acá. It worked and he came over to our table straight away. My date, who was Spanish, pointed out to me that what I had said was 'Shrimp, come over here'. I had mistakenly used the word camarón, shrimp, instead of camarero, waiter.

No. 3. Whilst studying in Italy I tried to tell my new Italian tutor that the family I was staying with was very well-off and so I described them as sono ricci.
I got a very unimpressed look. What I had actually said was that they were hedgehogs. I should have said sono ricchi
 
No. 2. Years ago, on a bus near Antalya, I asked in my best Turkish can I get off at the next stop? The driver replied evet, mümkün, yes, it's possible. I thought he had said evet maymun, yes, monkey! Boy, was I cross, until I later looked it up my Turkish dictionary!

No. 1. A friend tried to impress me with their Spanish at a restaurant. With little appetite, he said No tengo hombre, quiero sólo patatas fritas instead of No tengo hambre, quiero sólo patatas fritas - the difference being 'I haven't got a man, I'd like just chips' rather than the intended 'I am not hungry, I would just like chips.

Avoid future embarrassment abroad, get your hands on an incredible ‘U Speak 2’ digital translator, which will be on offer at A Place in the Sun Live for £19.99 instead of £29.99. Make sure you visit stand D16.

So, if you are thinking about buying a home abroad A Place in the Sun Live can show you every different type of property from a studio apartment on the beach to a 10 bedroom mansion in the mountains, presenting up to 40 different countries. It offers independent advice and help with everything from arranging your finances to even now learning the lingo…the only thing we can not do is pack your bags for you when you go.