I am currently trying to find out what constitutes a relationship to the Swedish Immigration Board. The definitions provided on their website are a too ambiguous for my needs.
I found an email address for general enquiries, but did not know the word before the @ symbol – upplysningen. Plugging it into Google Translate, I was delighted to see that I am contacting enlightenment at the Swedish Immigration Board.
Who would have thought finding enlightenment would be so easy?
A couple of weeks ago Oziel and I were walking past a discount optometrist that was promoting their always low sale price.
Alltid garanterat slutpris
While some things are lost in translation (extra pris means reduced price), the slut price is really cheap!
Kangaroo meat in a Swedish supermarket
Subway recently opened a store in Karlskrona. I have never been a big fan of Subway, but as this is a small town with relatively few lunch options we decided to try it out. It is just like every other Subway franchise I have seen, except for one key difference. They don’t sell six-inch and twelve-inch subs. These staples of American culture have been replaced with their metric 15-centimetre and 30-centimetre siblings.
To me the translation into metric sounds ridiculous, and I am from a country using the metric system. In Australia I never thought twice about Subway’s use of imperial measurement, it was merely an indicator of size. I have never thought to question whether Cadburys put a imperial or metric glass and half of full cream milk in every block of chocolate, but it has been in operation long enough that it could be either.
I have a feeling that this translation into metric is a requirement of the European Union. While I can understand the value of this standardisation in general, I feel this has gone too far. I suppose the European Unions fears if they give retailers 2.54 cm they will take 1.61 km.
However, I must admit I appreciate the metric translations when watching American TV shows. While I have some feeling for feet and inches this doesn’t extend beyond the height of a normal person. So seeing the Empire State Buildings 1,472 feet translated into a more comprehensible 449 metres in the subtitles is a job well done in my opinion.
In other foreign food related news, my new local supermarket sells salt and vinegar chips, and kangaroo meat! All I need now is [real] saussages, chocolate syrup, Tim Tams, self raising flour, bottles of vanilla essence, …
Recently I visited Thailand. While I was there my phone contract expired and I started using a new mobile phone. The new phone broke, so I have gone back to using my old phone and discovered photos.
The most interesting was this, showing an honesty in marketing that I can really appreciate …
Chaweng Will Wait Restaurant
As previously blogged, I had language issues during my driving exam and failed. I wrote to the driving authority and today received a response.
Unfortunately it is in Swedish, so I will have to wait for someone to read it to me tomorrow. But I managed to find the following sentence:
Detta gör att Vägverket beslutar att avgiften ska betalas tillbaka.
Which Google Translate takes to mean This makes the National Road Administration decides that the fee to be paid back.
Obviously I don’t understand the context, but I am hoping this means that they will not charge me for the exam. More news tomorrow …
