<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:lucida console, sans-serif;font-size:13px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1514088399107_21916" class="qtdSeparateBR"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1514088399107_22055">That would match my experience in Amsterdam. No difficulty in local shops that don't do much tourist business.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1514088399107_21962"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1514088399107_21963">When my daughter started working as a translator, one of the first words I learned was "localization". That covers the customs that go beyond just words, such as measuring flour in grams instead of cups.<br></div><br></div><div style="display: block;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1514088399107_21887" class="yahoo_quoted"> <div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1514088399107_21886" style="font-family: lucida console, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> <div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1514088399107_21885" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1514088399107_21884" dir="ltr"> <font id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1514088399107_22035" face="Arial" size="2"> <hr size="1"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> conspire@linuxmafia.com <br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Saturday, December 23, 2017 3:20 PM<br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> [conspire] Emergency numbers worldwide, a culture note<br> </font> </div> <div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1514088399107_21888" class="y_msg_container"><br>I'm watching a Norwegian television series named 'Valkyrien'<br>(<a id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1514088399107_22040" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/aug/11/valkyrien-this-latest-scandi-noir-success-is-more-like-breaking-bad-than-borgen" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/aug/11/valkyrien-this-latest-scandi-noir-success-is-more-like-breaking-bad-than-borgen</a>), <br>a 2017 local Oslo production with such an intriguing mix of tropes that<br>BBC is currently lifting the idea and producing a remake set in London.<br>It has Scandi-noir elements (some courtesy of a major character who's a<br>paranoid doomsday prepper), medical thriller story lines, and crime drama.<br><br>In the seventh (of eight) episodes, the doomsday prepper in his<br>voiceover monologue muses about the interdependency-based<br>vulnerabilities of his society. The audio track (in Norwegian) has him<br>thinking (as voiceover) about what happens if you dial a number and<br>nobody answers. But the English subtitles, meanwhile, say 'The day<br>you'll dial 911 and nobody will answer, what will you do?'<br><br>The subtitling jarred me out of the narrative, as I happen to know the<br>emergency number is _not_ 911 in Norway, but rather 112 (or 110). It<br>actually isn't even 911 in many of the English-speaking countries, either.<br>Yes, it is in the USA (and USVI and some other Caribbean islands, plus<br>sundry US unincorporated territories), Canada, Belize, Tonga, and<br>Tuvalu. Which might seem like a lot, but notice that the list omits the<br>UK, Republic of Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. And that's just<br>counting countries speaking native English.[1]<br><br>The _last_ thing you want to do, if traveling, is preprogram only 911<br>into your mobile for arbitrary travel abroad and then count on help<br>arriving if you dial 911 while bleeding alongside the road. _Most_<br>places in the world use something other than 911. A worldwide survey:<br><a href="https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/students-abroad/pdfs/911_ABROAD.pdf" target="_blank">https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/students-abroad/pdfs/911_ABROAD.pdf</a><br><br>'Valkyrien' is so far much better known in the UK (where the emergency<br>number is 112 or 999 as in many Commonwealth countries) than in the USA,<br>but I guess the subtitle author was a Yank or otherwise in the American<br>cultural orbit. <br><br>Anyway, point is: In some circumstances, being culturally provincial<br>and oblivious to variation and difference could endanger your life. <br>Notice that even the US State Department is afflicted, viz. the page's <br>title and URL: '911 abroad'. But it's _not_ 911 abroad; in fact,<br>that's the whole point. What's local is explicitly not universal.<br><br>Thus my point.<br><br><br>Also: High recommedation for 'Valkyrien' -- if moody, atmospheric <br>politico-medical-crime thrillers are your thing.<br><br><br>[1] Statistics about the estimated percentage of<br>English-as-first-language speakers in various countries are somewhat<br>surprising: Republic of Ireland at 93.21% is _highest_, then UK at<br>92.14%, NZ at 85.93%, USA at 79.0%, Australia at 70.17%, Canada at<br>56.94%, and all others below half. In the ranking of percent of total <br>English speakers (not necessarily first language) by country, the USA<br>is 13th with 95.5%. In both Norway and the Netherlands, 90% of the<br>population speak fluent English, which matches my experience there.<br><br><br><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>conspire mailing list<br><a ymailto="mailto:conspire@linuxmafia.com" href="mailto:conspire@linuxmafia.com">conspire@linuxmafia.com</a><br><a href="http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/conspire" target="_blank">http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/conspire</a><br><br><br></div> </div> </div> </div></div></body></html>