Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Pronunciation error costs Spanish couple over $5,000
Whack me but I found this funny more than anything else: A Spanish couple traveling in Norway wanted to go to Olden to catch a cruise they had left to sort out some health issues. Traveling by taxi, due to a mispronunciation of their destination, the taxi driver took them to Halden instead, which is 560km away. Their fare came to 15,000 Kroners ($2765). Still oblivious to the mistake, they tipped the driver 1000 Kroners ($184!) and spent the night in a hotel, only to find that there was no cruise ship waiting for them -- that's when they realized that they were in the wrong city. They jumped back into a taxi and and head towards Olden which was 610km away and the taxi ride cost them another 15,300 Kroners ($2,820).
So their pronunciation error cost them over 30,000 Kroners (over $5,300), the approximate cost of 2 round the world tickets.
Funny thing is, Spaniards don't pronounce "h"; so they would pronounce Halden as "Alden" -- which sounds more like Olden than Halden. When they try to pronounce the "h" it's very strong and sounds like a "khhhhh", so I'm not quite sure how they ended-up going to Halden. Perhaps the driver saw they were rich and decided to dupe them.
Filed under: Europe, Norway, Spain, Transportation, News
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)
Rollando Aug 16th 2008 5:50AM
And I thought I had it bad mispronouncing words and vowels. I feel for the Spanish couple. I hope they had enough money to get home. Is it cheaper to be deported or pay your way home? I had a friend who travels the world whenever he gets a chance. He has been in similar situations like this Spanish couple had been, although not as expensive. He was telling me he always brings a map with him and points to his destination to a cabbie. He was telling me sometimes a picture is worth a "thousand words."
Barbara Aug 16th 2008 5:50AM
I wonder if they could have pointed to the city on a map for the driver? We get maps of areas that we are not familiar with so that we can orient to our destination, don't we?
joy Aug 22nd 2008 10:44AM
To Secret Asian Man - your're the ignorant one. When a Spanish speaking person looks at a word beginning with an H - it's as if the H isn't there. It is an inherent trait in their speech just as you probably have in your language. So don't be so vicious.
Mark Pennington Aug 3rd 2009 12:09AM
Check out these Top 40 Pronunciation Pet Peeves, but warning… you may cringe on a few that you mispronounce.