Hey, everyone. Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online eu conto sobre o que aconteceu num café quando uma estrangeira pediu ajuda.

Transcrição

Hi, all. What’s up? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Yesterday I spent all morning in a café. A café is a place where you can get coffee, of course, but also a sandwich, a snack, juice, water, stuff like that. In other words, it’s a place where you can get a capuccino and make a light meal if you want. Nowadays pretty much all cafés offer wi-fi connection, which is a big plus for me. I, like many other people, enjoy working at a café while sipping a coffee drink or some tea. For some reason I don’t mind all the buzz around me. You know, other people getting their coffee, chatting, talking on the phone… I find that usually I’m able to concentrate much better when I’m at a public place with a cup of coffee. Go figure!

So last morning there I was writing something on my netbook when a woman standing next to me said, in English, “Excuse me, do you speak some English?” I said yes, and she continued “Are you using the Internet?” I nodded, and she said “Can you help me?” She showed me her iPhone, and an Internet card that is given to customers free of charge at this café. Safari, the browser on the iPhone, was open, but the screen was blank. I told her that was wierd, ’cause the wifi connection at this cafe is supposed to not only fire up the browser, but also to open a screen where the owner of the iPhone would be able to enter their login information and the unique code from the Internet card.

This woman was really puzzled! She didn’t even know what to do with the card. That must be because this is a very famous chain of cafes that is present in several countries – maybe you know which one I’m talking about. In the US and many European coutries, you don’t need a card to connect to the Internet when you’re at this café. You simply get in there and when you fire up Safari you just have to agree to the terms of use and voilá – you’re connected. So maybe that’s what it’s like in this woman’s country. So she showed me the card and the iPhone screen and then she looked at me, and her face said “What do I do?”

I told her that she needed to register online at the Internet provider’s page, and I told her she would have to enter username, password and her passport number. That surprised her – she thought it was a bit much since she only wanted to have access for a few minutes. But the weird thing is that the same page should have showed up on her iPhone browser.

I asked her to hand me the phone and then I shook it a little and tapped it lightly. She thought that was funny and chuckled. Who knows? That might have worked, but it didn’t and I handed the phone back to her. She thanked me and said using the Internet for a few minutes wasn’t worth the trouble of registering and then filling in a form, etc. Then she went back to talking to her friend. From what I was able to tell, they were speaking either German or Dutch.

So, tell me: do you run into many foreigners where you live? I live in São Paulo and I run into people from other countries all the time. Sometimes I’m just walking down the street and I hear some foreign language being spoken, usually English or Spanish. Has anyone ever walked up to you in the street and asked for directions or other kind of information? Were you able to help?  Let us know in the comments… tell us your story. Talk to you next time.

 

Glossary

which is a big plus for me = o que pra mim é uma grande vantagem

sipping = bebericando

Go figure!