skier3

Is there an English speaking helpline for ENEL and Telecom Italia that anybody is aware of?

Thx.

TestaRossa

There isn't but you can always ask to speak to a colleague that speaks English when you call them. Quite often they will be helpful and put you through to someone that can. My OH had a call from Telecomm to confirm our new line and to get my CF - he speaks little Italian but the lady who rang spoke enough English for him to understand all this.

Isakat

I second Testarossa, you can ask for a call back from someone who speaks English.
I was quite surprised that the Carabinieri switchboard has people who speak perfect English, and a local carabiniere too.

Mr Posh

I have an Idea LEARN ITALIAN we are in Italy, believe it or not

indiebird

yeah, yeah.... unfortunately until technology catches up with what Douglas Adams knew and we all get a Babelfish put in our ear there is a transition period between starting to learn a language and being fluent.... talking on the phone is one of the hardest things....

Isakat

I believe the poster was asking if he could speak to someone in English( something we all did in the begining of moving here)

NOT IF HE NEEDED TO LEARN ITALIAN OR NOT TO SPEAK TO ENEL

duffer

In the UK, do BT have foreign language helplines? (unless you want to speak in Hindi that is)

indiebird

if you work for someone like BT in their callcentre they ask you to disclose what other languages you speak and to what level you speak. This is all then on a database and people can and do put calls through to those people if possible. It makes sense really. You want to be able to help your customers or potential customers if you can.

duffer

that's called customer service and we know that doesn't exist here in Italy

indiebird

you gotta keep the faith Duffer. Seeing as everyone that goes to any sort of Scuola Superiore here has to do some sort of English module then it figures that there might be some people here who can speak English and they might work in a callcentre.... we're very lucky I say!

Mr Posh

So you are telling me you came here without knowing a word of Italian or even trying to learn it.....HOW typically BRITISH...."i speak english so should the rest of the world" and oh ye....UNO CAPPUCCIONO AND A CUPA TEA PERFAVORHAY..Where's the Ketchup?

Isakat

Yes, I did come here without speaking the language, after all speaking a fifth fluent language requires a bit of time, dont you think?So, 8 years on, I now speak Italian as well, maybe not perfect, but enough to have a conversation with Italians.
I would like to know how many languages does a posh person like you speak please?
And lastly I am not British by birth.

duffer

Isakat, how dare you speak any language other than English, that's just not cricket. You'll be mistaken for a native!

Lorna at Vicenza

I did. I came here literally knowing the grand total of 5 words:
Ciao.
Uno, due, tre.
Vafan.........

My job came about pretty quickly so I had no time to do any lessons, courses or shop about for cds to listen to. There was no internet.

I didn't think it was "typically British". I was young and full of excitement and adventure and nerves. I didn't expect anybody to speak to me in English apart from the person that hired me and I learnt Italian damn quickly. I'm proud of myself.

There are plenty of people that come here with little or no Italian from many different countries.
There are also plenty of Italians here that couldn't speak to me in Italian so I also learnt the local dialect.

TestaRossa

Yeah, lucky you POSH knowing how to speak Italian on the day you arrived! I worship at your feet....Stop being a smart bottom... Even now I'll pass the job of speaking to the Utilities to someone else when I can - I've discovered the fastest way not to get anything done is to try to speak to them in bad Italian. I was 6 weeks without ADSL the first summer here and yes, I was the one calling Telecomm and being fobbed off, an Italian friend called and 3 days later an engineer came out and it was fixed....