locutorio
English translation: long-distance phoning centre
| 12:33 Oct 3, 2000 |
| Spanish to English translations [PRO] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| ||||||
|  Selected response from: David Moore (X) | ||||||
Grading comment
| |||||||
Answers
10 mins
telephone booth Explanation: I have only heard them called telephone booths, and it is so found in my Collins Spanish dictionary. However, these places are rare in North America and more common in Europe. Good Luck. |
| |
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
43 mins
locutorio Explanation: This is not exactly a phone booth; it does not include only one phone. It is a big room with many pay phones, or with many small phone booths. They exist in South America, among other places. The equivalent term in English seems to be the same. In the British Council's website that gives information on Argentina, they refer to these as "locutorio" in English. Here's the sentence from that website: "If you need to make phone calls, specially international calls, we recomend that you use a locutorio. These are situated all over the centre of large cities and offer the normal rates for telephone calls instead of the high prices hotels charge." Also, the Survival Guide to Madrid and Barcelona gave: "The best way of phoning home is from one of the locutorios run by the national phone operator Telefónica. You are allocated a cabin with a phone and unit counter from which you can make as many calls as you like, to be paid afterwards (in cash or by credit card). This is slightly cheaper than phone boxes and a lot cheaper than phoning from hotels or commercial locutorios." The cyber cafes we visit on the internet are the "locutorios de internet", and they have a bunch of desks with computers that people can use. Reference: http://www.britcoun.org/argentina/english/infoexch/visitors_... Reference: http://www.soton.ac.uk/~mdaniel/General.html |
| |
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
1 hr
call stations or calling stations. Explanation: These are virtually branch offices of the Cía Telefónica Nacional de España where people can make long-distance calls, send faxes, or even make local calls, and there are several booths or "cabinas" in a large room. They are made available for people without phones, foreign residents, tourists, etc. |
| |
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
1 hr
Public Telecommunications Hall. Explanation: Regards. Luis Luis |
| |
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
12 hrs
mkarra is correct - but I'd say telefonica Explanation: The entire time I lived in Mexico we never had a phone, We could make local calls from the seminary next door but for any long distance calls everyone went to what we called the \\\"phone company\\\" (in another town) - like mkarra said, a big room with 5-6 phone booths. You gave the number to the \\\"operator\\\" ( a secretary more or less) and sat on a bench until a booth was cleared and your call went through and the \\\"operator\\\" would tell you to go to such and such booth. When you were done she told you how much you owed. Mind you, I lived in the outskirts of Mexico City and for all practical purposes would\\\'ve given ( and do give) my address as Mexico DF - so you have to imagine that in the outback and most of Central and South America it is the same. In fact , here in the US I\\\'ve had to (as a translator) contact family members in Mexico (death, etc.) and that\\\'s the way it\\\'s handled - you call the \\\"telefonica\\\" and someone there agrees to contact the person and have them back there to talk on the phone at such and such an hour which is when you call back to make contact. Anyway, it\\\'s considered a part of the phone company and as far as I know is called la telefonica - that\\\'s the only phrase I\\\'ve ever heard it referred as - but then I\\\'m limited to Mexican spanish. This is probably a lot more than you wanted to know - but you can never know too much.....Good luck to you! |
| |
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
14 hrs
long-distance phoning centre Explanation: This is my best attempt. The problem with using "locutorio" in English is that it isn't English. It works in tourist guides to help people find one, but it wouldn't work for your English-speaking audience, as only people who have been to Spain or Latin America would know what it is, and even then you can't be sure. Stick to English, I say. |
| |
Grading comment
| ||
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
1 day 2 hrs
(international) call centre Explanation: This is the way they are called in London, beware as this might be too local. But this city is definitely the place to be for these bussinesses, due to the loads of immigrants coming here. With Telefonica going private in Spain, and the market finally liberalised, these call centres have started to appear over there too, offering international rates which are much cheaper than the traditional locutorios started by Telefonica years ago. My Iraqui landlord runs an International Call Centre downstairs! :) |
| |
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.
You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.
KudoZ™ translation help
The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.
See also:
Search millions of term translations