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Apolyton! Help me help someone else (and, no I ain't asking for money)

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  • Apolyton! Help me help someone else (and, no I ain't asking for money)

    No, this isn't another one of Lancer's little schemes Someone I know suffers from multiple sclerosis. She asked me to translate the following letter from French to English. Could you please check it out quickly and tell me if its readable and point out the mistakes in it? Its not very long. And you may learn something about life in a wheelchair. Thanks!

    We hereby wish to inform you about our trials and tribulations during a cruise in the Caribbean aboard the ***, which left Fort Lauderdale on the ***.

    To begin with, you should know that we are two people suffering from multiple sclerosis. Even though we can walk a little and climb a few steps (but we need some support), most of the time we have to use our wheelchairs to move around. I had previously the occasion to go on two cruises with the company ***, in the Mediterranean and Alaska, and there weren’t any problems whatsoever with me using a wheelchair during excursions.

    We were accompanied by two other persons, *** and *** ****, both of whom don’t suffer from multiple sclerosis. We made reservations for this cruise through a travel agency called ***. We took care of informing the travel agent of our health problem and that we required that we should be able to go on the excursions to the islands.

    In order to make sure that the fact that we use wheelchairs wouldn’t cause any problems and that everything would work out as we expected, I contacted the representatives for both the travel agency *** and for the *** Company in *** to get more information about the trip, notably about the excursions. They assured me that there wouldn’t be any problems. The only excursions that could possibly be cancelled are those places that can only be reached by tender and that it was the captain who had the last word about the security of “normal” passengers. But tenders aren’t an obstacle as far as we’re concerned, we can use them without any problem. And we chose carefully our excursions so that they do not ask of us too much physical activity.

    But an unpleasant surprise was waiting for us when the ship berthed for the excursion to Bonaire. Without even a hello, we were told that wheelchairs wouldn’t be allowed, under the pretext that there wasn’t enough room on the bus for wheelchairs. And even if they could find the room, there wasn’t enough time to get the wheelchairs out, get them in and then get them out again, etc. Thus we had to stay in the harbour with our travel companion *** ****. But since she only has two hands, she can only push on wheelchair at a time. Needless to say, we were feeling like second-class citizens.

    Following this, we went to the tour desk to ask about the other excursions. We learned that it was impossible for us to go to Dominica, Grenada, half of the trips to St-Thomas were off-limits, so was the glass boat of the Princess Cays. Because of the lack of proper equipment capable of accommodating wheelchairs, the majority of our excursions had to be cancelled.

    We had planned a four-person trip, but it never happened. Since we didn’t want our travel companions to cancel their excursions for our sake, we had to manage on our own without any help. What should have been a period of rest turned out to be a quite intense exercise as well as a disappointment, all this topped by the feeling that we were second-class travelers.

    We feel that we were the victims of a misrepresentation by both *** agency and the *** company. We hold you jointly responsible for the material loss and the mental distress we suffered because you neglected to give us the correct information.

    We give you notice to reimburse the cost of the cruise, the amount of which was *** in the 15 days after receiving this letter, otherwise we’ll take the appropriate measures, without further warning or delay.
    Please act accordingly,
    Again, thanks!
    Let us be lazy in everything, except in loving and drinking, except in being lazy – Lessing

  • #2
    Only thing i have is I'm not sure "tender" is the right word. Or maybe I just don't know the ship term...
    "The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
    Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "

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    • #3
      Better than a lot of English speakers.
      I'm consitently stupid- Japher
      I think that opinion in the United States is decidedly different from the rest of the world because we have a free press -- by free, I mean a virgorously presented right wing point of view on the air and available to all.- Ned

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      • #4
        Typo:

        push on wheelchair at a time
        should be: "...push one wheelchair at a time..."

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Asher
          Only thing i have is I'm not sure "tender" is the right word. Or maybe I just don't know the ship term...
          Its the word they use. Maybe you were thinking of a dinghy?
          Let us be lazy in everything, except in loving and drinking, except in being lazy – Lessing

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Zkribbler
            Typo:


            should be: "...push one wheelchair at a time..."
            Fixed. Thanks
            Let us be lazy in everything, except in loving and drinking, except in being lazy – Lessing

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            • #7
              That totally sucks. POst the name of the cruise line and travel agent and I'll spam the fvck out of them

              in French of course
              Monkey!!!

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Japher
                That totally sucks. POst the name of the cruise line and travel agent and I'll spam the fvck out of them

                in French of course
                What is French for spam, "porque falsie?"

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                • #9
                  Monkey!!!

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    We hereby wish to inform you about our trials and tribulations during a cruise in the Caribbean aboard the ***, which left Fort Lauderdale on the ***.

                    I'd not word it this way, if it's an official letter; this is not formal enough.

                    "To whom it may concern: (or addressed specifically if you have a name)
                    We hereby wish to notify you of the distress we were caused during our recent cruise in the Caribbean aboard the ***, which left Fort Lauderdale on the ***."
                    That's how I'd write it, but better would be for one of our many lawyers to word that first few words - I know that there is a lawyerese for that part, but I don't know it myself.

                    To begin with, you should know that we are two people suffering from multiple sclerosis. We can walk a short distance and climb a few steps with some support, but most of the time we have to use our wheelchairs to move around. I had previously the occasion to go on two cruises with the company ***, in the Mediterranean and Alaska, and encountered no problems whatsoever using a wheelchair during excursions.

                    Edited for clarity/english grammar. The beginning could also be done in lawyerese if you wanted (but if you prefer to leave it in less lawyery terms, this is fine).


                    We were accompanied by two other persons, *** and *** ****, who do not suffer from multiple sclerosis. We made reservations for this cruise through a travel agency called ***. We took care of informing the travel agent of our health problem and that we required the ability to go on the excursions to the islands.


                    Again, minor edits only.


                    In order to make sure that the fact that we use wheelchairs wouldn’t cause any problems and that everything would work out as we expected, I contacted the representatives for both the travel agency *** and for the *** Company in *** to get more information about the trip, notably about the excursions. They assured me that there wouldn’t be any problems, and that the only excursions that could possibly be canceled were those places that can only be reached by tender, and that it was the captain who had the last word about the security of “normal” passengers. Tenders aren’t an obstacle as far as we’re concerned, as we can use them without any problem. We chose our excursions carefully so that they do not ask of us too much physical activity.

                    But an unpleasant surprise was waiting for us when the ship berthed for the excursion to Bonaire. Without even a hello, we were told that wheelchairs wouldn’t be allowed, under the pretext that there wasn’t enough room on the bus for wheelchairs, and even if they could find the room, there wasn’t enough time to get the wheelchairs out, get them in and then get them out again. Thus we had to stay in the harbour with our travel companion *** ****. But since she only has two hands, she can only push one wheelchair at a time. Needless to say, we felt like second-class citizens.

                    Following this, we went to the tour desk to ask about the other excursions. We learned that it was impossible for us to go to Dominica or Grenada, half of the trips to St-Thomas were off-limits, and so was the glass boat of the Princess Cays. Because of the lack of proper equipment capable of accommodating wheelchairs, the majority of our excursions had to be canceled.

                    We had planned a four-person trip, but it never happened. Since we didn’t want our travel companions to cancel their excursions for our sake, we had to manage on our own without any help. What should have been a period of rest turned out to be a quite intense exercise as well as a disappointment, all this topped by the feeling that we were second-class travelers.

                    We feel that we were the victims of a misrepresentation by both *** agency and the *** company. We hold you jointly responsible for the material loss and the mental distress we suffered because you neglected to give us the correct information.

                    We give you notice to reimburse the cost of the cruise, the amount of which was *** in the 15 days after receiving this letter, otherwise we’ll take the appropriate measures, without further warning or delay.
                    Please act accordingly,


                    A few minor edits above. The last two paragraphs you are very lawyery in, which might be good or might be not good. I assume they've already discussed this over the phone with the customer service reps? If not, you might want to try that first before going this route - it's probably more likely to get your money back than to write this letter; as you are very lawyery at the end, so to speak, there's a significant risk you will have this forwarded straight to legal, and rather than just reimbursing your friend as a customer service gesture - which i'd find very likely to happen - they might decide that they can't do that legally (or aren't obligated to).

                    Either way, a big to that cruise line...
                    <Reverend> IRC is just multiplayer notepad.
                    I like your SNOOPY POSTER! - While you Wait quote.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Thanks a lot snoopy, that was a huge help! There were a couple of sentences that didn't feel quite right and you spotted them right away. My aunt wrote the french version and she's a lawyer. I wasn't sure I had translated the lawyerese correctly. Thanks again!
                      Let us be lazy in everything, except in loving and drinking, except in being lazy – Lessing

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        French for spam is French. French ARE spam, walking around.
                        Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.
                        "Hating America is something best left to Mobius. He is an expert Yank hater.
                        He also hates Texans and Australians, he does diversify." ~ Braindead

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                        • #13
                          I'm not a lawyer, but I grew up with two for parents, so I recognize it but can't necessarily write it...
                          <Reverend> IRC is just multiplayer notepad.
                          I like your SNOOPY POSTER! - While you Wait quote.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Most edits in opening paragraphs.
                            We wish to inform you about our trials and tribulations during a cruise in the Caribbean aboard the ***, which left Fort Lauderdale on the ***.

                            To begin with, you should know that we are two people suffering from multiple sclerosis. Even though we can walk a little and climb a few steps (with a little support) most of the time we have to use our wheelchairs to move around. I have gone on two cruises with the company ***, in the Mediterranean and Alaska, and there weren’t any problems whatsoever with me using a wheelchair during excursions.

                            We were accompanied by two other persons, *** and *** ****, both of whom don’t suffer from multiple sclerosis. We made reservations for this cruise through a travel agency called ***. We took care to inform the travel agent of our health problem and that we required that we should be able to go on the excursions to the islands.

                            In order to make sure of the fact that we use wheelchairs wouldn’t cause any problems and that everything would work out as we expected, I contacted the representatives for both the travel agency *** and for the *** Company in *** to get more information about the trip, notably about the excursions. They assured me that there wouldn’t be any problems. The only excursions that could possibly be cancelled were to those places that can only be reached by tender and that it was the captain who had the last word about the security of “normal” passengers. But tenders aren’t an obstacle as far as we’re concerned, we can use them without any problem. And we chose carefully our excursions so that they do not ask of us too much physical activity.

                            But an unpleasant surprise was waiting for us when the ship berthed for the excursion to Bonaire. Without even a hello, we were told that wheelchairs wouldn’t be allowed, under the pretext that there wasn’t enough room on the bus for wheelchairs. And even if they could find the room, there wasn’t enough time to get the wheelchairs out, get them in and then get them out again, etc. Thus we had to stay in the harbour with our travel companion *** ****. But since she only has two hands, she can only push one wheelchair at a time. Needless to say, we were feeling like second-class citizens.

                            Following this, we went to the tour desk to ask about the other excursions. We learned that it was impossible for us to go to Dominica, Grenada, half of the trips to St-Thomas were off-limits, so was the glass boat of the Princess Cays. Because of the lack of proper equipment capable of accommodating wheelchairs, the majority of our excursions had to be cancelled.

                            We had planned a four-person trip, but it never happened. Since we didn’t want our travel companions to cancel their excursions for our sake, we had to manage on our own without any help. What should have been a period of rest turned out to be a quite intense exercise as well as a disappointment, all this topped by the feeling that we were second-class travelers.

                            We feel that we were the victims of a misrepresentation by both *** agency and the *** company. We hold you jointly responsible for the material loss and the mental distress we suffered because you neglected to give us the correct information.

                            We give you notice to reimburse the cost of the cruise, the amount of which was *** in the 15 days after receiving this letter, otherwise we’ll take the appropriate measures, without further warning or delay.
                            Please act accordingly,
                            (\__/)
                            (='.'=)
                            (")_(") This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into your signature to help him gain world domination.

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                            • #15
                              They were in Fort Lauderdale and they didn't come see me? I'm insulted! I live right by the port, too.
                              Christianity: The belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree...

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