El rentaplats no engega in Catalan
We call a repairperson about the broken dishwasher in Catalan. 6 phrases that the conversation is made of: «Bon dia. Trucava perquè el rentaplats no s'engega.» — Hello. I am calling because the dishwasher will not switch on.; «Bon dia. I què li fa exactament? Fa soroll o no fa res?» — Hello. What exactly does it do? Does it make noise or nothing at all? The conversation is predictable: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: we call a repairperson about the broken dishwasher. The conversation is short and predictable — which is exactly what makes it good for a first try: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
- Bon dia. Trucava perquè el rentaplats no s'engega.Hello. I am calling because the dishwasher will not switch on.
- Bon dia. I què li fa exactament? Fa soroll o no fa res?Hello. What exactly does it do? Does it make noise or nothing at all?
- Engega, però l'aigua no s'escalfa i els plats surten igual de bruts. Ah, i el botó no es prem bé.It switches on, but the water does not heat, and the dishes stay dirty. Ah, and the button presses badly.
- Entenc. Primer cal revisar els cables de sota. Té el manual a mà?I see. First the wires below must be checked. Do you have the manual at hand?
- El manual sí, però de cables no en sé. Pot venir avui?I have the manual, but I do not understand wires. Can you come today?
- Aquesta tarda hi som. Si no té reparació a casa, el portem al servei tècnic.We will be there in the afternoon. If it cannot be fixed at home, we will take it to the service center.
Lines one by one
| Catalan | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Bon dia. Trucava perquè el rentaplats no s'engega. | — | Hello. I am calling because the dishwasher will not switch on. |
| Bon dia. I què li fa exactament? Fa soroll o no fa res? | — | Hello. What exactly does it do? Does it make noise or nothing at all? |
| Engega, però l'aigua no s'escalfa i els plats surten igual de bruts. Ah, i el botó no es prem bé. | — | It switches on, but the water does not heat, and the dishes stay dirty. Ah, and the button presses badly. |
| Entenc. Primer cal revisar els cables de sota. Té el manual a mà? | — | I see. First the wires below must be checked. Do you have the manual at hand? |
| El manual sí, però de cables no en sé. Pot venir avui? | — | I have the manual, but I do not understand wires. Can you come today? |
| Aquesta tarda hi som. Si no té reparació a casa, el portem al servei tècnic. | — | We will be there in the afternoon. If it cannot be fixed at home, we will take it to the service center. |
How to prepare for a conversation like this
Memorizing the lines is not enough: the other person will say their own thing, not what is written. What helps more is catching the key words by ear and keeping three rescue phrases ready: “I don't understand”, “repeat, please”, “slower”.
And one more thing phrasebooks do not mention: awkwardness gets in the way more than not knowing the words.
- Fear of making mistakes gets in the way of learning a language, and it gets in the way badly. It is one of the most reliably measured findings in the entire field.checked many timesTeimouri, Goetze & Plonsky, 2019, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(2) · 19,933 participants from 23 countries; correlation with results r = −0.36.
- That fear can be dealt with — the methods have been tested and they work.checked many timesXiong et al., 2024, Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 37 studies, anxiety reduced by −0.61. Of the seven conditions examined, only age turned out to matter.
Frequently asked
How do you start a conversation in Catalan in this situation?
“Bon dia. Trucava perquè el rentaplats no s'engega.” — Hello. I am calling because the dishwasher will not switch on.. The first line in such a conversation is almost always the same, and that is the one worth learning: the other person will carry it from there.
What if you did not understand the reply?
Say “I don't understand” and “repeat, please” — both are in the rescue set. Admitting your language is still shaky almost always makes the other person more patient.
Should you memorize the dialogue?
No. It is more useful to catch the key words by ear: the other person will say their own thing, and a memorized line will not always fit their reply.