Quote:
Originally Posted by Tony LEE
Quite effective in some countries is just to smile and nod and shrug and obviously not have a clue what they are saying - but of course that is becoming less useful now that many have smart phones and use google translate.
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Well, they don't know what the quality of the translation is, you can still "misunderstand" what Google translate says. Type something back that doesn't even make sense in your own language but uses some words that are related to what they are saying but make no sense in the context
When we travel we have a few strategies, sometimes they get combined:
- smile, stay happy and patient, stand your ground. Waste their time. Especially useful in situations where other potential victims are passing them by while they are getting nowhere with you.
- my wife starts crying. Very few men can stand the waterworks
- my wife starts arguing and getting angry with me. This works well in places where they are not used to women making a scene in public
- ask for official paperwork for whatever they are asking you to pay
- ask to be taken to an official police station to take care of things
- threaten or pretend to call the embassy or in countries where it is available a government anti-corruption service
- pay in ways that are not money or gifts. We once got rid of a border guard that kept asking for gifts by teaching him how to say "I love you" in French to a girl. Which he promptly tried out on a cute blond at the customs office