I’m in Boston at the moment (the original, not the the colonial imitator) meeting my accountant. I’m staying with my parents and leveraging their supply of leftover Christmas cake.
Thousands of immigrants have arrived in Boston in recent years, much to the advantage of the old place. They’re Poles and Portuguese, mostly, come to work on the land.
Walking round town, I’m tremendously struck by the can-do, enterprising spirit of the Poles in particular. Polish cafés and delis are springing up all over. But these guys aren’t just pitching to their compatriots - they’re after the locals, too, as we can see from this ad in the window of Grill Janosik, in West Street:
The pic isn’t very clear (rainy day, taken with my phone), but the copy says, in English -
The first traditional mountain style Polish restaurant
Only traditional food
The taste of Poland
Friendly atmosphere
Come and try it!!!
Sometimes, when we’re trying to adjust to a foreign language and culture, it’s the most trivial habits of mind that linger longest.
What am I talking about? The phone number at the top of the sheet, of course. They’ve written it 01205 36 77 46. A Brit would almost always write (01205) 367746 - with brackets around the area code and no spacing in the local number. Poles say phone numbers differently, too, reflecting the way they write them. A Brit would read the local part of that number as ‘three six seven, seven four six’. English-speaking Poles seem to favour ‘thirty-six, seventy-seven, forty-six’ or ‘three six, seven seven, four six’.
Now you might think my blogging about this is the sign of a geeky and obsessive mind. I think it’s fascinating. Why has the restaurant owner taken the trouble to write an ad in English, but retained the Polish way of writing the phone number? Was it a conscious or unconscious decision, or an accident? Will it affect the way people perceive his business?
Noticing little things like this, and thinking about them, is crucial to understanding the way people think. And understanding the way people think is crucial to the business of copywriting.
Comment by Ian Brodie — January 21, 2008 @ 11:39 am
Hi Bill,
The French chunk up their telephone numbers in the same way. And apparently it’s easier to remember these strings of two digit numbers than doing it in threes or other combinations.
So the Poles might be bringing us a better way of doing things with phone numbers too.
Ian
Comment by Bill — January 21, 2008 @ 12:18 pm
I think you’re right.
What interests me is the way we adapt when working within a foreign culture. We change some aspects of our behaviour, but stick to others. Do we do it just because we have rational grounds for thinking our way is better?
(I quite like their grub, too - I ate at a Polish restaurant in Nottingham a while back. Very tasty pork.)
Comment by Anya — February 22, 2008 @ 10:15 pm
Hi Bill. I can assure you, that writing the phone number that way, was an unconscious desicion. To mis-quote Princess Bride “I’ve known too many Poles”.
Actually, an old friend of mine owns this restaurant (his name is Greg Pacho), and I’m sure he appreciates the publicity.
Saying hello from Minneaplis - Anya
Comment by admin — February 22, 2008 @ 10:17 pm
I’ve had so many emails about this post, Anya, that I’m going to visit the place next time I’m in Boston