I called 119 and was hung up on twice - Germany

I know that I need to speak better German, BUT I had to call 119 and got an operator that did not speak English. As a stupid American, knowing how 911 centers operate in the US, I assumed that they would have had someone available that spoke English. Every major city in the US has staff available 24 hours a day that speak German, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese...you name it. Instead of at least trying to find someone, I got hung up on twice. The third time, I got someone who spoke perfect English and was able to assist me. I figure he was probably sitting 5 ft away from the other two. Then, I started thinking about all the tourists every year that come to Munich that don't speak German. What if something really bad happened and they had to call 119 and got one of the a-holes? It was really quite shocking.

Perhaps you should have tried 112 instead.

119 is reserved for those who've had too much kimchi or ganja.

Oh dear. It is always best to make a note of the emergency numbers of a country before going there. Had you phoned 112 Fire brigade (also all emergencies),
or 110 for the police. You will find they speak English.

112 is the standard emergency tel number for the European Union..(of course there are also other emergency numbers)

You said it, not me.

Liar.

You know this because you've actually been to the centers?
woof.

BD--that article in your link is from 1992. Perhaps things have improved since then?

I have to ask - what does dialing 119 actually do?

Just for your info: all 110 and 112 lines will connect you to an English speaker if you request one.

BD why are you always so aggressive?

http://www.explorechicago.org/city/en/trav...y_services.html

Really. I'm wondering exactly who it was he talked to and how they were able to help him. Maybe he'll come back and tell us.

This happened to me two years ago at Oktoberfest. I was with a German friend who wasn't feeling particularly well after partaking in the beer-swilling festivities at the Augustiner tent. She threw up a couple of times as we exited the fest grounds and then looked like she was about ready to pass out. She begged me to call 112 and get her an ambulance. So, I pulled out my handy and attempted to make the call the best I could. I guess they didn't like my drunken shitty German and promptly hung up on me. Twice. Dealing with this situation sort of jarred me out of my own drunken stuper. After trying to console my friend, as she sat there on the curb in her Dirndl moaning and slobbering, I looked up and noticed a first aide station right inside the Oktoberfest grounds. By the time I relayed this information back to my friend (30 seconds at the most), she had thrown up again and informed me that she was feeling a lot better.

Friggin' chicks

Logically 119 would be the opposite of 911 - you call them up and they don't help you.

As far as I know 119 is the fire & rescue emergency number in the PRC as well as in Japan, where it's also the emergency number for earthquake-related incidents ...

Almost said woof just now

LMAO here! :-)

just scroll a bit to the Notrufnummern http://www.goethe.de/INS/JP/kyo/uun/rei/wtn/deindex.htm .needing some 'medizinische versorgung'?...(in Japan)

Oh,and yes,they speak English too...

Yeah, but what does it do HERE if you call it?

That Public Enemy song is stuck in my head now. Instead of 911 it's "119 is a joke"

I know everyone said it but its 112. I do not know any german and I've called it before with no problems.

Interesting - the Wiki site says:


Since when was 999 the old number? Was there some official number change and marketing campaign that I missed whilst living in Germany perhaps? Emergency numbers are still printed as 999 as far as I have seen too.

Crap. Now I want to dial 119 just to see what happens.

I dont find 119 in any of the notrufnummer listings either...

hey fraufruit, let us know what happens

I'm too chicken. I think they will come out of the phone and bite me.

I just read that they do not allow anymore to use the phone without an active sim-card. To track the caller that is.

If it was how it was, we could just try it for fun... without the sim card...

999 is still the emergency number in the UK, but 112 will also work

112 is the official number EU wide.

In Ireland and the UK you can still use the old 999 number and it will still work.
It's unlikely there will be much of a push to promote the new number.

That is, of course, after you have been actually put through. Last year, when I had to call the cops, because some gangsters had decided to have a shootout in front of our house at 7am on a Tuesday morning, I was on hold for 15 minutes before I got a real life person. This was in LA. Maybe I'll try shouting some German into the phone next time and somehow magically get transferred to a grumpy Bavarian.

depends on the neighbourhood. There's a big difference, depending on whether you call from Westwood or Inglewood, Downtown or Santa Monica.

if 118 is the information number and not emergency, then 119 is probably also a service number like the shipping forecast or the cricket scores. But I'm too scared to ring it in case I get shouted at!
118 is an emergency number in Switzerland.

Maybe 119 is a typo and it should read 110?

the OP mentioned 119 twice - twas no mistake. is it a tease?

119 is the police. they just get mad, insult you, and then hang up on you.

Mothers take note! Bad Doggie is the result of not breastfeeding your children.

Liar? Are you serious. And wow finding an article from '92. How long did you spend looking for this on the internet just so you could look like an a$%hole?

And yet it isn't. How many times do you need to be told this before you believe it?

Damn it! My bad.. I meant 110

Either way, got the police then got hung up on...twice.

Simply hanging up on someone is not acceptable and I would lodge a complaint.
However, I do question this claim that the Chicago emergency service or any other emergency service anywhere can provide their services immediately in 140 different languages.

I wonder if they speak Icelandic. Anyway, I don't expect people to speak English here at all. I tried it a bit when I was here a year ago on vacation and found that it's a hit and miss. Younger people sometimes speak a bit of English but a lot of people don't, at least not officially until they are drunk. Ideally they should make it a requirement to work for 110 or 112 that you speak English but hey, this is Germany

I would think they have a contract with a company that has translators available by phone (not quite what "immediately" implies though). It also means that the desired language must quickly identified (maybe with VR).

I reckon that "Help", "Heart attack" ,"Not breathing" ,"Gunshot", "Blue" and "Rape" are understood in a reasonable amount of time when one dials the correct number.

Or just "arrrgghhhhhhhhh"

Only 140? The Toronto emergency 911 service provides free-of-charge instant access to over 150 languages according to their official web site. They do it by using a company called Language Line Services which provides three-way interpretation. Actually, it is now over 170 languages at last count.


Yep, you can call 911 in Toronto and speak Icelandic. It's on the list.

Sweet but I'd probably first have to know enough English to explain to the operator that it's Icelandic I am speaking

Oh, and you can also get non-emergency info and assistance from the City of Toronto using any of the languages on the list. It isn't just for emergencies.

I'd like to think that one of the first phrases that most visitors and immigrants learn is "Do you speak ... <name of mother tongue>?" It was certainly one of the first phrases I'd look up when travelling to a country where I didn't know the language. Right up there with "Where's the bathroom/toilet?" and "One coffee, please".

(In Icelandic, "Where's the toilet?" is "Hvar er klósettið?" - very useful!
"Do you speak English?" - "Talarðu ensku?" )

Yeah but if you do this in the local language, especially if you do it too well, people will not believe that you don't speak it.

Years ago, I did a summer in Nordjobb in Finland (Nordjobb=Nordic nation program helping young people find summer jobs). They gave us a booklet with the most common phrases in Finnish. I'll be damned if I remember too much of it anymore but some were "en ymmärrä" (me not understand), "minä en puhu suomea" (me not speak Finnish), and "olen Islantilainen" (me Icelandic) or the equivalent of other nordic countries there of. One of our Norwegians once helped a lady who had fallen down and she started talking very fast in Finnish and he kept repeating his 3 sentences "en ymmärrä, minä en puhu suomea, olen norjalainen" again and again and it took her a long time to figure out that was really the only thing he could say. When she finally switched over to swedish she said: "But you DO speak Finnish".

Vancouver Emergency Services also use the Language Line.

This is THE new emergency number in the UK