using your computer
in italy - part four

software in english

computer repairs in rome

apple store and service in rome

Help! My computer only speaks Italian !!

If you don't bring your own computer from home with you, or if you do, but it crashes after you get it here, you may find yourself having to use an Italian computer at some point. When this happens, unless you know your applications and keystrokes blindfold, it's a bit like going back to DOS.

It's Windows alright, but all the menus are written in Italian. Although most items in the interface are all in the same places you're used to seeing them, it can be tricky making the adjustment, and you'll find that having to hunt through the unintelligible Italian menus for the right command can take up twice as much time as normal to produce a simple document. For something trickier like fathoming out and responding to an error message, installing software, configuring an email account or learning a new application, it can get downright upsetting. If you don't speak good Italian, there's only one sure cure for the problem - Bring your English software with you.

Obviously all the software apps and Operating Systems sold in stores here are in Italian. So bring all your installation discs (or tested and working copies of them) to Italy when you come, in case you have a system crash and need to reinstall stuff.

What are your options if you buy a new computer in Italy? Usually it all works out okay. The OS will be in Italian. If you install an English software application on an Italian Windows system the English Application will read out okay in English. And vice versa, Italian software on an English Windows OS will show up in Italian. Usually, in neither case will the language of the installed application disturb the language of the Operating System.

However, sometimes the Helpfiles, dialogue boxes or error messages for an application will display in the wrong language, (ie, Italian instead of English, or vice versa). That can be a bummer if you don’t know the application well and need the helpfiles a lot. Don’t screw up an Italian friend’s Italian computer by installing your English applications on it. He may not thank you for the quirky results of only being able to read his helpfiles for Excel in English… But often, it’s okay and the two languages co-exist on the same computer quite happily. Just be careful though - Don’t break what you don’t know how to fix, and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

What is fun to do is to install the Italian version of Microsoft Office (or one of it’s component apps) onto an American or English Windows machine that already has English MS Office on it. If you do it right (and neither me nor RomeBuddy accept any responsibility for this, you’re on your own), you can then uninstall the Italian version of Office again, but it will leave the Italian spellchecker dictionary on your hardrive, usually in the ‘Microsoft Shared’ folder. This is very handy, as it turns your computer into a bilingual word-processor – You can then make a template that always spellchecks documents made from it in Italian. Really neat for translations.

We don’t specifically know of a retail outlet for English Windows software in Rome, but as soon as we find out, we’ll let you know. Try the Universities here. But, there is another option - Buy a Mac.

Apple Macintosh dealers often tend to be small, friendly, caring, family affairs. FBM in Via Flaminia certainly is – That’s where I bought my Mac, and a major factor in buying a Mac and buyng it from FBM was because they were able to supply it to me with the English Operating System pre-installed. They also keep English versions of most popular Mac applications in stock, and they're salespeople also speak good English, so communication isn't a problem. The other advantage of this store is that it's in central Rome, so you won't have to travel miles to get to it. They also sell the iPod here as well of course.

A neat, elegant and instant solution to your English software problem in Rome, and also a nice way to give Bill Gates a little kick up the ass. Even you swear you’ll never buy an Apple, if you’re really stuck in Italy for a computer that will work in English, this is probably not a solution you can afford to ignore. Give it some thought.

Italian keyboard

One other anomaly of the bilingual computer game is that Italian keyboards are different from English ones. A few different characters and a slightly different layout. In Windows and Macintosh however, you can change the international keyboard layouts in the Control Panel. Check it out.

This doesn't always give perfect results though. Although my Mac runs on the English operatng system software, the keyboard it came with is the one supplied for the Italian market. If I set it up as an Italian keyboard, the English OS serves up the wrong characters, but if I set it as an English keyboard there are a couple of minor punctuation characters it refuses to type. 99 percent of the time not a problem, but sometimes a slight annoyance.

computer repair

Good question. If it’s a Mac, take it to FBM, they’re official Apple agents, and I trust them. If it’s a PC, I’m sorry, I haven’t a clue. (make a note in your diary “Today, Romebuddy let me down”. Sorry, I’m ashamed of myself, I should know and I don’t.

I have an Italian friend here who actually fixed my old PC free, as a favour. Maybe you can find a friend too. Ask around at work, (if you’ll be working in Italy), or try your local suburban computer rip-off joint.

One thing in your favour though is that computer prices are steadily dropping very nicely. It might be more convenient for you to just buy a new one in Rome. This will also sort out several of the problems we've mentioned in these computer articles, ie, voltage and plug differences, incompatible modems etc. Just start afresh with a new Italian PC that’s all ready to rock and roll in Rome.

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your computer in italy