Postal and telephone services - basic vocabulary

POSTAL AND TELEPHONE SERVICES - Basic Vocabulary

Letter – scrisoare

Ordinary letter – scrisoare simpla

Registered letter – scrisoare recomandata

Envelope – plic

Postcard – carte postala

Picture card – ilustrata

Stamp – timbru

Telegram / wire – telegrama

Inland telegram – telegrama interna

Greetings telegram – telegrama de felicitare

Money-order / postal order – mandat postal

Parcel – pachet, colet

Scales – balanta, cantar

Printed matter – imprimate

Radio licence – abonament radio

Television licence – abonament TV

Old-age pension – pensie de batranete

Allowance – pensie (alimentara), ajutor (de boala etc.)

Postmark – stampila postei

Form – formular

Receipt – chitanta, recipisa

Post-office – oficu postal

Head post-office – posta centrala

Branch post-office – oficiu postal secundar, filiala

Dead-letter office – servicul scrisorilor fara adresa

Telegraph office – oficiu telegrafic

Inland postal service – servicii postale in interiorul tarii

Savings account – cont de depuneri

Letter-box – cutie de scrisori

Pillar box – cutie de scrisori (in Anglia)

Mail – posta, scrisori

Mail collection – ridicarea scrisorilor

Mail delivery – distribuirea scrisorilor

Postman - postas

Post-office clerk – functionar la posta

Postmaster – diriginte de posta

Operator – telefonist(a)

Sender – expeditor

Addressee – destinatar

Addressee unknown – adresantul necunoscut

Return address – adresa expeditorului

P.O. Box / P.O.B. – casuta postala

Underpaid – francat insuficient

Special issue – marca – emisiune speciala

Reply pre-paid – raspuns platit

Lower rate/ reduced charge – taxa redusa

Declared value – valoare declarata

Express delivery – expeditie express

Payee – primitorul unui mandat postal

Telephone – telefon

Private line telephone – telefon necuplat

Party-line telephone – telefon cuplat

Residential / home telephone – telefon la domiciliu / acasa

Business telephone – telefon la serviciu

Telephone exchange – centrala telefonica

Telephone box / call-box / booth – cabina telefonica

Extension – interior

PROIECT: Absurdul - categorie estetico-literara derivata din cultivarea in fertilele PROIECT: INCEPUTURILE LITERATURII CULTE (primii scriitori „profesionisti”)

Telephone directory – carte telefonica

Call – convorbire telefonica

Local call – convorbire locala

Trunk call / long-distance call – convorbire interurbana

Transferred charge call – convorbire cu taxa inversa

Alarm call – apel la ora indicata de abonat

Emergency call – convorbire in caz de urgenta

Fixed-time call – convorbire cu intelegere

Figure – cifra

Code number – prefixul telefonic al unei localitati

Dial – disc de telefon

Receiver – receptor

Pay tone – ton dupa introducerea monedei

Pip – semnal intermitent

Purring – semnal continuu

Enquiries – Informatii

Maintenance Department – Deranajamente

Fee – taxa (pentru un serviciu)

Charge – pret, cost, taxa

Extra charge / additional charge – taxa suplimentara

Loss – pierdere

Damage – stricaciune

Compensation – compensatie

Record – evidenta, dovada

To send     by surface mail a trimite simpla

a letter by air mail o scrisoare par avion

by registered post recomandata

To post – a trimite, a expedia (prin posta)

To carry – a duce

To reach / to arrive at – a ajunge la

To return – a trimite inapoi

To write / to send home – a scrie / a trimite acasa

To deliver – a distribui

To collect – a strange, a ridica

To sort – a sorta

To stamp – a timbra

To stick a stamp – a lipi un timbru

To cost – a costa

To seal – a sigila

To wire / to cable – a telegrafia; a telegrafia peste ocean

To take a letter to the post-office – a duce o scrisoare la posta

To weigh – a cantari

To claim payment – a pretinde / cere despagubiri

To save – a economisi

To deposit – a depune (bani etc.)

To (tele)phone/ ring up/ call (up)/ to make a (telephone) call – a suna / a chema la telefon, a telefona

To look up the number – a cauta numarul

To drop / press / put the coin in(to) the slot – a introduce moneda

To dial – a forma numarul

To connect / to put through - a face / a da legatura

To lift / to pick up the receiver – a ridica receptorul

To hang up the receiver – a pune receptorul in furca

To give / to convey a message – a transmite un mesaj

To call / ring back – a suna mai tarziu

The person required – persoana cautata

The directory concerned – cartea de telefon respectiva

The line is busy / engaged – firul este ocupat

The line is free / clear – firul este liber

Hold the line, please! – ramaneti la aparat, va rog

There’s something wrong with our phone / our phone is out of order – telefonul nostru este deranjat

Wrong number – ati gresit numarul

Who is that speaking? – cine e la telefon?

Mary speaking – la telefon Mary

You are wanted on the phone – va cauta cineva la telefon

Forgive my troubling you – iarta-ma ca te deranjez

May I make use of this telephone? – pot sa folosesc telefonul?

I don’t know how to manage this automatic telephone. – nu stiu cum sa manuiesc acest telefon automat

All you have to do is to pick up the receiver, drop the coin into the slot, lift it to your ear, wait for the tone/signal, dial your number… - tot ceea ce trebuie facut este sa ridici receptorul, sa introduci fisa in aparat, sa-l duci la ureche, sa astepti tonul, sa formezi numarul…

Put the receiver down – pune receptorul jos

Press this button to get your money back – apasa pe acest buton pentru a primi banii inapoi

The coin will be returned – fisa va fi inapoiata

Try/ dial again – incearca/ formeaza numarul din nou

I hear a prolonged buzzling – aud un bazait prelungit

That’s all right. Hold the line, your number will answer in a moment (if there is anybody in there) – foarte bine. Ramai la telefon, persoana va raspunde imediat (daca acolo este cineva)

The phone is out of order/dead – telefonul este deranjat/”mort”

What if there is a non-automatic phone? – cum procedez daca nu este un telefon automat?

The procedure is almost the same but instead of the buzzzing you’ll hear the operator calling: ‘Number please’, instead of dialling the numerals you have to ask for your number – procedeul este aproape acelasi dar in locul bazaitului vei auzi operatoarea spunand: ‘Numarul va rog’, in loc de a forma tu numerele trebuie sa ceri sa ti se dea numarul.

The moment you hear the operator’s voice just give the number you want to call – in momentul in care auzi vocea telefonistei indici numarul

Please connect me with number… - dati-mi, va rog, numarul…

Will you book the call? – doresti sa dai un aviz telefonic?

What is the rate for a three-minute call to Paris? – care este taxa pentru o convorbire de trei minute cu Parisul?

I should like to put through a trunk-call to… - as dori sa efectuez o convorbire interurbana cu…

I’m putting your call through right now – va fac legatura chiar acum

When can I get you over the phone? – cand te pot gasi la telefon?

Will you take down my number? – vrei sa-ti notezi numarul meu?

By the way, when you ring through to my office, ask the operator extension four-six – apropo, daca imi telefonezi la birou, cere-i telefonistei interior 46

Hello, is that Mr. Johnson? Yes, who is speaking? N.N. speaking – Alo, D-ul J.? Da, cine e la telefon? N.N. la aparat

I can’t hear you… I can’t understand you… I can’t understand a word… nu va aud bine…. Nu va inteleg… nu inteleg nici un cuvant

Someone is interfering… someone else cut in… e cineva pe fir… a intrat altcineva pe fir

Would you like leave a message? – doriti sa lasati un mesaj?

THE POST-OFFICE

The Post-Office has many duties and has hundreads of thousands of officials: postmasters who are in charge of post-offices, post-office clerks and many postmen. It is the postman who brings many items of news to everybody, going round from house to house, and droppping the letters into our letter-boxes.

The Post-Office not only delivers and sends letters and other mail, but also controls the telegraphs and telephones, issues television and radio licences and registers them, and pays out pensions and allowances.

Do you want to send a telegram? Just ask for a telegram form at the counter and fill it in. A telegram reaches the addressee in two or three hours. Remember: the charge depends on the number of words; so try to convey your message in as few words as possible. You can also dictate a telegram over the telephone.

If you want to post an ordinary letter, a postcard or a small parcel, you needn’t go to the post-office, you can drop it into the nearest letter-box.

In Britain these boxes are either fixed in the wall, or they are iron cylinders painted red, called pillar-boxes, standing by the kerbstone. The time of the next collection is indicated on a little plate, which is changed by the postman every time he comes to collect letters. In cities pillar-boxes are emptied several times a day , but in villages there may be only one or two collections.

The letter whose receivers are unknown are either returned to the sender or carried to the dead-letter office.

If you want your letter to arrive more quickly than by ordinary post, you can send it by Air Mail.

When you send a parcel, you hand it to the assistant, who weights it on the scales. You pay according to the weight of the parcel and the clerk gives you a receipt. Then, if the parcel is lost or stolen, you can claim payment from the post-office.

Do you want to have a conversation with a friend of yours who lives in another town? Then you make a long-distance call. You either ask the operator to connect you, or, if your friend lives in a bigger town you may dial the call yourself. You dial first the code number for the town that you are calling and then the number of the subscriber.

If you make a local call, you go into the telephone-box and lift the receiver. When you hear the dialling tone indicating that nothing is wrong on the line, dial the number you want. When you hear rapid pips, you press in the coin, and then you can speak.

Extra

Letters. In Britain letters are brought from pillar-boxes to a Head or Branch Post-Office where they are sorted. Then they are carried to their destination and delivered. In towns there are several collections and deliveries a day. The letters whose receivers are unknown are either returned to the senders or carried to the dead-letter office. There are also registered letters and printed matter.

Letters arrive more quickly by registered post and compensation is offered in case of loss or damage.

Documents and papers of little or no monetary value may be sent by recorded delivery. Recorded delivery is particularly suitable when a record of posting and delivery is needed rather then compensation for loss.

Telephone. When you are not a telephone subscriber, you must go to a call-box. If you cannot use the dial telephone, the exchange puts you through to your correspondent, but you must not forget to say your number figure by figure and remember that the figure o (nought) is read as the letter ‘o’.