Cell Phone Sommeliers on the Way?

Japan is reportedly toying with the idea of educating and licensing "sommeliers" to help potential buyers wade through the vast sea of options available for a new cellphone purchase. "Japan's communication ministry is looking to the private sector to manage the potential nightmare exam and certification process, with children's online safety highlighted as an important part of the plan. Mobile sommelier sounds like a pretty sweet title, we can totally feel how an HTC TyTN II might be paired with an earthy unlimited plan followed by the soft nutty finish of a 200-minute a month daytime calling package."

Comments

Where's TFA?

[kabloom]

Where's the article for this story?

Too many features

[Hatta]

If you need a professional to pick out the features you need on a phone, chances are you don't need all those features in the first place. If you really needed them, you'd know enough to ask for them in the first place. These guys are just overblown salesmen trying to talk you into something you don't need. As for me, all I ask out of a phone is that it gives me a dial tone when I pick up the receiver.

Re:Too many features

[Jellybob]

SMS is a wonderful invention over here in Europe, where we're not stupid enough to let the providers charge us for receiving.

In the states I'd want it turned off as well - the thought of paying because *somebody else* wanted to get in touch with me makes me shudder... what happens if some nut job gets your number and you didn't even want the messages. Can I then call up my provider and ask for a refund?

Re:sommelier?

[gstoddart]

Why don't they use something that is related, in English, or at least a bit more understandable, do the Japanese speak French? Probably some English lit major justifying his/her degree/salary. These are probably the same people who make up all that management speak, like instead of chart or table they use 'matrix'

Because, sometimes English words don't exist which have the nuance of a foreign word -- they can lack that certain "je ne sais qua". :-P

A highly trained individual whose job it is to help you select from a wide array of choices ... I can't think of a specific word short of "expert" or "salesman" (both of which can have negative connotations, or might just lack the dignity implied by the French word) which exactly conveys what that word says. :-P

I once had a native speaker of French as me for the English word for "gourmet", to which I had to explain that we had never come up with a single word which conveyed as much as "gourmet", so we stuck with it. The word carries with it a lot of implied meaning and suggestion that aficionado or whatever wouldn't convey.

Let's face it, English is just plain littered with words which have never really been translated. Sommelier is one of them. If you need to express a particular connotation or inference which is attached to a certain word, using substitutes makes the word understandable to more people, but might lessen the actual intended meaning. Subtle nuance is something which is difficult to replace with a synonym.

Words from other languages which have been kept intact aren't that uncommon.

Cheers

An argument for consumer-protection legislation

[Animats]

What we need is not used-car salesmen with delusions of grandeur. What we need is better truth-in-advertising regulation. Like this:

• The use of the phrase "up to" or synonym thereof in connection with any service quantity is per se deceptive, unless an "at least" guaranteed value is also provided and given equal or greater prominence.
• The advertisement of an introductory rate is per se deceptive, unless the highest rate after the introductory period is also provided and given equal or greater prominence.
• Advertised rates must include all charges and taxes except for state and local sales taxes.
• Advertisements mentioning "rebates" must mention the non-rebate price more prominently than the price after rebate, unless absolutely no conditions are attached to the rebate offer and the rebate offer does not require the consumer to pay, at the time of sale, a price higher than the after-rebate price.
• Any customer contract which allows the carrier to change the terms of the contract during the period of the agreement is void as against public policy.
• Advertisements must use generic terms for features, rather than proprietary terms, to allow comparisons between vendors. (For example, "World Wide Web access" rather than "Sprint PCS Vision", and "Push to talk intercom" instead of "ReadyLink")