Caution: This iTravl experience could happen to you

November, 2007. Merriam, KS. While I've been mostly pleased with my 9-Language Electronic Translator iTravl 9C, I recently had an experience with it that should serve as a warning to other potential iTravl owners.

If this chilling account of my experience causes you to have second thoughts about becoming an iTravl owner, then so be it. The important thing is that you know ahead of time that this could happen to you.

It began innocently enough. A couple of years ago, a contractor damaged some walls in my home. That contractor subcontracted an interior finishing company to do the repairs. The work was superb and the subcontractor (Danny) made a good impression on me. He was a (legal) Mexican immigrant who spoke English as a second language and did so quite well.

Flash forward to mid October, 2007. I had a painting project I had been considering for several years here at Mindconnection headquarters--not a big job, but it really needed to be done. So, I contacted Danny and got the work slated for the last day of October.

Danny brought his teenage daughter (Delia) and an employee (Christian) out to do the work. Delia spoke English, with Spanish as a second language. Christian spoke Spanish, with English as a second language.

I actually speak some Spanish, so I greeted them in Espanol and we talked in a mix of Spanish and English for a bit. They found this amusing. Danny then left to check on the other jobs going on that day.

To amuse Delia and Christian further throughout the day, I went beyond my own Spanish vocabulary by tapping into my iTravl. I'd get a translation and then pop into the work area and say something new in Spanish.

When the boss arrived toward the end of the project, Delia told him that I seemed to know a lot of Spanish, because I kept making remarks in Spanish all day long. So, Danny asked me, "What do you do?" and "Why do you know so much Spanish."

In response, I said Mindconnection sells translation devices. I brought out my iTravl and did a little demo. Then, I handed it to him. This is when my troubles began.

For about half an hour, Danny ran it through its paces in Spanish. This was fine, because the actual work was still being completed. I figured, let him play with it. Maybe he'll buy one. But then, Delia and Christian were in the cleanup phase and Danny showed no signs of handing the device back. He was on his cell phone, calling people and having the device speak into the phone. He was also having people say phrases through the phone to show off its speech recognition feature, then laughing riotously.

Danny took a break from this to tell me how cool this device was and that he knew half a dozen people who wanted one. These were the people he'd just called, apparently.

I said, "Well, it is a great little device. But that 9C is also a $600 great little device. Even the Spanish-English version is over $400."

"So?," he said. "What is $400 when you get all this? In a year, that's about a dollar a day. It is nothing." Hmm. Hire this guy into my marketing department....

It was getting late in the day. It was already my supper time. I thought I was getting my iTravl back in the next few seconds, so I said, "Well, I'm really glad you like it. We have those in other languages also."

Danny asked me what other languages. This was the iTravl 9C, and I thought showing him was better than telling him. I picked a language he would obviously not have a need for, with the idea he would smile appreciatively and pack it in for the day. I picked Russian.

Big mistake.

It turns out Danny is a divorcee who had been dating a woman who moved here from Russia. The three of us stood helplessly by while Danny immersed himself in the Russian features of the iTravl 9C. I was thinking, "This too shall pass." But it would not pass for another half hour or so.

I berated myself for having charged the battery earlier that day. Will that thing ever die?

He got into the Language Teacher part, and was using the accent correction feature so he could sound Russian. I finally said, "Well, you know that device is very picky and you sound Russian to me."

That was the wrong thing to say. It only encouraged him. He called his girlfriend.

I looked at his daughter and said, "Maybe I should let him borrow it overnight?" She advised against that. "No, he has to get up for work in the morning and I can see he'll never go to bed if he takes that home."

Christian and I debated whether we could tackle him and get the iTravl away from him. Sensing the plan, his daughter came to the rescue and asked her dad to let her see it. After a bit of hesitation, he handed it to her.

At this point, I thought everyone was finally going to be able to go home. But then Delia switched it to Spanish and began to try things on it....