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Writer's pictureAndrew Starr

Shocking New Evidence on the overuse of online translation...


Auf diesem in Südfrankreich aufgenommenen Foto kann man sehen, wie wichtig es ist gute Übersetzungen zu haben. Am Ende ist es auf 'Englisch' aber das ist ja kein Englisch, sondern nur Quatsch!

Sorry for the "Daily Express" style headline there, but this sign shocked me so much I felt like writing to the "Daily Mail" about it.

Now there are some reasons to use online translation....

Getting an idea of what someone has said in a language you do not speak for example...

However using it to produce business signs is simply not to be recommended as this shining example from South West France, taken in a Shell Garage shows...

What they are wanting is for people to show a form of id and a mode of payment before they pump their fuel (possibly because of a lot of drive-offs). The languages disintegrate as they progress from French to German to Spanish to Italian and finally to English. The English has the Spanish formal 'you' "usted" and 'porcion' which is a portion (probably from the French word 'pièce') and well the rest you can see does not make a great deal of sense!


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