Archive for May 2nd, 2008
I Blame the Teachers
I just spent something like twenty minutes proof-reading the Danish translation of the Foxmarks add-on for Firefox. The add-on links to a very practical synchronising service but this isn’t the issue here.
The issue is that somebody – who for obvious reasons prefer to stay anonymous – “translated” the add-on into “Danish”. I’ve put “translation” into quotation marks because it is so bad that the person in question would fail a 9th grade spelling test, not just marginally but completely. This is so bad that I’ve even considered de-installing the add-on just to avoid the misery.
But let me just note: I use some Danish mac-forums more or less regularly and my clear impression is that a lot, possibly a clear majority, of users can’t write an intelligible Danish. I am completely aware of the fact that spoken Danish is turning into an unintelligible mass of garbled gurgling sounds but still:
- In Danish, the infinitive ends on -e, the present tense on -er. Just how difficult is it to distinguish the two? Don’t they teach you basic grammar in school anymore?
- In Danish we do not put a comma before an infinitive. There is a reason why we have the expression “idiot commas”. I realise that the grammatical comma is difficult, but my advice is: If in doubt, don’t!
- Ever heard about the English disease? We’re not talking rickets here but the fact that there is a difference between en lang håret kvinde and en langhåret kvinde. Maybe that will teach you the lesson.
- Speaking of the English disease, in Danish we do not use an apostrophe to mark the possessive form except when the noun ends on -s, -z, or -x. Acronyms such as the EU also fall under this category.
You may argue that correct spelling and grammar is secondary to the message you want to convey but:
- You may save time by not bothering to do a proper proof-reading, but your readers then need to spend extra time trying to figure out what the h€%” you mean.
- If you are distributing a product, appearance is important. If your presentation is sloppy, potential users and customers have every reason to suspect that your product isn’t first rate.
But let me just add a wall of shame with some, allegedly, professional writers:
- Bolia.dk. It’s egetræ, not ege træ. I would expect that you don’t know how to put a piece of furniture together correctly either. And it is leveres, not levers.
- Politiken’s journalists don’t know the difference between spoken and written style
- As it is, the Swedes want a piece of the action too. For some consistently pathetic writing, look no further than SR Västerbotten.
And just to finish off this rant: English is not my first language and I’m convinced that this post contains any number of errors despite my having consulted a dictionary at various points.
links for 2008-05-02
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LeechBlock is a simple productivity tool designed to block those time-wasting sites that can suck the life out of your working day
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This column reports the results of a randomised control trial conducted in Hungary, which show that closer monitoring of some benefit recipients shortened their unemployment spell.
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Reservations of newbuild houses and flats have collapsed by two-thirds this spring due to the lack of mortgage availability, according to confidential industry data.