CuriousByNature Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 3 hours ago, arnemgreeves said: Bad language lends to a shitty session. As does improper douching, or so I am told... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 (edited) 7 hours ago, DWnyc said: ...I don’t think I’ve ever seen an ad from the New York City govt in their ethnic outreach (eg on the subway) without errors eg literal rather than conceptual translation... I agree that such errors are inexcusable and offensive. It's absurd for city officials to claim they can't find a single employee who's fluent in these languages, especially extraordinarily common ones such as Spanish and Mandarin. I suspect that in most of these cases, the dimwit who did the "translation" simply used a dictionary, rather than google translate. I often use google translate, even with languages I speak and understand well. The main problem comes with the translation of "you" into other European languages. Most other European languages have at least two--sometimes 3 or 4--different words for you, so google translate has to simply guess as to which form of "you" is most appropriate. The happy exception is Portuguese, in which você is almost universally used, although there is vocês for the plural. I suppose if one wanted to get really formal, one can say "o senhor sabe," or "a senhora sabe" for "you know," but that's never really expected (unlike most other European languages, use of você is almost never considered offensive). The French can be particularly sticky when it comes to formality. I was at a pool party less than 2 weeks ago and met a Frenchman who started to address me with the formal "vous," while we were talking to each other in swimsuits. I quickly but politely let him know that such formality was unnecessary. Canadians can go to the other extreme. I remember once a young hotel employee in Canada addressing me with the informal "tu," which shocked me and made me blush. Edited August 31, 2023 by Unicorn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socurious Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 On 8/19/2023 at 12:11 PM, DrownedBoy said: If the provider is Latino, I pay attention to the grammar and word use in the ad. Bad grammar = probably doesn't speak English well. My grammar is English is very fluent (as I went to college here and everything). But my speech not so much. I have a very thick accent. + Vegas_Millennial 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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