Vaughn is hertaler bij Schrijf.be. Dankzij hem raakt uw boodschap nooit ‘lost in translation‘ voor Engelstalige klanten of prospects. En hij blogt … in de taal van Shakespeare, natuurlijk! 

It’s a normal day.  And you’re feeling a bit peckish.  Do you feel like fish?  No?  The cheese plate?   

What about cervical cancer?  Before you shake your head, take a good look at the menu, because this is not just any cervical cancer.  It’s cervical cancer served on beetroot carpaccio with mustard-honey dip.  And served cold.  As if there was another way to enjoy cervical cancer.

English?

Apparently this is a mistranslation.  The restaurant does not actually serve ‘cervical cancer’ but ‘crayfish’.  On beetroot carpaccio with mustard-honey dip…  Or possibly honey-mustard dip.  But cold either way.  Neither this nor any of the many other errors in the English on the menu have quite the same impact as cervical cancer.  Thankfully.  Of course, all this does leave me wondering how many diners actually do order cancer…

Vaughn is hertaler bij Schrijf.be. Dankzij hem raakt uw boodschap nooit ‘lost in translation‘ voor Engelstalige klanten of prospects. En hij blogt … in de taal van Shakespeare, natuurlijk! 

There’s something beautiful about language.  I’ve said this before, but because it’s so very important, because it’s so easy to forget it and because I really mean it, I’ll say it again: There’s something beautiful about language.  And it’s not because of the poetic blushes that permeate our words and sentences.  It’s not because of the complexities and confusions of our conjugations and grammatical constructions.  In fact, it’s not even English that I’m talking about.  It’s Dutch.

The do’s-and-don’ts of Dutch

I’ve just been wandering through a list of strange and unusual words that have permeated the Dutch language and become commonplace expressions.  What caught my attention is the Dutch term do’s-and-don’ts.  Believe it or not, it came from English.  At least it did to some extent.

The Dutch “do’s-and-don’ts” has differences to the English version.  First of all, it’s written with hyphens.  But what is perhaps more interesting is the apostrophe in “do’s”.  The Dutch have added one, while we don’t in English.

The Dos and Don’ts of English

At least we shouldn’t. According to the authority for the English language, the Oxford English Dictionary, we spell it as “dos and don’ts”.  It makes me wonder where the apostrophe came from.  And I can’t help wondering whether it’s been spelt incorrectly so often in English that it has resulted in the faulty spelling being adopted in Dutch.  Do we, as native English speakers, have so much difficulty with our spelling that we have influenced others to adopt our spelling errors as Gospel truth?

My conclusion?

There is something very beautiful about language.

Vaughn is hertaler bij Schrijf.be. Dankzij hem raakt uw boodschap nooit ‘lost in translation‘ voor Engelstalige klanten of prospects. En hij blogt … in de taal van Shakespeare, natuurlijk! 

Wow!  My virus scanner has just informed me that my computer starts 104% faster.  Now, I know it’s easy to take a cynical approach to news like this, or to ask what it is 104% faster than, but personally, I’ve decided to settle for being impressed.  After all, 104% is no laughing matter.  In fact, it’s a good indication of what’s happening to percentages.  They all seem to be growing larger.  100% used to be impressive.  But is it still?

When talking about personal commitment and effort, 100% seems to be a bare minimum.  I’ve been overwhelmed by the number of websites where companies promise 100% commitment to each of their clients, by the businesses that accept nothing less than 101% customer satisfaction, and by professional athletes who give 110% in training.

Percentage Politics

I’ve got to admit that most political promises seem to be about as accurate as bus timetables.  Actually, if I didn’t know better, I would have believed politicians make promises they never expect to fulfil.

But how can a promise like this be doubted?  “We gaan er 200% voor!”  Look at the percentage:  200%.  It’s not 500% or 999% or 1,000%.  The 200% was almost certainly chosen for a logical reason.  My theories?

• Everyone in the party has a twin working behind the scenes.
• By working 24 hours a day, they would be fulfilling 100%.  However, they work 48 hours a day.  Everyday.  Therefore 200%.
• They are incredibly bad at maths.

This has left me with some problems.  With the ridiculously high levels they have reached, I’ve become concerned that percentages might be somewhat meaningless.  And so, I have to ask: when percentages appear in your texts, are they feasible or simply a result of poor copywriting?  Is it time to have more plausible and convincing texts?

Fortunately, Schrijf.be is there to help you out, but not 24 hours a day, nor 365 days a year.  Just when you expect us to be there.

Vaughn is hertaler bij Schrijf.be. Dankzij hem raakt uw boodschap nooit ‘lost in translation‘ voor Engelstalige klanten of prospects. En hij blogt … in de taal van Shakespeare, natuurlijk! 

It’s happened again.  In America, the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion has released the results of its annual poll to discover the most annoying word in English.  And the winner?  For the fourth year in a row, ‘Whatever’ has taken the gold.

Vaughn is hertaler bij Schrijf.be. Dankzij hem raakt uw boodschap nooit ‘lost in translation‘ voor Engelstalige klanten of prospects. En hij blogt … in de taal van Shakespeare, natuurlijk! 

It’s great to see Starbucks are committed to spelling ‘sucks’ correctly. Perhaps even more committed than they are to their own image …