cNutgroist

Thanks again to the lad with the 74 Ginsters for this controversial expose of the world in which you live:

A warning to international businesses.....

There is a very real danger that if you compose a document and then have it
translated to send to a foreign branch of your firm, you may one day find it
translated back into English and landing back on your desk. The problem? The
document now bears no relation to the one you originally composed. It has
been translated from English to Gromanian, then back to English. It used to
be a document about sales targets, now it is a report on ophthalmic
opticians in East Kent. The reason - no one can really translate or
interpret foreign languages. Even professional interpreters can't really
speak any foreign languages. It's largely guesswork, although it is believed
that around 57 words of French vocabulary are properly understood by English
experts. This leads the table, with German second at 43 words properly
understood, Spanish (29 words), Dutch (17 words) and American (2 words).
Every other language on earth is still utterly oblique. No wonder there are
wars and terrorism. So, be careful in international business.
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