Tuesday, February 14, 2006

English Speakers Needed

As I was perusing Tiszaújváros’s webpage, I came across the following paragraph in the English-language section of the page:

At the place where river Sajó flows into river Tisza our forbears in the 13th century thought this place is suitable for settling. A certificate mentioning Tiszaszederkény village in 1268 proves it. The ancient settlement was beaten by the weather and history, and unstocked under the Turkish thraldom. In 1651 it was Zsuzsanna Lorántffy who settled 32 heyduck families and denizen the village. Its figuration appears in the blazon of the town, on which the arm holding a sword indicates the heroism of heyducks and the vine-leaf was the emblem of Zsuzsanna Lorántffy

Normally I find the “Hunglish” spoken by English-learners both amusing and endearing. However, when it comes to any sort of published work, even one that will probably be read by a handful of people, it just irritates me. Seriously, in all of Tiszaújváros, they couldn’t track down one person to proofread this? It would have taken me all of 5 minutes to read this, change a few words, and retype it. If I lived there or had any sort of stake in the city’s future, I would have done it for free.

On the other hand, this is the sort of thing that gives me hope for my own future in Hungary: because they need English speakers. And that’s one of the few things I’m pretty damn good at. Oops, I meant: one of the things at which I’m pretty damn good.

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