HEADLINE OF THE YEAR, SO FAR
From The Bangkok Post, online.
"Innocent motorbike killed at Asean"
The story is currently appearing here. I say currently because if the past is anything to go by this headline will likely be rewritten anytime soon.
The story involves a suspect motorbike that was destroyed close to where the ASEAN meeting is taking place on the island of Phuket. The motorbike was subsequently discovered not to have contained any explosives.
Another 'lost in translation' story where you know what they mean, but ... .
ADD:
Five minutes after posting this story the motorbike is no longer innocent. It's merely harmless now and was destroyed, not killed.
2 comments:
Yes, this is the sort of editing you get when every effort is made to put underqualified non-native english speaking thais behind as many desks as possible, rather than hire (or promote) qualified farang.
I agree with the point made by anonymous. If you choose to publish in English you need to make every effort to ensure that English is 'native English'.
But I also understand the cost implications for publishers of hiring native English media professionals versus Thais with good, but not native, English skills. An overseas journalist is likely to cost two, three or four times as much.
The Bangkok Post is by no means unique and is generally better than others. It happens, I guess, because there is a pressing need to get the news published - and sometimes it might not always be possible to wait for the 'farang' copy editor to give it the once over.
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