Writing a blog in English when it is not your native language

Many popular websites are not created by native English speakers and though they may want to write a blog in English, it is not as easy as just using an online translator. You know what you want to say, but relying on a book or a computer is risky to say the least!

Writing a blog or anything might need more care!

Here are some funny examples of translations gone soooo wrong:

On a sign at a Pizza Restaurant in Peru:

“friend proves our variety of pizzas prepared in firewood furnace… enters to the bottom…”

Really? Did the friend “enter to the bottom”? Does the firewood furnace “enter to the bottom”? Does the pizza enter the consumer to the bottom???

I am going to take a wild guess here and bet the author was trying to convey the message that because the pizza is cooked in a wood fired oven it has a unique flavor. Here in America we would just advertise “Pizza baked in wood fired oven” and leave the bottom out of it completely.

Be careful while using machine translators for writing a blog

When translated into Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan “finger-lickin’ good” came out as “eat your fingers off”. (Probably not a very big business generator!)

In a Paris hotel elevator: Please leave your values at the front desk. ( I bet many guests don’t need a sign to tell them that!)

Instructions on a packet of convenience food from Italy: “Besmear a backing pan, previously buttered with a good tomato sauce, and, after, dispose the cannelloni, lightly distanced between them in a only couch.”. ( okay, I give up….I have no idea what this means!)

As you can see, translation from one language to another is a slippery and often hilarious task. My best advice is to make friendship with someone, who is a native speaker of the language you wish to write in, and ask them to edit your blog for you rather than writing a blog and publishing yourself. Make sure they are trustworthy though, or you might end up with something like this:

In an Acapulco hotel a sign read “The manager has personally passed all the water served here”.

Eeewww! That’s just not right.