Think thirst and drink up
This advertising campaign was a flop. The goal was to point out the negative effects of drinking to young people, apparently justifying the use of English. If you translate it back into Dutch (meer drinken, minder denken), it’s also wrong. You could argue that it was meant sarcastically, but a second poster was made depicting a guy with a big scar on his face from fighting. What about drinking and driving, becoming an alcoholic, being sick, missing work, waking up in a strange bed? So much for taking youth issues seriously.
March 6th, 2005 at 9:50 pm
DUNGLISH.
Natashka’s interesting new blog Dunglish features unfortunate attempts by Dutch-speakers to write things in English. Recent entries have highlighted the Small Talk Eating House,” a sign that says “Beware of pickpockets. Please hang your vallues on t…
March 9th, 2005 at 4:37 pm
Kijk, nu vraag ik je niet om perfect Engels te kunnen, maar zeg alsjeblieft geen ‘If you’ of ‘You could’. Het is UITERST onbeleefd om in het Engels een lezer aan te spreken. Beter is het gebruik van ‘one’. Bijvoorbeeld: ‘One could’.
March 11th, 2005 at 2:20 pm
Where I come from (North America), it’s fine. “One could” is also good, but puts too much distance between the author and the reader. “Je kunt zeggen” is not impolite, and it’s quite common. “Men zegt” irritates many Dutch speakers, while many Flemish speakers think it’s fine.
March 11th, 2005 at 4:34 pm
Wilf, dat is gewoon onjuist. Het generieke gebruik van ‘you’ is minstens even gebruikelijk als dat van ‘je’ in het Nederlands. Het is misschien wat informeel, maar niemand vindt het onbeleefd. ‘One’ wordt zelden gebruikt (het doet wat oubollig aan) en ik zie steeds vaker dat áls het gebruikt wordt dat het verkeerde persoonlijk voornaamwoord er bij komt kijken (bv. ‘one should be aware of
theirone’s limitations’).March 11th, 2005 at 4:45 pm
Juist. As a native speaker of English (and French), I think I know when I’m being impolite. 🙂