Tag: supermarket

9/11/2010

Protest against Euroshopper English

Filed under: — Natashka @ 10:01 am

The Taalverdediging group, defending the Dutch language, plans to protest on Saturday 13 November at 1 pm the local Albert Heijn supermarket in Assen, Drenthe against the use of what they call “Euroshopper English’, which is the English used on generic brand products, often sold throughout the European Union.

“Prawn crackers, puff pastry biscuits, salt soft liquorice, milk chocolate sprinkles, almond flavoured rounds, rusk, Dutch spiced coockies and big battenbergs. Are we still in the Netherlands? No, we’re at Albert Heijn where the Dutch language no longer counts!”

(Link: Photo of an endive potato mash with meatless sausage by Jasja Dekker, some rights reserved)

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16/9/2008

Barrel shoppe

Filed under: — Natashka @ 1:50 pm
Borrelshop

This was taken in a supermarket in Utrecht, a city swarming with students and conference-goers where I imagine tons of people speak some English. This wonderful sign is of course tough to understand. You get to imagine a Chinese tourist trying to sort this out instead of a Brit. They could have simply left it in Dutch.

‘Borrelshop’ means absolutely nothing unless the person has some rudiments of Dutch. Liquour shop, booze corner, drinks & stuff, please give us something with a clue. That was sarcasm.

‘These is usual opened’ deserves an entire paragraph of explaining, but do I have to?

‘Report this’, report what? It sounds like a police station. I’ll pass.

Being a fan of shameless plugs and all, allow me to point you to a serious article I wrote in Dutch (don’t get too excited it was corrected by a real pro) about small Dutch businesses communicating in English.

(Photo: Erik)

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