Have you ever seen a sign so full of mistakes that you've wanted to just take a pen out and fix it?
In July 2023, someone corrected the English on the Covid notice on a tram in Zagreb, Croatia.
When a picture of it was posted on the net, no surprises it went viral!
As what the Croatian media jokingly claimed, 'translators are obviously too expensive'.
The comments many Croats made on social media attributed this facepalm of a notice to that unavoidable feature of Balkan bureaucracy — the uhljeb.
To quote: "This is peak Croatian uhljebism; so lazy and stingy that they couldn't hire a normal translator for 50 euros”.
But wait, there’s more. In a Balkan answer to the famous engrish.com site with hilarious Asian examples of “English”, over on Facebook there’s the Prevodilački biseri (“Translation Gems”) group, where people from all over ex-Yugoslavia post laughable and cringeworthy translations and English text they’ve happened to encounter. A favourite of mine from the site is this sign from a venue in Belgrade, Serbia…
This goes to show to learn from experience and example: always go for the experts and professionals!
And if you're looking for one of those experts and professionals, they you've found one — me, Nick Nasev, Chartered Linguist and professional translator.
For more info on how I can help you escape being the next viral linguistic victim, email me at info@nicknasev.com and let's discuss!
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