Imagine ordering a delicious dessert only to see it come with a fly on top of it. That's how some feel when they see their language improperly translated.
Recently I saw a sign that made me do a double take while touring Versailles in France. The historic palace is breathtaking and recent restorations have been painstakingly undertaken. And yet, on a stairway I saw a sign that warned of, "sliding steps."
It was nice that the warning sign was in French, English, and Spanish. Obviously, it was meant to warn people that the stairs could be slippery. Somehow "slippery" became "sliding" in the translation to English.
In this case the goof was amusing but imagine if the mistake had been in a business contract or even in an important display at the monument. For all the care and detail at Versailles, the English proofreading wasn't very good in this case. The lesson here is that little communication detail could say a lot about you and the quality of your products. You may spend hours designing the perfect products and services only to see your work appear second class because of little more than a typo.
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