No Peanutsistas! will recall our February 18, 2014 post “Expo 2015 in Milan – La gioia di stare al ribasso! [Expo 2015 in Milan – The Joy of Undercutting the Market!] in which No Peanuts! revealed the pitiful rates translation agencies like Translated.net, Asap S.r.l., and Eurostreet were offering to translators for Expo 2015-related projects (despite the fact that the Expo’s tender for translators provides relatively generous fees to agencies themselves).
Thanks to what has become the “best practice” for Italian translation agencies — farm projects out to non-native-speaking IT>EN translators and pay them badly — below are some examples of what Expo 2015 is getting for its money. The theme of the Expo, just as a reminder, is “Feeding the Planet.”
Click on the images to enlarge them.
We couldn’t agree more. “WHY, Milan?” is exactly the right question to be asking.
You can write to the geniuses at Expo 2015, including to their media and public relations offices, at these addresses: ufficiostampa@expo2015.org, pressoffice@expo2015.org, and expoinchiaro@expo2015.org. Don’t worry if you’re not comfortable writing in English; it’s not as though anyone there is capable of recognizing the language.
I am a non-native, but I’m sure I could have done a better job. Appalling.
Hell, I don’t even speak Italian and I could’ve done a better job.
Email sent : )
Reblogged this on One Sec Translation Service di Chiara Bartolozzi and commented:
Si parla ancora di EXPO 2015…
*facepalm*
While we’re at it, please correct:
doesn’t intend / doesn’t want /aspire to be etc. (pretendere/pretend – false friend)
He he :-)
What a surprise. Nobody in Italy heeded the warnings. The outcome was expected. Brutta figura time for Italy. Pay peanuts, get monkeys who can’t translate.
As for the messages these mascots are attempting to transmit, well… :(
Unfortunately in Italy anyone can play at being translators and interpreters, because there is no official state exam or any official qualification. So horror stories like this are not necessarily uncommon. And I notice you said Eurostreet was involved. THAT in itself is a guarantee of translation work that would make anyone, even non-mother-tongue speakers, want to claw their eyes out…
Wow! What a load of junk. I emailed all three addresses you included. Keep it up! Cheers.