I was translating some brief company profiles, and for that end checked out the companies' websites. Inter alia, I came across the following 2 lines of Hebrew + description in English:
שם מפעל: "קירור הקוטב בע"מ"
תחום הייצור: ייצור ושיווק של מערכות קירור, מקררים ומקפיאים מסחריים
KIRUR HAKOTEV is in no way a "new comer" to the commercial refrigeration industry.
Rigorous on going quality control efforts assures a quality product.
All computers controlled of course!
Two things bothered me: the company name, which in correct Hebrew is written with a tzeireh and should be pronounced and transliterated as kerur, not kirur; and, more obviously perhaps, the mistakes in the English.
However, as I and a colleague of mine found out when we tried to approach some companies and point out glaring mistakes on their websites, the reaction is less than appreciative. Chilly would be an understatement. More like, Yeah? Who asked you, Miz Know-it-all? Just mind your own bizness, willya?
Having paid good money to have their website translated, they don't want to hear that the result sucks. Then again, maybe they asked a non-professional friend or neighbor to do it for them as a favor. Or else, they really don't care.
Why should Shalom of Kerur Hakotev care, when none of his web visitors know that the word is kerur, (with a tzeireh) not kirur (with a hirik)? Aren't his web surfers the same people who say "kansu, kansu!" on chats and forums?...
And if the odd web-visitor is a foreigner who doesn’t know any Hebrew, surely it's all the same to him/her if the name says kerur or kirur?
So why on earth do I care?...
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