Jakartass’s comment on Antara and its spelling mistakes, typos and grammaticals — and his own subsequent mistake which he recognized and tried to correct right away — gives us an important insight into how much care and attention it takes to have good copy in print. Good copy, in Indonesian or English, gives readers the impression that a company is well run, professional and can be trusted. English is especially important where international audiences, especially potential investors, customers and patrons, are concerned.
Often companies would spend a lot of money on websites or advertisements, to have it all spoilt by bad translation or grammar. Sometime, this borders on the totally inane. Since Jakartass mentioned airlines, this is a good place to start.
One can only wonder what was on the mind of the executives when they approved the copy of such slogans as:
My favorite howlers are:
1. Batavia Air’s Trust us to fly (It’s really assuring when someone tells you: “Trust Me,” isn’t it?)
and
2. Lion Air’s We make people fly (sometimes we even run an airline and provide flights and service; most times we just attach wings to people and make them fly)
All I want to know is how much did those companies have to pay the agencies for such slogans.
