I would never publish a book or brochure in two languages, unless it had been proof read by a native speaker of both languages.
Check out this info this quote from the only Adana coffee table book; “Adana.”
“Tepeba? One of the oldest cities in the region is Adana. The center of Adana is Tepeba?. In the tumulus, which Tepeba? is in, there was life even in early ages. Unfortunately, because of lack of excavation in Tepeba?, establishment date of the city is not clear. However, American Missions by making a small evacuation in 19.century, dig out an Egyptian nurse statue and smuggled it to abroad in potatoes sacks. This statue adorns Newyork Metropolitan Museum. Even this shows that the history of the city goes back to four thousand year. At the present, the centre of Tepeba? is unchanged. Therefore, it is the oldest residential unit of the world.”
Does this strike anyone else as funny? It’s like a caricature. This in an otherwise sharp looking book! Clearly a lot of research, money and time went into this book, and a lot of work went into translating it. It’s also obvious that some very interesting information was supposed to be communicated in this paragraph (and in the whole book), but it’s lost in translation.
Couldn’t they find a native speaker to translate it? Or did someone at the office say, “I can do it, we don’t need to hire a native speaker.”
I hope that I’ll be speaking, writing and reading great Turkish in a few years, but I would never publish a book without having a Turk look it over.
