This one will probably make the rounds as fast as the Welsh roadsign/autoresponder, but today’s post on Language Log has a wonderful and humorous warning about the dangers of monolingualism. The BBC News reports that Irish police have been frantically hunting for one “Prawo Jazdy,” a Polish man who had, according to the police, accumulated more than 50 driving violations while giving a different home address each time. Except… Prawo Jazdy isn’t even a person’s name, but rather the words “Driver’s License” in Polish, which appear in bold text at the top of the license itself (you can see a photo of this on the BBC site). With Poles currently representing Ireland’s largest immigrant population, the slippery Mr. Jazdy has been showing up all over the country…and as the BBC article points out, “Irish police officers should now know at least two words of Polish.”
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[…] it right! 5 03 2009 Today, I read a post by Corinne McKay from a few days ago which referred to an article available on the BBC website. […]
Hungarian passports have the word “Útlevél” printed on their front: this means passport in Hungarian. Nevertheless several bordermen record Hungarian visitors as people from the country of Útlevél.
Hi Corinne,
Since I met you at the ATA at the session you presented about blogging, I subscribed to Thoughts On Translation and I find many of your comments very useful. Much of what you say is very relevant to my work, because it’s about translation even though I don’t need to market my skill as a translator as an internal LSP.
Thank you the funny blogs as well. They really make for good stories.
All the best!
Daniela
I am sorry, Corinne but this is what I meant to write here:
Your post and the article not only made me laugh but also brought back a thought I have always wanted to express. That is why, rather than making a comment here, I decided to write about it in my own blog http://www.translationcat.wordpress.com. Take a look at it, if you wish.
Writing here now, though, gives me a great opportunity to thank you for your book, two blogs and all the great work that you do. It is helping me make my first steps and take me where I would like to be in life. Thank you!
Zapraszam na http://lewojazdy.pl Zobaczcie jak wygl�daj� statystyki zdawalno�ci i jak inni opisali swoje egzaminy na prawo jazdy. Mo�na te� znale�� ciekawe informacje o O�rodkach Szkolenia Kierowc�w.