Don't ever trust internet translations!

[Noble Legolas]

Not the online translators and even not the online sentences that are supposedly common and handy to know.

Because here in Amsterdam it's seriously a sport to spot the American tourist because of that handicap. They always rely on some online common sentence translator and always come in with: "Goedendag hoe gaat het met u?" (Hello how are you)

As can be also found in the languages of the month (Dutch) topic in some subforum of this guild.

For the last time, no one says that here!

Please consult a Dutch person before you go Dutch or make my day here being your tourist self instead xd

For the rest: We all speak English so why bother?  

[419scambaiterKoko]

Actually that's not an online translation and I've seen that phrase used in both phrase books and courses in Dutch. Besides this is more of an online translation: "Hoe ben jij" which is obviously incorrect because it's a word for word translation.  

[Fullmetalrunt]

xDD Yeah, I love seeing Americans try to speak Chinese when I'm in China (or alternatively, Chinatown). Sometimes it makes me facepalm, but being born in America myself, I do appreciate their effort. Many of my friends can ONLY speak English...  

[Noble Legolas]

PolyglotKoko

Actually that's not an online translation and I've seen that phrase used in both phrase books and courses in Dutch. Besides this is more of an online translation: "Hoe ben jij" which is obviously incorrect because it's a word for word translation.

Alright I get your point. Still "Goedendag hoe gaat het met u?" is not what we Dutch would ever say. Then again Fullmetalrun has a good point as well. Your effort is appreaciated. It just cracks us up a bit ^^  

[apiyo]

Seriously, why is it so humorous to see someone screw up your language? Would you rather people demanded everyone know English? Atleast people are trying to speak a different language, even if it's textbook and not realistic, that's all some people know. It's that kind of "tee their insert language sucks" attitude that makes me nervous to interact with Spanish speakers. It's insulting to be doing the best you can and having people laugh at you because you're not from Spain, China, etc. Just thought I'd throw out a different perspective.  

[Mustafah Monde]

When I use a translator I keep translating the sentence back and forth between english and the language i'm trying to learn till it's grammatically correct, takes effort but it's easy if you're only going to a country for a few days or weeks  

[I Am A Mountie]

apiyo

Seriously, why is it so humorous to see someone screw up your language? Would you rather people demanded everyone know English? Atleast people are trying to speak a different language, even if it's textbook and not realistic, that's all some people know.

I agree. This ^  

[Nosuri]

I for one would be grateful if someone made the effort to speak my language to me, even if it was incorrect. And while it's common practice, I strongly dislike making fun of tourists. You may have been a tourist at some point of your life, do you want to think every local was laughing at you whenever you tried to say hello or order a beer? rolleyes

But I have to agree, internet translations are only useful for a single word, in my opinion. A whole sentence, even small, is likely to end up completely wrong.  

[Moonlight_Naida]

I don't like people who use online translators instead of hiring a real, human translator for product packages and stuff like that. On the other hand, I like to see tourists who try to speak French even though textbook French is very different from what we actually say. I don't mind them making mistakes either, as long as they make an effort.

I know a lot of countries where people hate seeing their language being butchered by tourists, but here it's more of the contrary. We are very grateful to those who try, no matter their level because most people don't. After all, Canada is a bilingual country, so we must all speak English, eh? Sadly, it doesn't seem to work the other way around...

I don't expect people to speak French perfectly (it is a very hard language to learn) but learning some basic phrases like "bonjour, comment allez-vous?" or "désolé, je ne parle pas français" doestn't cost much effort and it makes all the difference. I don't mind speaking English. In fact, I love it. I just wish people would acknowledge the fact that I don't have to and be grateful to me for speaking English as much as I am to those who come here and speak French.

Sorry for the rant. My point is that it's better for people to make mistakes trying to speak a foreign language than not to learn the language at all.  

[UID12631612]

I like it when Foreign people try and speak dutch.
Just as much as anybody would appreciate it if a foreigner would try and comunicate with them in their language.

For the record, there still people speaking like that.
They're just polite.  

[Anzthuniel]

Never use online translators, for the love of language! Ask someone that are native speakers of that language to translate instead.

 

[Blakemore]

I never saw the humor.
The people laughing wouldn't like it if they came to the U.S, screwed up the English and were laughed at.
Atleast they're making an effort - and I don't find the U.S's screwed up educational system humurous. :/
Sorry for ranting. >o>