8.10.2010

COMPETITION #1: What's wrong with this picture?

Take a look at the English in this photo. Technically, it's not super-wrong, because people can still (basically) understand the message.

It is, however, a perfect example of Spanglish. Whoever translated it did not think (or didn't know) about how English structures are different from Spanish structures, and it makes the message look sloppy and unprofessional.

So here's our first STOP SPANGLISH contest! If you are the first person to answer the three questions below correctly, you will win an Oxford dictionary designed for English learners, plus a copy of Enleno's excellent English Learner Notebook.

a) What's the mistake in the photo?
b) Why is it wrong?
c) What should the correct English be?

THE FINE PRINT: Send your answers to stop (dot) spanglish (at) yahoo (dot) com before noon Friday, August 13th. This competition is open to all students who reside in Spain (peninsular Spain, the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands) and Portugal. We hate spam, too, so we will NOT use your e-mail for anything at all (you have my personal promise!!) unless you clearly tell us that you want to receive updates and more information.

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