Keeping an official website is not always an easy task; considering the fact, that your website will have many visitors, it is therefore necessary that the text is without any ambiguity or typo errors. Of course, there are websites of organisations with a lesser impact in society, but when dealing with websites of a government, then the accuracy is more than just an imperative.
Last night, I was searching for some information on the web, when my attention was drawn on the website of the Office of the President of the Slovak Republic - how high can you get? When briefly hovering over the text, my eye was suddenly pinned to an interesting phrase: The article deals with the First Lady's welcome of the husband of the Dutch Ambassador, while they quoted the Ambassador's name as "Mrs. Married to Daphne Bergsma" - seemingly assuming that "Married to" was part of her first name... A quick copy-and-past and/or didn't the proof-reader understand? Moreover, even the word "holandského" seems a bridge to far (holadnského). Whichever way, it may look as a big laugh, but it is a faux-pas, illustrating the lack of basic skills in government.
English may perhaps be a very exotic language, which is hardly spoken by anybody in Europe, and despite internet resources it almost an unverifiable lingua of a distant culture. The truth is, that I haven't found any official Slovak government web-page in English so far that has no grammar errors. Knowing, that only the most qualified people get to translate those pages, because mortals like me will hardly have a chance to reach such a responsible task, I simply have no understanding whatsoever. Not only protocol matters are a sign of utter ignorance (still my sincerest apologies to the British royal visitors), but even making a professional site seems to be a mission impossible.
Just a hint; have a look at the English version of the London based Slovak Embassy website...
MS
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