I too am appalled but I'm equally appalled when I see sloppy, careless content by those for whom English is NOT a second language. I know that after awhile you can't see what you are writing and a fresh eye is needed. I wonder why more people apparently don't ask someone else to look over their stuff before publishing. I can find errors in most any website, newsletter, article, etc., which is what i want to "niche" in. Higher standards should benefit all in this business.
VAJoni
VAJoni

Surely if a potential client reads something so poorly written, they are not going to trust this company with their own written documents, etc? This example is pretty awful, I mean - "we came to know that communication is made with the help of dove" sorry?!

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Telephone Answering virtual assistant
alldaypa.com

The "dove" reference was way too funny. My initial reaction was, "What the heck?" Not that I take something like this lightly. But it was such a bizarre thing to put in there, that I had to laugh. I completely agree that it is frustrating to think that someone who is unfamiliar with the VA industry might read something like this and get a negative perception of VAs. Not a good thing.

Yes, I've also seen a lot of insanely, poorly written stuff out there and have wondered how it gets published. In all honesty, the person writing is not so much at fault as the publisher, who should have clearly ditched this. Wow!

Totally agree with the rant!

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Patty

I couldn't even read the whole thing. Just too painful.

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Marlene Eldemire
Mars Virtual Assistant & Travel

I wonder if we were able to read the press release in the writer's native tongue would we have the same annoyance. I'm trying to learn Spanish, and I'm realizing that the way a sentence is constructed in Spanish is quite different from English. I've often wondered how a non-English speaker could possibly be saying something like "How are you" (a very bad example) takes five words rather than our three.

Whoever is possibly translating these press releases could be doing a very poor job of it--assuming the writing is a translation.

I would love to be able to get to these writers, if their work isn't being translated, and give them the benefit of my services.

I wonder how one does that without insulting them?

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A L Camien
Manager Member

Quote:

I wonder if we were able to read the press release in the writer's native tongue would we have the same annoyance.

AL Camien -- I totally agree. This is probably a classic case of translation gone horribly wrong. Bottom line, the publisher should have never ever disgraced both the writer and the readers.

Thank you for pointing this out!

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Patty

I chose the worst one I could find - but there are plenty out there (written by native English speakers) that are perhaps not as bizarre, but are bad in their own right.

I can tell you from personal experience (working with one client's hired 'writers' from sites like oDesk, etc.) that the writing being sold really is this bad. A quick glance at any of the many articles sites out there and you'll find plenty of really bad writing.

What I've come to realize about this is that it might not be the writers themselves that are at fault (or, not completely anyway) but the sites that publish and promote these articles and press releases. It's their own lack of standards that's allowing bad grammar and spelling (in any language) to permeate the web. Can you imagine a print publication running something like this, or even half as poorly written? Web space comes cheap apparently.

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Oh I truly understand why Tess "rant" on that press release... lol

grammar please!!!

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Marie 1971 - your personal assistant

Hi Tess,

I'm sorry but I'm a little offended when you mentioned my country.

I think the problem with that press release, other than it's poorly crafted is that it was spun. Whoever made that press release got somebody's press release copy and just tried to spin it.. hence the result.

It took a while for the dove word to sink in and I just realized the PR was pertaining to birds. LOL.

Anyway, all we can do is put out good, well-written articles for our business and our clients. Proofreading your copy with a fresh set of eyes always helps.

Martsgirl I don't think Tess was knocking the Philippines or India but many people have experienced great difficulties when offshoring. You appear to have a good command of english grammar and spelling but unfortunately not too many in India and the Philippines do. One company proudly proclaims they speak "effluent" english" - the english dictionary states that "effluent" is sewage or liquid waste!

A lot of companies are returning to onshoring and nearshoring. As your background is in a call centre, you must be aware that call centre operations are increasingly being returned to their native countries. There are also concerns with respect to data privacy.

Along with the difficulties encountered by spelling, grammar and accents, difficulties also arise due to different time zones and outages caused by earthquakes, hurricanes, terrorism and political unrest, all of which are increasing with alarming regularity around the world. These events cannot be predicted or avoided but they can cause days or even weeks of disruption for clients.

Lynne

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