Language mistakes on Mindef website is national humiliation, inexcusable

PETALING JAYA: The Defence Ministry's English Language mistakes on its website is inexcusable, said Malaysian English Language Teaching Association (Melta) president Dr S. Ganakumaran.

“If these sort of mistakes happen with ordinary people, it is still excusable, but if large institutions make such mistakes, it becomes a big problem because they should be the ones setting the standard. If such mistakes are present, what can we expect from the rest of the country?” he asked.

He said if the ministry had chosen to use English as a part of their website, they have the responsibility of ensuring that it is done correctly.

Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (PAGE) chairman Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said such mistakes were absolutely inexcusable, especially because it was from a government website.

“This mistake gives a very bad impression and image of the Government. They have improved in many ways, but little things like these overshadow them,” she said.

National Translation Institute of Malaysia managing director Mohd Khair Ngadiron said there was still no perfect replacement for a professional translator's work.

“More often than not, machines tend to translate work literally, and even if we use Google to translate, we must still look at the context,” he said.He said anyone setting up a website should get a professional body to do its translation because the site would be viewed by many globally.