Review of the Dutch version of our website

[Normandy Cow]

I was going to post this in the Netherlands section of LMH, but there isn't one!
So, it's going to have to be here, and apologies to those of you who don't speak Dutch, you can ignore this!

I would be grateful if any Dutch speakers could cast an eye over my Dutch version of the website: www.LeGaillon.com (need to click on the dutch flag near the top right of the page).

I'm fairly confident about the home page as that was copied from our gites.nl entry and that was created by a Dutch speaker, but it is the rest I am concerned about, given that I used the dreaded Google Translate tool!

(and I haven't even tried to translate the Things to Do sections as they are so long winded I am bound to make loads of errors there!
I think most Dutch do speak a bit of English so it should be OK?)

Thanks!

[B&B netherlands]

it seems i am the only dutchie around here...?

i'll do it, NC! proofreading texts used to be the backbone of my paid job for 36 years...

we write 'Normandie, Frankrijk', with a diaeresis-accent on top of the 'e' (blimey, i had to find the english word for that!)

'buurt' is not the right word to use; it's 'omgeving'.

i quickly read the 'main text', not really much wrong with it, though it is clearly word for word translated from english. i guess that is the text taken from the gites.nl-entry...? though your opening sentence is not just... right, i'm afraid. but it is a 'remark' from a review guests left. can you still make changes in that text (right side of the page, in italics)?

it should read: 'Een klein paradijs op een heel mooie rij-afstand van Nederland.'

a small change in the first line: 'stenen huisje OP HET prachtige franse platteland', is correct dutch. (remove the caps of course!)

'overige opmerkingen' should have a separation (space) from the text above it and be linked with the text under it, but the whole line can also just be removed.

when i click 'lees meer', i get the same reviews you already have in italics... could you insert a different piece of text there...? some reviews in english wouldn't hurt at all, we dutchies do read english

and yes... the use of google translate for the rest of the info, hurts the eyes of a real dutchie... and it will take me a lot more time changing it...

i'd remove that sentence under 'huis' about clicking to enlarge, as that is pretty obvious to everyone.

opening 'gastenboek', i get (for the third time, sorry..) AGAIN those 3 dutch reviews, after which i can open 'lees meer'.... to read them for the fourth time... so you'll have to do something about that.

time to prepare a good oldfashioned real dutch dinner: stamppot boerenkool met rookworst! (throw THAT through google translate!) after which i'll see what i can do to get the rest 'cleaned up' a bit... can't promise it will be tonight.

but you've got a start, at least!

lydia

[Wonkeye]

NC Go to the search box and search for - translating professional (and obviously click 'Search for all terms'). Then take what you read very seriously!!!! B&B netherlands has been very generous in giving you her time.
(Speaking as a professional translator - but only Dutch to English, as a matter of principle)

[B&B netherlands]

wonkeye, that's a very good advice! people trust most of this 'translating' stuff blindly and you and i know producing a good translation (vice-versa) is hard work. you 'might' use these texts as a 'starting point', but you can't do much to make it 'real dutch'...

i've recently started to use google translate (albanian to dutch) to quickly 'scan' albanian news media headlines, but the darn thing translates geographical names etc. as well... turning 'shqiperia' (albania) into... 'bangladesh'! (i can read albanian language a bit, but being lazy...)

and even professional translators can make mistakes... being a desk editor for 36 years, i found many 'gems', sometimes caused by the fact the translator was not familiair with the subject.

[Normandy Cow]

Thank you both!

I know exactly what you mean. I speak French fluently, but am not a professional translator and I did once translate an entire book from French to English for a friend (it took me about 6 months!). But I could never do it vice-versa.

Thank you so much for taking your time Lydia. I am off to make the amendments you suggested.

By the way, I only have 3 Dutch reviews so far but am hoping for more. I am going to contact all my previous Dutch guests to let them know about the new website and the new bathroom we are installing, so I hope I may be able to cajole them into leaving some more reviews on gites.nl (and maybe booking again for next year!).
But do you think I could just put my English reviews on the "gastoenboek" page instead?

[Wonkeye]

That's what we do anyway. Exactly the same content on our English and Dutch visitor's book pages!

[CSE]

it seems i am the only dutchie around here...?

No but maybe you spend a bit more time on here than we do Hence we have only just seen this...report back later with any comments.

[B&B netherlands]

that's what i suggested; a good place would be where you put 'lees verder'.. it makes your site look more 'international' as well! a few more dutch reviews can never hurt...

please do not hesitate to ask me questions and/or another look at the suggested adjustments. i'll work on the rest 'page by page', and i think to get bookings from the netherlands, not really every english page needs to be translated; the Things To Do-section hardly anyone reads, during the initial search. and that will all be in your information book on site, i guess?

casa, my season sadly, so to say, ended before the calender said so hence the 'empty hours' (and pockets...)

and i obviously meant: the only dutchie being here, with accommodation only in the netherlands. of course i had not forgotten about you, or wonkeye.

[CSE]

Had a quick browse, and have to say this is a good pointer not to use Google. Sorry NC but you will be better off until someone can translate the website. Like B&B suggests it maybe a good case of not having everything translated. We have 5 languages and two of them are a heavily cut down versions just to give a taster. Don’t forget every time you revise your information then so you will also have to up date the information in the other languages too. Believe us that is a lot of work.
So here are some examples from the welcome and booking pages. Sorry we presently do not have enough time to go through it all.

'Wij bieden wel korte pauzes aan van oktober tot April' should be
'Van oktober tot april is een korter verblijf mogelijk' 'short beak' has been translated like it is a break during work (lunch break).

'Prijzen zijn inclusief van alles hieronder opgesomd' should be
'Prijzen zijn inclusief de volgende zaken'

'logboek voor vuren' should be
' brandhout voor de open haard'
The word log has been translated like it is a log to write in, ie pilots log.

'Datum vereist van' no idea what this means but we assume you want to know the date of arrival, which is 'Aankomstdatum'
Same for 'Datum nodig is om' should be 'Vertrekdatum'

The rest will leave, but it is a terrible mess.


An example errors from the welcome page:
'Een klein paradijs om een hele mooie rijafstand van Nederland'
You are saying here: A small paradise around a very beautiful driving distance from the Netherlands.
It should be something like:
'Een klein paradijs op een aangename rijafstand van Nederland'

I apologise if you are offended but we have to say a big thank you to Google for giving us a laugh.

Also two other things to note. Add on your booking form that you will be replying in English and to change your meta tags from English ones to Dutch ones to help with that search engine placement.

[B&B netherlands]

thanks. precisely what i was going to write about 'pauze'.

'logboek voor de vuren'....

you did better than i did!!! i followed the text from the dutch review just UNDER that headline (...) that literally said: 'hele mooie rijafstand', which is truly bad dutch, written by a dutch person... your suggestion is FAR better. it will be NC's responsability to adapt, one way or the other. i have not checked but i feel 'rijafstand' should be hyphenated...

your suggestion to mention the reply will be in english - spot on!

i'm planning to make a short version in english for my own website, with different text, as different guests are to be attracted than just dutch guests. if they want tourist information about the 'buurt' there are plenty of dutch language websites to suggest and add.

[Normandy Cow]

Dear Lydia, Ian and Irene,

Thank you so much for taking the time to look through my text and making all those suggestions. How can I repay you for your help?!

I have already amended Lydia's first suggestions, and will work through the rest tomorrow.

And don't worry, I am not in the least offended - I too have had a laugh from using Google translate. Even though I consider myself to be a fluent French speaker, I did get caught out by Google when I tried to use it to save time when doing my French translation. See this thread: viewtopic.php?t=18207

Lydia: I hope you enjoyed your kale stew with sausage!

I'll get on with amending it all tomorrow. Maybe I should cut most of it out, KISS being the operative acronym.

TTFN

[B&B netherlands]

sleep well! happy you're happy with my suggestions.

aha, you found my meal for tonight. yes, i loved it, was a long time ago i made it.

best reagrds,
lydia

[Normandy Cow]

'logboek voor vuren' should be
' brandhout voor de open haard'
The word log has been translated like it is a log to write in, ie pilots log.

Can't stop laughing about this - I am picturing my guests wearing leather WW1 pilot helmets, sitting tearing up log books and throwing them on the fire!

An example errors from the welcome page:
'Een klein paradijs om een hele mooie rijafstand van Nederland'
You are saying here: A small paradise around a very beautiful driving distance from the Netherlands.
It should be something like:
'Een klein paradijs op een aangename rijafstand van Nederland'

This was written by a someone who lives in Utrecht!

But we don't have to have that phrase at all. Just want to have a one-line catchphrase as a heading.
On the two other websites we currently have:
UK: Welcome to your "Home from Home"
FR: Gite Rurale en Seine-Maritime

We used to have "Easy to reach, hard to leave..." on our main site. I know it's a bit cheesy, but I do like it, and it is very pertinent for Dutch guests.
I just put that through google and it came up with "Makkelijk te moeilijk te bereiken, om te vertrekken ...". But when i fed it back through the other way it ended up as "Easy to difficult to reach, to leave ..."
So I guess that is not the best translation! But could you either translate that exact phrase for me properly, or do you have any other suggestions as a catchy tagline?

I apologise if you are offended but we have to say a big thank you to Google for giving us a laugh.

I am not at all offended! I am so grateful for all the assistance I am being given, and I too have been having a good laugh (pass me that logbook, I'm getting cold.....)

Also two other things to note. Add on your booking form that you will be replying in English and to change your meta tags from English ones to Dutch ones to help with that search engine placement.

Haven't yet created any meta tags (next job on the list). And still mulling over how best to reply. Will replying in English put people off? I would like to say to them that i will reply in English, but if they would prefer me to reply in Dutch then I am happy to, but they will have to understand that this will be shaky as it will be via google!!!!!

How does this sound (ducks behind wall and waits for guffaws of laughter)....
Welke taal moeten we gebruiken om u te contacteren?
- Engels
- Nederlands (We spreken geen Nederlands, maar ik weet zeker dat we in staat zijn om met elkaar te communiceren via het web vertaling!)

veel dank!

[CSE]

Just a quick reply: we are off to collect chestnuts:

UK: Welcome to your "Home from Home"
NL: Welcome thuis in Frankrijk. Literally Welcome home in France. This does not make much sense in English but the Dutch phrase will to the Dutch.

Do not bother with any translation in explanation responding in English. Most of your future Dutch customers will understand. The older generations could have better French skills than English, as this was once the major second language taught in schools.

Meta tags are much easier to write than a full page of information in another language.

[B&B netherlands]

ehmmm...

'welcome thuis in in frankrijk'?!?!

make it 'welkom' and i'll agree!

(which you already did... just opened the website!)

saw you made some changes already, added the english reviews - great idea!

for the rest, i think it is no big deal to have most of the rest of the text 'googlerized'. it's your first page that has to do it, and i'm sure it will. and dutch people are certainly not 'offended' to get your replies in english, actually they might be very happy you do not respond in french!

and indeed, i am one of those people old enough to remember the french school lessons when i was 11 and 12... very handy, having an aunt and uncle living in brussels, with a flat in knokke (coastal town), where many 'bruxellois' spent their summer - my 4 yrs younger sister felt a bit lost when we stayed there, not speaking french.