tekom for Runaways

At the tekom conference in Wiesbaden this week, English-language presentations were featured prominently in the OASIS and tcworld tracks as the organization strives to build an international reputation for itself and attract a more cosmopolitan crowd.

But despite the laudable efforts in worldliness, English text on the tekom website and even the tagline reveal a decidedly German bias that will be very difficult to shake.

It’s odd that an organization that ostensibly caters to translators and the localization business (among others) should have such difficulty producing readable English or recognizing that German orthography seldom applies to other languages.

In fact, the recent English-language publication offering (also known as tcworld) regularly sports an English that is positively painful to the native reader and can often only be understood if you also speak German, evoking memories of the classic Otto Waalkes parody English for Runaways. Admittedly amusing, but hardly intentional…