Final Word from Tuesday, July 1, 2003
Native English speakers are generally fairly tolerant of abuses of their mother tongue. It's part of the price of having English become the world's lingua franca. This doesn't mean, though, that non-native speakers can't profit from using the queen's English (we can't really recommend the president's English). It shows a certain professionalism when a government agency, city hall or company is able to produce a form, brochure or sign without making glaring errors of spelling, grammar or syntax. The SARS arrival cards required of those entering the CR are being abolished today, and it's a good thing. Whatever their health merits, they've come up short on the linguistic front. Foreigners are often at a loss for how to fill them out, unless they're able to compare the Czech to the English. There are numerous good agencies in Prague that, for a few hundred crowns, could have eliminated the ambiguity and embarrassment.