Lost in Translation

Spoken by over 700 million jabbering individuals, the English language has travelled to all corners of the globe – unfortunately, some of it has got a bit muddled along the way ...

Lost in Translation: Misadventures in English Abroad affectionately demonstrates the very best – and worst – instances of genuine grammar-gargling from around the world, discovered by the author and his intrepid team of researchers. It includes everything from hilarious hotel signs to baffling advertisements, such as the German beauty product offering a 'cream shower for pretentious skin', the notice at a French swiming pool which proclaimed that 'swimming is forbidden in the absence of the saviour', or the warning sign at a Czech zoo which instructed visitors: 'No smoothen the lion'.