The Yelpdesk

Want to know what's really going on down at the helpdesk?

You can try this at home kids, with Google Translate. Take a hypothetical helpdesk scenario:

"When I type "yuo" in an email the system keeps changing it to "you". "Yuo" is my Korean pen pal who I like to write to regularly to chat about families and things that go on in the day. We also play the "send me apathy" game on face book but the most important thing is that Yuo is planning to visit me for Easter. We are having logistical problems because of this spell checker, also because they don't have Easter so he doesn’t understand the schedule."

That's scenario I'm sending to the helpdesk. Say the helpdesk is in Berlin, they would translate it into German and that text translated back into English looks like this:

"If I, "you" in an e-mail system is constantly changing it to "you". "It is my Korean pen PAL, which I like to write regularly to chat about family and things that go into the day. We also play "Send me apathy" game on the face book, but the most important thing is that it is planning to visit me and Easter, we have logistical problems, because this thing, because they are not about Easter, so he doesn ' t understand the timetable."

The answer (which I wrote in English and double translated back) is this:

"Easter is on Sunday, 12 April, the usual schedule is Good Friday, Easter Monday, followed by the United Kingdom, and they have holidays. The weekend is not named and it's free for your needs, gentile. If you have a problem with your stylus Korean, please contact the manufacturer, we have no information from PAL. Have a nice day."

Stop and compare the answer with the question, both sides are competent and good communicators but the result is gibberish. I hope that explains why the help desk isn't what you hoped it would be.

JJ