the News section of www.italia.it

Can someone explain what press releases of past events have to do with “Plan your trip” (and yes, I’m sure millions of people around the world were just waiting for the news of the additional “Concerto” by Vasco Rossi before booking their plane tickets to Rome, and wondering what they will do now with their Red Hot Chili Pepper tickets)?

Just some quick examples of some of the schizophrenic English language skills demonstrated by the italia.it staff in the English area of the Portal.

Please note especially the several date formats, the creative use of capitalization, the use of the Italian names for the regions, while in the rest of the site the more easily understood English versions are used.
Even little silly spelling errors like figth and the Franceco Rutelly (the guy who may be the one to sign the whole, entire, oversized €45Million check, if the government lasts that long).

To not even mention the grammatical inconsistencies, the illogical phrases, and outright lies (the project was not met well by any of the media: the web-based media have lynched the portal, and the traditional paper and TV based have basically ignored it).

“Great success of www.italia.it presented by Rutelli” means that Rutelli presented the success of the portal, not that the presentation of the portal was a success. Whoa, maybe they got one right after all.
One free English hint for the staff: in English, days of the week and months of the year are capitalized.

If only my high school English teacher could read this stuff: he’d flunk them all with a fit of red pencil scratch!

Stop to all cars on the 25th of fFebruary in the north of Italy 23/02/2007 Everybody by foot or bike on the 25th of February. The regions of Lombardyia, Piedmonte, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna and the provinces of Trento and Bolzano have decided to figtht together against pollution. This sSunday, all citizens of these regions wouldwill have to leave their cars parked and enjoy some movement. BIT. Great success of www.italia.it presented by Rutelli 20/02/2007 The deputy Prime Minister Franceco Rutelly has presented the new portal of the italian tourism: italia.it At the presence of the Minister of Technological Innovations, Luigi Nicolais, Rutelli has illustrated all the aspects of the innovative portal, which is visitable in four languages. The portal has obtained an immediate success of experts and public alike. Vasco Rossi. Concerto in Rome also on 28 June 20/02/2007 After tickets for the concert on 27 June at the Olympic Stadium in Rome sold out, Vasco Rossi will be giving a repeat performance the following evening.

Oh, and not really English related, but my personal suggestion to the staff: it’s never a good idea to mispell the name of the big boss, at least not until after he has signed your (€45Mil.) check…