Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by bjornsteffanson 5270 days ago
Hopefully this doesn't sound too hypercritical - I'm not posting this simply to nitpick - but I think some of the site's English is a little off. I mean, it's readable enough, but there are a few areas where it seems like something was translated too literally from French to English.

As a specific example, in the FAQ section I found the question "For how long are the documents kept?" with the response "Yes, all signed documents are stored on our secure server for three years to ensure their integrity." A native English speaker would more likely say something like, "How long are documents stored?" "All signed documents are stored on our secure servers for three years..." Similarly, some sentences in the Legality section were a little confusing to read for the same reasons.

Again, not trying to start a flame war over grammar. But, as a potential customer to a company that would be handling my legal contracts, I'd want communication to be as clear as possible.

1 comments

I know, you're right. The original texts were written in French and then translated by someone else to English. We certainly have work left to be done in that area.

I decided to post it on HN anyway to get feedback ASAP.

Thanks for the example. The original (French) question is more like "Do you keep the documents?". I'll have this fixed.