…people could get a headache reading the 25-page book because it is full of grammatical and lingual mistakes.He then quoted two paragraphs from the book.
“Today, Jakarta is the city with its age of 479 year, and has a very strong tie with Dutch Nation, that colonized Indonesia more than ñ 3 centuries period.
“From the old port Sunda Kelapa, Kota area up to Merdeka Palace and its around constitute an invaluable worth and still well-kept its originality and giving a special color for Jakarta city.”
Readers might well scratch their head trying to understand these two sentences.
They might take pity on Jakarta administration’s.
They may even make the assumption that no Indonesians can write in English well.
Or they might think the administration was so poor they could not afford a professional writer.
Worse, they might think the money allocated to hire a professional writer was corrupted by certain officials, particularly given Indonesia is one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
…Books, magazines and brochures or leaflets can be powerful promotional tools, but only if they are well written.
If the city administration wants to promote tourism through the publication of books like Jakarta Heritage or brochures written in English to attract foreign tourists, they must hire a professional writer who can write in English well.
…You are what you write.
