News / Local
Econet in Ndebele spelling mistake row
21 Oct 2015 at 19:42hrs | Views
A SPECIAL good morning treat promotion by mobile telecommunications operator Econet Wireless turned into a public relations nightmare after a spelling mistake attracted ire from Ndebele speakers.
Econet Wednesday morning sent its subscribers which read: "Good morning, mangwanani, Livhuke njani Zimbabwe! Look out for a special good morning treat from Econet. Coming Soon!"
The message should have read "livuke njani" instead of "livhuke njani"
The operator's subscribers immediately took to social media to express dismay at the mistake with some Facebook and Twitter users describing the feat as "corporate mistake and a blunder" at its worst
A Facebook user with an account name Mqondisi Nkala posted: "Uyazi ngihle ngakwesula okungumbiko kwakhona ngingakaqedi lokubala, ukudelela okunje hayi ah (I immediately deleted the message before I could finish reading it, this is simply disrespectful)
Another user with account name Thabani Gumpo posted: "Cant they ask someone who actually knows IsiNdebele to check these messages before they send them out to the people?"
Commenting on that post one user said: "Are they trying to say they have no employee who are proficient in Ndebele."
Renowned linguist Dr Samukele Hadebe said people often make errors in speech and in writing but it depends on what is done after making the error such as proofreading to correct all the mistakes.
"When you are in marketing, and you are a big cooperation we are not saying you are not exempt from errors, but we are saying you are expected to have people who are more effective in what you do," said Dr Hadebe.
He said typos can happen but they are not favourable when it comes to business as it is associated with certain attitudes.
Hadebe said it becomes surprising when technical experts go through the work but still fail to correct the errors.
Responding to the criticism, Econet wrote to its subscribers saying they had noted the correction.
"We have identified the error and have since corrected the message. Thank you for your feedback," Econet wrote.
Econet Wednesday morning sent its subscribers which read: "Good morning, mangwanani, Livhuke njani Zimbabwe! Look out for a special good morning treat from Econet. Coming Soon!"
The message should have read "livuke njani" instead of "livhuke njani"
The operator's subscribers immediately took to social media to express dismay at the mistake with some Facebook and Twitter users describing the feat as "corporate mistake and a blunder" at its worst
A Facebook user with an account name Mqondisi Nkala posted: "Uyazi ngihle ngakwesula okungumbiko kwakhona ngingakaqedi lokubala, ukudelela okunje hayi ah (I immediately deleted the message before I could finish reading it, this is simply disrespectful)
Another user with account name Thabani Gumpo posted: "Cant they ask someone who actually knows IsiNdebele to check these messages before they send them out to the people?"
Commenting on that post one user said: "Are they trying to say they have no employee who are proficient in Ndebele."
Renowned linguist Dr Samukele Hadebe said people often make errors in speech and in writing but it depends on what is done after making the error such as proofreading to correct all the mistakes.
"When you are in marketing, and you are a big cooperation we are not saying you are not exempt from errors, but we are saying you are expected to have people who are more effective in what you do," said Dr Hadebe.
He said typos can happen but they are not favourable when it comes to business as it is associated with certain attitudes.
Hadebe said it becomes surprising when technical experts go through the work but still fail to correct the errors.
Responding to the criticism, Econet wrote to its subscribers saying they had noted the correction.
"We have identified the error and have since corrected the message. Thank you for your feedback," Econet wrote.
Source - Radio Dialogue
