Alien

We got a complaint at work from a customer. All Dutch think that they can speak English and this woman got so very mad at us for a translation we did. An oh how mistaken she was. We provided her with a translation in which the translator used the term ‘Alien’ in the sense of ‘foreign national’. Apparently, she only knew the word as meaning someone from outer space. It is somewhat funny but we do want to keep her as a returning customer. I had the wish form in my mind to call her and explain how stupid she’d been. Why hadn’t she checked an online dictionary before lodging a formal complaint? Is she someone who has studied the English language? Of course not. Obviously she would be able to manage going grocery shopping in England, but doing official translating work is best left to professionals. If she had just taken some time to calm down and think. What if there are more meanings to this word than the only one I know of? Let’s check the dictionary! It becomes even more embarrassing for her. Her employer had provided us with a list of terms of how to translate certain terms from Dutch to English. Guess the term to be found on this list. Yes, it is Alien.