Language mistakes

As a loyal, longtime subscriber to The Jakarta Post, I am concerned about the fact that every now and then unnecessary errors and mistakes are allowed to appear in your professional, quality publication. Among the most blatant errors I can cite is the use of the word "dead" instead of "died" or "passed away". I have encountered this mistake at least twice. This is very rude, especially when it concerns the demise of a highly revered person.

Another example is the many semantic and grammatical errors found in the bilingual version (Indonesian-English) crossword puzzle. It is more difficult interpreting Indonesian words and sentences than is necessary in order to find the correct English translation.

I am not a linguist by profession, and it is not my intention to hurt anybody's feelings, but it would better serve the newspaper to stick to an English version, until the one who makes the puzzles completely masters both languages.

SOEGITO

Jakarta