Mangling the English language: does it matter?

I fished out this photo from a holiday to the Aeolian islands a couple of years ago: it’s the English translation of a message to people with limited mobility in case of an emergency.

The English is amazing. Most of it doesn’t mean anything, and the bits that do have some meaning, you need at least 3 goes with before you’re quite sure.

Does it matter? You could argue that not bothering to get a safety notice translated by someone who speaks the language is unprofessional. On the other hand, so what? The message is worthless anyway: if an emergency were to occur, I’m sure people with limited mobility would know to ask for help. And when you’re on your way from Palermo to Filicudi, frankly you couldn’t care less.

Would it matter more if this notice were on the Milan subway? Yes, because in truth, the setting and the circumstances of people likely to see your message affect how it, and in return you, are received. And putting this sort of notice on a Milan subway would reflect very poorly on whoever is responsible.

Relevance? Minimal, but it does in some way show how the complex confluence of message, medium and target actually makes effective communication a lot harder than it seems!