I own a copy and the game components are no where near the standard euro quality. Its more like a cheap Monopoly set, so not sure if that fits your friends description of 'very poor quality'. Personally I would describe the quality as "meh - its okay". I don't remember noticing any 'broken english' on the cards.

The game is way overpriced as a game, but then its being marketed as a financial learning tool and should be played with that in mind. Here in Australia I bought it about 10 years ago and it was $230 or something then.