On 12/28/2010 7:02 AM, Bill Pearce wrote:
>
>
> I'm not a linguist, but perhaps CH can chime in here. Are the structures of
> Asian languages so different from English that translations are a serious
> challenge? Are good english to Chinese/Japanese/etc. translations also rare?
> I know that the translation of theplural of shrimp on chinese restaurant
> menus is often incorrect. I also know that the translation of Engineer to
> English is also often impossible.
>
>
>
> Bill Pearce
I am not sure that translation is the real problem. I have run into a
number of manuals for British or American audio or software products
that are as bad as many Asian DSLR manuals. Often times the person
writing the manual appears to be a designer or engineer. Worse that that
is manuals written by someone who just does not seem to care, or are
'warmed over' based on a previous or similar model's manual. I think the
real problem is the perception (most likely quite true) that the manual
does not make the product more valuable or saleable so most firms put
the minimum amount of resources into it.
Personally I really like having a well written PRINTED manual. Most
software these days comes with no real manual - shifting the cost of
printing the manual to the customer. Worse yet, many of the online or
disc based manuals are not well formatted to be printed, AND still not
well formatted to be used on the computer either.
Jim
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