20D Manual - Japanese humour? or lost in translation?

[Sailare]

Hi,
Well while waiting for my 20D replacement (exposure meter failure) I thought I should spend some quality time with my 20D manual to prevent withdrawl symptoms.

In all I found the manual to be pretty good at explaining the cameras features and functions, however there are some extremes that I found to make me scratch my head a bit. Subtle humour or something lost in the translation?

For those of you with a manual check out pages 26 and 150. For those of you that do not here are a couple of lines from those pages ---

Page 26 - Basic operation
"the camera can operate only after the on switch is turned on"
--as if that needs further explaination they show the following
<OFF> The camera is turned off and does not operates
<ON> The camera operates

page 150 Troubleshooting Guide
Problem - "the battery can not be recharged"
Their two solutions are:
"You are using the wrong battery"
"The battery is not properly attached to the charger.
--"Attach the battery properly to the charger"

Are these really the same people that make this fabulous and complex price of technology? Seems like something for submission to Jay Leno's Headlines.

Ciao

[Aylwin]

Good find! :lol: :lol:

That's looks about right though. In Japan, manuals and instructions are very... uhm... comprehensive. :wink:

[Andy_T]

Good find! :lol: :lol:

That's looks about right though. In Japan, manuals and instructions are very... uhm... comprehensive. :wink:

And I (being European) thought that was an American specialty ...

I remember a sticker I once saw on a Honda Quad vehicle (most likely imported from the US) stating some basic precautions like
'Never use this vehicle on road, because you risk colliding with other vehicles....'

Best regards,
Andy

[Adam Hicks]

I heard in Japan that all new socks ship with instructions. No wonder they're all so smart, they're taught to do EVERYTHING by the book!

:)

[Scottes]

And I (being European) thought that was an American specialty ...

I remember a sticker I once saw on a Honda Quad vehicle (most likely imported from the US) stating some basic precautions like
'Never use this vehicle on road, because you risk colliding with other vehicles....'

It *is* an American specialty. That line comes from a lawyer trying to cover their ass - if you get into an auto accident then they can say that it wasn't their fault because *you* didn't follow instructions.

[DamienB]

My new Tamron 28-75's manual sternly warns me against using the lens for anything other than 'photographing'. Which is a shame, because I was planning on using it to go surfing.

[Adam Hicks]

Check out http://www.engrish.com for some good stuff :)

[ScottE]

My new Tamron 28-75's manual sternly warns me against using the lens for anything other than 'photographing'. Which is a shame, because I was planning on using it to go surfing.

Too bad you didn't buy a Tokina. You could use it to pound nails too, judging by the advertising about how tough they are.

[Kenski]

Ummmm, You think this is bad, I know there are a few people on this board that are in the military and they can speak for me here too when I say that when we do maintenance and we read a maintenance card, well, that is about how they read... THAT STUPID..... Its because some dumb squid, grunt, air jockey, jar head before us went out and done something stupid!

[yenoram]

Have a read through your car's manual if you want a really good laugh. Evidently manual writers start with the premise all users of their products are complete imbiciles. I'm not sure what that says about their products? :)

[PacAce]

Hi,
Well while waiting for my 20D replacement (exposure meter failure) I thought I should spend some quality time with my 20D manual to prevent withdrawl symptoms.

In all I found the manual to be pretty good at explaining the cameras features and functions, however there are some extremes that I found to make me scratch my head a bit. Subtle humour or something lost in the translation?

For those of you with a manual check out pages 26 and 150. For those of you that do not here are a couple of lines from those pages ---

Page 26 - Basic operation
"the camera can operate only after the on switch is turned on"
--as if that needs further explaination they show the following
<OFF> The camera is turned off and does not operates
<ON> The camera operates

page 150 Troubleshooting Guide
Problem - "the battery can not be recharged"
Their two solutions are:
"You are using the wrong battery"
"The battery is not properly attached to the charger.
--"Attach the battery properly to the charger"

Are these really the same people that make this fabulous and complex price of technology? Seems like something for submission to Jay Leno's Headlines.

Ciao

Yes, a lot of those "comical" phrases are translations that lost something going from Japanese to English. There are idioms and cliches that just can't be translated from one language to another without something getting lost along the way.

And as far as the people doing the translation is concerned, no, they are not the same people who make the cameras. One group of people (those that design and make the cameras) are called engineers and the other group who do the translations are called....well, I guess they're called translators.

Now, let's see you translate something from English to Japanese. Think about that the next time you find another phrase in the manual that you find so humourous that you want to share it with the rest of the whole. :mrgreen:

[daveh]

As an ex-product line manager for a large computer/consumer electronics company, I can tell you that you really need statements like this to keep the support calls down (which are far more expensive than most consumers guess.)

We used to get all the classics including cases where the caller was having trouble checking that the computer was plugged in because he was holding his phone and flashlight while pulling on the cord. Yes, he had the flashlight for the obvious reason. When the CSR told him that the computer wouldn't work in a power failure (after establishing that he didn't know what a UPS was) the caller replied that the phone did. The CSR told him that the computer was plugged into the main AC not the phone circuit and the caller said: "No! It's plugged into both!"

Also, there are still SLRs in use that don't require being turned on except for metering. Some users of these cameras will be transitioning over to DSLRs in the coming years. Back in the 70s there used to be a debate as to whether any camera that requires something as unreliable as a battery for basic operation could be classified as professional. I guess that debate has been decided now. :D