Jenglish

[HLM]

In another thread 'US job market' I heard some dissatisfaction with the English usage in technical manuals for Japanese PLCs.

I have read some Jenglish parts manuals and seen some nonsense that someone thought was sentences when they wrote it. But I recently got some English manuals from Omron and glanced thru them. Didn't seem so bad to me.
Maybe I've just been here so long that I can understand Jenglish :) or Omron is better than some others.

Which Japanese PLCs are the worst offenders in this area?

HLM

[Steve Bailey]

Take a look at any Fanuc CNC manual.

[Goody]

Omron Photo cell; (from troubleshooting section) Quote: if apperatus tend to fail, be sure to clean mucky from lens.

[bernie_carlton]

From a Sharp PLC manual and display screen: a communication problem flagged as a "flaming error".

[HLM]

You guys made me laugh.
It's funny to read but it's not funny to work with, is it?

I'll try to get my hands on some of the manuals and take a look.
If anyone else has some input please let me know. I would like to get an idea of how many people feel this way and how big the problem is.
Do you avoid using the PLCs because of the manuals?

HLM

[jerrydesaulniers]

It sounds like you may have your calling as a Japlish translator!

[Eric Nelson]

As you know from my other thread "Mitsubishi Sucks", I'm fighting with programming an FX1N for the first time....

Attached is a prime example of a poor translation. Notice the first line of the second paragraph...

"Don't write to the program from a plurality of place at the same time"

PLURALITY OF PLACE???? What the f does THAT mean? They seem to mean "more than one place", but I guess the word "plurality" is more appropriate??? :rolleyes:

-Eric

[Gerry]

Eric:
I guess you were absolutely clear on what to do next?

Some years back I was working with a set of schematics from Yugoslavia and the prize winner there was a switch labelled "oil pressure not tonight"

It helps to keep us entertained when under stress.

[Eric Nelson]

Originally posted by Gerry
I guess you were absolutely clear on what to do next?I sure was... so I clicked on "Acquiesce" :rolleyes:

(Don't bother looking it up... It's just another word for "Yes") :cool:

beerchug

-Eric

[Pierre]

FYI.

When you will do any online edit, if you make some modifications on many rungs at the same edit... when you will press F4 to Compile the new modifications, the program will tell you that it cannot do it.

Because... it was written in a plurality of places.

You will then have only two choices, first - loose your changes and redo them again, second - save offline and then download with CPU not running.

To me this was clear.

I have never seen this message before.

I have stopped reading there bs a long time ago.

[Rick Densing]

If you go to http://snopes.com and dig into the humor section, there is a pretty good example for a toy called "Tounge of Frog". (Starting out real good there with the name) Unfortunately, the site is set up such that I can't make a direct link.

[kalle]

"Unfortunately, the site is set up such that I can't make a direct link.

Rick, if you right click on the link and choose "Copy Shortcut", then you get your link: http://www.snopes2.com/humor/misxlate/tounge.htm

Hope this is not written in jenglish.....

regards

[akreel]

I grew up playing Nintendo and I moved on to Playstation, Jenglish is my second language...

You should see the near-crminal translations used in some of those games (Final Fantasy X is the latest and greatest offender)!

[Pierre]

Imagine us poor lads up north... we get the jenglish translated into french. Yack!

[Jerry Desaulniers]

My biggest frustration is not with the sentence structure or even a few funny terms, my frustration is with the structure of the Omron manuals themselves. They seem to jump around and never completely explain what you want to know. Then you go to the back of the book and the trail is cold on the subject. After reading the whole book you will find your answer stuufed away in another section or not there at all. Now I have to be honest with myself and admit that there is a lot of North American products with manuals that leave you hanging but it usually takes me a lot less time to find that the book is silent on that issue. My guess is that in Japan there is a little different format that is accepted in technical manuals, and I would not be suprised to find a different layout in Japaneese college textbook. I said "I guess" so dont shoot me as I have no real knowledge of the Japaneese culture. But I would be real interested to hear from someone that was educated in Japan. My guess is that Jinglish is rooted in the thinking process and culture of the Japaneese people, and when they translate something from Japaneese to English they are writing it as they would like to read it.

[Tom Jenkins]

I've worked all ends of this spectrum. I have been amused and disgusted by Jenglish manuals. I have also had to convert (note I didn't say "translate" - I just had to figure out how to get something to work!) drawings and documents from French and German into English. I have also had to try to assist in converting some of my documents into a foreign language. This is indeed a humbling experience. One can only hope that the translator, as in my case, is endowed with both patience and a sense of humor.

I'm still amused, but I've gotten over being mad at crummy translations (well, most of the time anyway) for a one/off or limited usage document, like a set of project specific drawings. For these I'm willing to cut a lot of slack in translation. However, I have no patience for a major manufacturer trying to break into the American market and being unwilling to spend the money to get a decent translator and proof reader! It makes me wonder about the quality of the products, not just the manual!