For Christmas I got a macro lens. I’ve wanted one for about three years to take pictures of snails. The other day I read something by a translator who thought it was important to translate technical language literally. Here is an example of why that’s wrong:
A Bad Guide 
And what about the shooter?
This may sure affect the disappointed shooter… don’t you think?
Yes, this doesn’t affect shooting the translator.
Who shall shoot the shooter? Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
I don’t care about lousy translation in instruction books, because they are almost always printed in a typeface so small that I can’t read them anyway.
I think what they mean is this:
jajajaja :-)
It would be worse if they blame the shooter…
Oh, never blame the shooter!
You can shoot the blamer though.
The original isn’t 100% clear to me, but I don’t know anything about image stabilizers.
● カメラによっては撮影後などに像ゆれが発生することがありますが、撮影への影響はありません。
Something about the image flickering after you take a photo (depending on the camera), but this doesn’t affect the photo.
At work we sometimes play guess the native language of the tech writer. There are some data sheets from Atmel that we think started out in Norwegian.
“we play”, you mean there are others with your Holmeslike skills? Do you see what he did there? He found the original of my lens’s instruction manual from a blurry snap, and then retranslated the Japanese. Once he found a picture of a fish-processing factory in Latvia that produced a product at my local Turkish grocery.
Well, thanks for clearing up the meaning, M. I don’t suppose you know where I left my glasses?
Of course, dearieme, ALWAYS shoot the blamer!
MMcM’s game is fantastic, and impressive results. In cases like yours, AJP, we play a game less intelligent, in order to understand the instructions, the always usefull Rosseta stone. Was your lens’ instructions written on other languages?
Speaking of translations, I was ashamed (I don’t know why I should, because is not my fault…) to discover the impossible translation google gave you for my post. How can “he” be so incompetent?
Now I added a “homemade” translation, I hope it’s ok (my official translator is sailing these days). When you have time, let me know if it’s comprehensible, please.
Yes, we play the Rosetta stone game sometimes. It was in 13 languages. I’m glad to hear your translator is out sailing, I hope she’s having a wonderful time.
I once met a man in Tokyo who ran a company translating such instruction books from Japanese into English. His staff were Japanese with varying fluency in English, so he was the final editor. He was an ex-GI who had decided to settle in Japan and needed to make a living. It explained certain things for me.
That’s a terrifying thought, humanity suffering an apocalypse and the new Rosetta Stone for researchers in the distant future being the instructions to a DVD recorder, vacuum cleaner, etc…