Engrish no more

[Sid]

We've all seen instructions on imported products written in hilariously broken English, like some found here:

http://www.engrish.com/category_inde...y=Instructions

I've seen some from Harbor Freight that weren't grammatically perfect, but I downloaded the manual from an item covered by one of their current coupons and found this:

"High Intensity Discharge (HID) lamps use a gas capsule rather than a filament inside the bulb. Light is created by an electrical arc between two electrodes sealed in the bulb. A ballast is required to provide the proper voltage and maintain current control. HID bulbs create more light than a comparable halogen lamp, and the light is closer in color to natural daylight than halogen light.
In HID lamps, the light is produced by creating an electrical arc in a metal vapor. Free electrons colliding with an atom in the vapor momentarily knock an electron into a higher orbit of the atom. When the displaced electron falls back to its former level, a quantum of radiation is emitted. The wavelength of light produced depends on the shell level of the disturbed electron and on the element and ionization of the metal vapor used in the arc tube."

It's scary, on several levels, how far they've come!

Sid

[Uncle Cracker]

Probably just something cut and patched from some US manufacturer...

[dkerfoot]

It's scary, on several levels, how far they've come!

As exporting countries and their companies mature, they begin to understand the importance of hiring a local native speaker to translate their materials. China is starting to get better. Korea seems to have learned this in the 90's and Japan before them in the 80's. I dare say that you won't find any grammatical problems with the owner's manual for a new Lexus.

The question is - How good of a job do American companies do in translating our documents into the languages of countries we hope to export to? From what I have seen, our approach has not changed since the 50's: "Don't worry about it, they all learn English in school."

But, I am sure that has nothing to do with our trade deficit...

[Kristofor]

The question is - How good of a job do American companies do in translating our documents into the languages of countries we hope to export to? From what I have seen, our approach has not changed since the 50's: "Don't worry about it, they all learn English in school."

But, I am sure that has nothing to do with our trade deficit...

I would agree that it has almost nothing to do with it.

Americans have shown that while the language mistakes are comical, there is a very large market willing to buy whichever product meets the bare minimum requirements at the lowest cost.

Cheap labor + low regulation + weak currency = lots of inexpensive exports. At least a weakening dollar impacts the last item, and rising local standards of living help address the first two in the long run...

[dkerfoot]

Cheap labor + low regulation + weak currency = lots of inexpensive exports.

Apparently, we are now talking just about China & emerging countries such as Vietnam? Clearly, none of those things still apply to countries such as Japan and South Korea - countries we still have a serious trade deficit with. In fact, despite a very weak dollar, our trade deficit with Japan and even the EU is currently growing.

Our deficit with Japan has hit $6.9 Billion. This coincidently matches our deficit with the European Union (that bastion of cheap labor and laissez-faire regulation). I happen to import a significant number of products from the EU and I can tell you that my costs have nearly doubled in the last two years - based just on the exchange rate.

I am afraid we need to look a little deeper if we want to find the real causes.