Lost in Translation

Guilty as charged ... I had a similar problem ... had a stupid idea to go and buy a closet in IKEA . Anything that they sell comes in so many pieces that it seem's you bought some LEGO for your kids ... and the instructions ... so on the end i finally finished combining the closet and than realised that there was some pieces still to place on their apropriate places . So the closet i have since 14 months and the "extra" parts wich still waits for my to figure it out where to place them .

yup .. add me in ..we just tried to fix a "water filter" , the water did not come so we read the manual and see to the fixing .. over and over, and there was no solution there ... 2 days later we just opened the cover to remove the system and the water started to move .. we realized the cover was really tight and no air to allow the water to drip ..

That is for this reason I am too lazy to read on instructions in manuals. I rather pay someone to fix a new item then read them myself as I suddenly become illiterate and could not follow what is directed in the manual. They have instructions from A - Z and before coming to the last bit of the manual I have forgotten the first few steps.

You are not the only one who gets lost in translation. I find that it happens a lot, and not just with instruction manuals. Until I was laid off, one of the things I did where I worked was take somebody else's writing and polish it up for proposals (worth potentially millions of dollars to the company), presentations (often for peers - but nobody wants to look foolish in front of a group), and promotional materials. I had to consider the audience as well, because I had colleagues from all over the globe, and I needed to know (in my case), which type of "English" they were wanting to use for their audience/client/peers. American English, British English, and South African English each have phrases and spelling and syntaxes that are different from each other. I often wish I could rewrite instruction manuals because I get the feeling that they were written first in another language and then translated (or should I say "mis-translated"?) into another language. English, being a "mutt" language, is probably the hardest to translate into.

HaHaHa! Oh, Pola, don't you just miss the simple things in life? I know I do. They make things so darn complicated today, I don't even want to try and keep up with all the new fangle products because it takes a degree to get them going. Life was a heck of alot simpler back in my days and instructions were explained so you understood them. Today you need an interpreter, haha!

Dawn hands instruction manual to husband and goes and reads a book...

You are not alone! Trust me LOL Apart from the fact that instructions are nearly always in every other language apart from your own, after years of cursing and getting frustrated at not being able to follow the oh so simple but yet so damn complicated instructions I decided it was far easier, less stressful to figure it out myself without the instructions I think the instructions are there to frustrate you deliberately, they are written in a different language and that is certainly NOT plain English. Simple appliance but not simple instructions, they never are doesn't matter what the contraption is.

No Pola you are not the only one as I do get lost in it to sometimes I do not know why they have to make the Instructions so complicated knowing People will have Problems

I get lost with the translation of simple instructions...of course, it's not me...oh no....the translations these days leave a lot to be desired and let's face it...if the appliance is new we are unfamiliar with it so everything about it will be alien to us.

Hi pola, I know exactly what you're saying. So many products made in China, or other Asian countries have instructions translated by people who only speak English as a second language. In many situtions they are impossible to follow. Good luck!

I couldn't agree more. I have found great diffictulties with some appliances, especially electrical gadgets that have been made in countries that do not have English as their first language. It is not their fault I don't suppose, as a lot does get lost in the translations from their language to mine. _Derek

me 2....but i usually fiddle at 1st,then get tired AND FINALLY I take to the manual..cheers

I just recetly put up two smoke alarms in the house. it is relitive easy to do but it comes with pages of insturcions. I only refer to the intsturcions when I need too. the rest I know and learn from experence.

lolol good topic. Usually I don't use instructions. I like to find things out for myself. I usually just skim them for some important details to have attention to. ^^

Yes I feel really stupid. I still have an tech device I haven't even started to try to understand.

Im bilingual, I can read English and French. Sometimes the instructions dont make any sense in both language. Sometimes what they write is so funny, it makes no sense at all because they probably translated literally. I always manage to understand the big picture. If you cant understand it, Id recommend you call the company and tell them so. Have them explain it to you or go back to the store where you bought it and have them explain it. Dont be shy, its not your fault if they cant find good translators to do the work.