A Menual on Translation

Above is one of the more amazing examples of translation that I have come across.  Among my favorite lines:

• “please becareful the screw”
• “is all plug into the PCI slot,put the screw to fix the card on the case.”
• “If anything not correct plaease install again with very carefully.”

It’s a testament to the reseliency of language that the menual is still completely understandable.  Which allows us to appreciate the irony in the last line: “please fell free to give us advise how to inprove our product.”

The problem, of course, is not with whoever did the translation.  They can undoubtedly translate things into English better than I can into their language (or any language).  The problem is with the decision to ship with the translation as-is.

So I have a solution.  Someone needs to start a company in the U.S. which employs money-seeking people (goodness knows there are enough of them) to edit translated manuals.  While having been through our public education system makes me skeptical of whether just anyone could be employed, your average American should be able to correct the errors seen above.

The business wouldn’t even have to bother about a physical location or hourly wages.  Just create a website where people can register and provide information about how to pay them.  Then do all the work piecemeal. People would log on, create an account, and get assigned a translation to edit.  They would be paid for each translation checked, or by number of pages, or in some similar manner.  Payment wouldn’t have to be large, maybe a dollar or two for the menual above (it shouldn’t take more than 5-10 minutes to check that).

Someone’s first two or three edited translations would be double checked by another person and after that their work could be spot-checked.  The finished translations wouldn’t have to be grammatically perfect, anything is better than their previous state.

So, if someone wants to start a hot web 2.0 company, there’s one for you.  Let me know how it goes.