Bad manual: why?

[Kristian]

I am waiting for my PHEV, but have read the users manual on the net (a pirat copy). I am wondering:

1) Why is it so bad? Even I could have done better, the English is horrible, and it is really not very pedagogic. Compared to the development of the car (many millions) it is strange that so little effort is spent here, e.g. 50 GPB could probably hire excellent writers or translators. A bad manual seems to accompany many complicated products, I always wondered why.

2) Why is the manual not available in its various versions on the net? The manual is not of great value if you dont have or plan on having the car, so why not give out for free?

Perhaps somebody here knows the car industry?

 

[kentphev]

I agree, not the best.

I've done technical writing before.. when I was a software developer we had to write our own documentation. The problem is that many engineers cant write very well! Another company had a dedicated team of writers but their technical skills werent that great, so you got well written but technically wrong manuals.

Probably the same here except you have Japanese to X,Y,Z to contend with as well.

I find where its lacking most is telling you what a feature does, rather than just how to switch it on or off.

 

[user 816]

Its near incomprehensible due to 'liability culture' so its deemed necessary to stuff it full of disclaimers for everything. I thought I saw somewhere on the web (may have been for a different car though) that users had done a cleaned up version stripping out all the 'bleedin obvious' and ending up with something a fraction of the original size.

 

[duetto]

I have dealt with staff from foriegn lands. and their reports as as bad as the manual. They think in their native language in this case japanese then they trannslate to english but the mode of thinking is still in japanese not english. If you have ever tried to learn japanese the make up of their sentences is completly mixed up compared to how the english construct a sentence.

a rough example

in english
I am going to by a loaf of bread from the bakers.

in japanese
bakers loaf of bread going to buy

they would be better having the manual proof read by mitsubishi England altered so it flows better and easier to read.

 

[maby]

It should be better, but don't underestimate the cost of producing a good one. I'm a professional author and have worked as a translator - that is a large volume and would take weeks to translate well.

 

[jaapv]

I have dealt with staff from foriegn lands. and their reports as as bad as the manual. They think in their native language in this case japanese then they trannslate to english but the mode of thinking is still in japanese not english. If you have ever tried to learn japanese the make up of their sentences is completly mixed up compared to how the english construct a sentence.

a rough example

in english
I am going to by a loaf of bread from the bakers.

in japanese
bakers loaf of bread going to buy

they would be better having the manual proof read by mitsubishi England altered so it flows better and easier to read.

It is against all rationale for a decent translation. The translation should be done by a native speaker who understands the original language.