Ever Notice..........

[JustManuals]

Ever notice when somebody needs something their your friend?
I can't tell you how many emails I get where they start out by saying: 'Dear friend' or 'Hello friend'
Even the posts here same deal. They don't say 'please' or 'thank you in advance' but their your friend. I guess when they learn English 'friend' is in the first year, and 'please and thank you' are in the 2nd year course.

Paul@justmanuals.com

[prntrfxr]

Ever Notice..........

lol.....in many cases very true. Of course it goes the other way too. sometimes one person tries to be a true friend and the other person takes advantage of them by feigning friendship in return.

[BrickPilot]

It does often go the other way IMO. People with perfect English do exhibit that same rudeness. Is it polite for example for a shop assistant to spurl their typical "thankyou, have a nice day", then snub you 5 minutes later when outside the shop if you just say hello? Some people can be polite and friendly without meaning it, while others just aren't aware because of their limited grasp of the language. I don't think it's fair to be pointing out the latter so generally.

I can't say I've seen this on these forums, I'm but I can from day to day tech support. "First year" or "second year" english is no relation to such civilities IMO. Such people I'm happy to chance helping. Maybe later I can joke at these misunderstandings. Sometimes I'm wrong about this, but at least everyone gets a fair go, except Americans who get hassled about their "English". See American and British English spelling differences - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . Just joking.

My friend, if it is true, as I recently heard, that in 5 to 10 years 1 in 3 people will speak Canonese, then someone better tell me what is Chinese for please and such before I start asking for their tech support on their products. Should I learn to be polite in Chinese before I speak it?

[prntrfxr]

Ever Notice..........

My friend, if it is true, as I recently heard, that in 5 to 10 years 1 in 3 people will speak Canonese, then someone better tell me what is Chinese for please and such before I start asking for their tech support on their products. Should I learn to be polite in Chinese before I speak it?

LOL...sorry buddy, cant help you on please. Where I'm at everybody's speaking spanish, which I have now taken the time to learn so I dont get left out. I do know how to say thank you in mandarin. Approximation in English: Shay-shay. Hello is something like: Knee-how. LOL...does that help, my friend?

I also know some French, a few phrases in Russian, and some phrases in Japanese. Oh and 1 word in Korean. Veritable melting pot here in Atlanta.

[DadO]

First of all, in some country's Word "friend" (as the manuals explained word FRIEND in despicable way ) don't mean absolute NOTHING therefor that word represent like u say HELLO to someone in the street.

When someone calls u FRIEND, that dosent mean that he thinks of u like his friend.

When i was in Spain(Country in EU if u didn't know) i went to market and 90% of Spain people addressed me like: " Hey FRIEND, look at my goods...." on english .Spain is supposed to be an cultural country....one of leaders in EU...

Why someone form UK (united kindom) calls u an "mate" or m8?Why dont he calls u an friend? So i will say when someone form Bombay calls u a friend he means mate.

But I must agree in one thing , its lack of english words, so if someone calls u an "Friend" it would be a lack of word BECOUSE ENGLISH IS NOT HIS NATIVE LANGUAGE! How would U addres me on my language? English is NOT the only language in the world but is the most common.

If someone whit native english calls u a friend for the first time then hes a BUTTkisser.

[mrfixit]

would you rather they call you asshole when they want something, the fact that they don't means they have a decent grasp of the language. Besides when you sell them manuals in english are you worried they won't be able to read them, or do you not care as long as you get paid.

[JustManuals]

Its clearly stated on my site that ALL manuals are in English. I answer all inquiries, even if asked in their native language. If I can't read it, I get it translated.

Paul

[Baphomet]

Just a word on translations ...

I use Google's online translator when I need to write someone in a language I cannot speak, or read an item written in an unfamiliar language. It is easy to use, but when you use one of these translators think about how you are wording your phrases and stay away from idioms otherwise it will create some odd sentences. I see post in this forum where someone from Vietnam or France will be using an online translator and because they are not using ideal grammer, syntax, and spelling in their home language the result makes them sound goofy.

[prntrfxr]

Ever Notice..........

yup! I used to use google language tool and babel fish to translate to spanish, till I learned more spanish. It makes you sound stupid, because sentence structure is not the same as english. In addition, both languages have words that have more than one meaning. I'm not even talking about the different expressions we have. Then to make matters worse there is regional dialect, accent, and differences by country as well. Half the time I watch something on the BBC I dont understand certain phrases or expressions. (Like: "she's a darkhorse" means she's a secretive person) I'm sure Brits would say the same about TV programs from America, as well.

The best online language translator I've seen (and its still not perfect) is Idiomax (www.idiomax.com). The best learning programs to learn a new language is Pimsleur (freakin' awesome program). You learn the things most frequently said first and start speaking sentences quickly. Part of the reason people quit learning languages is that it takes so long to make conversations happen. Pimsleur makes it happen (trust me I've tried lots of programs).

I try to be patient and help people from other countries, because its very hard for them to get information in their language. If you had to pay a translator everytime you needed a manual you'd be pretty frustrated. I learned spanish because most of the people that work with me dont speak english. I've had to teach people who dont speak the language and in many cases have never held a screwdriver in their hand how to rebuild fusers, pick-up assemblies and repair paper trays. It is very frustrating when you dont have the words to explain something.

[Penvy]

THANK YOU ?

I always say thank you and try to give back what I can.
Funny but most of the time I dont even get what I asked for and
Your right ..... just nada on the thanks