Mirage F1 Manual Woes (an example)

[Johnny Dioxin]

Have to say that whilst the manual seems to contain all the information required to fly and operate this module, I've had a lot of problems understanding parts of it that seem like they should be fairly simple. Even some non-technical words used had me scratching my head and wondering what on Earth they were trying to say.

I think the root cause is the manual not being written or checked by a qualified (meaning their level is up to snuff) native English speaker, because it's not just those problems, it's many sentences just being phrased in a way that doesn't seem right. While there's not much of a big issue with that, it does all add up to a general lack of confidence when trying to read through it - especially when not at the PC, which is when I read most of my DCS manuals (in waiting rooms, in the car waiting for Mrs, in bed etc etc).

It's also by far not just this module that I noticed this with, so it's not peculiar to the Aerges product. I did English voice-overs for the L-39 training missions and I can tell you, at times I didn't know what on Earth they were actually trying to communicate with some of the expressions used, so had to take a best guess - or simply just use their word even though I knew it wasn't the best one - rather than knowing 100% what the right description was.

What's the solution? No idea - the only thing I can think of is having someone to do just the manual and take their time on it (so being started from an early stage of late development in order to have it completed in time) and having access to at least some of the dev team (the boss?)  for clarification of procedures and descriptions where necessary.

I know this won't happen and also I'll be scoffed at by the die-hards and the usual ego types here, but the subject remains a fact and really should be addressed to make the modules the top quality products they should, could and are sometimes claimed to be.

I just for fun read a load of old printed manuals from the '90's by Novalogic, Microsoft, Empire and other flight sim/game devs of the time and absolutely everything was as clear as anyone could want it in those. Having more systems to describe makes no difference - it's the describing that's the thing here.

I also think this very subject is probably one that keeps people from using manuals when trying to learn to fly the aircraft. It certainly did with me in the very first DCS aircraft, which I was so keen to learn - the Black Shark. I could see how much info was in the manual, but certain techniques used for writing it made it really awkward to read efficiently (like continually repeating full designations for equipment). I did my first ever pictorial cockpit guide for the A-10C v1 and I can tell you it was far easier than the one I then followed up with for the Black Shark 1.0.2 and I reckon that was because the descriptions (i.e. real manuals) were already there in decent English for the former, but weren't for the latter.

Whatever. Discuss - if ya like

[Ala13_ManOWar]

So sorry to hear that mate. I'm Spanish myself, and while not even close to be bilingual, I handle myself with English and even I notice those "mistranslations". The side note being here, since I'm Spanish myself and enjoy speaking a bit of English, many times I can tell what the original text, in Spanish, was saying and what they wanted to translate but in the end didn't manage to. But I guess that's a luxury you, as many fellow members here, can't enjoy.

 

2 hours ago, Johnny Dioxin said:

I think the root cause is the manual not being written or checked by a qualified (meaning their level is up to snuff) native English speaker, because it's not just those problems, it's many sentences just being phrased in a way that doesn't seem right. While there's not much of a big issue with that, it does all add up to a general lack of confidence when trying to read through it - especially when not at the PC, which is when I read most of my DCS manuals (in waiting rooms, in the car waiting for Mrs, in bed etc etc).

So, this, yes, that's exactly the problem. I'm not sure a simple check would work here, since profesional manual translation is a hairy subject. But, I believe it comes even deeper since the Mirage is a French airframe and original manuals were probably written in French, so Spanish translation of the manual is already a translation, and you're actually trying to read the English translation of the translation. So many things happens when that's the case, so many nuances and deeper original meanings are lost in translation here, never better said.

 

Sadly I have no fixes or solutions for that. It is what it is with regards to language barrier.

 

P.S.: anyway, wouldn't this thread be best placed at Aerges forums? Don't know to what extent they're aware of this, but they should be. It's not that easy whenever you handle yourself just good enough in the foreign language but not so much in deeper technical manuals jargon and complex English expressions. Since you don't see that shortcoming you can't ever be aware of it in the first place. But placing the thread in there should be a first step towards that direction

Edited March 23 by Ala13_ManOWar