New Tamron Lenses - terminology problems

[rpcrowe]

I was reading this blurb about the releases of three new Tamron lenses...

https://www.sonyrumors.co/tamron-hk-...-prime-lenses/

I have a strong suspicion that there were some problems when translating the original release from Tamron, Hong Kong into the English language.

The Sonyrumors release consistently refers to each of these lenses as: "the newly released wide-angle fixed-focus lens" instead of "fixed focal length lens".

There is quite often a problem when a translator is not intimately familiar with the subject of the translation. For a translator who is not photographically oriented, "fixed focus" and "fixed focal length" might seem to be interchangeable terms; which obviously they are not.

I have just been reading a book "Joe Rocheford's War" about the U.S. Navy breaking of the Japanese Naval Code during the early months of our participation in World War II. In order to break the codes, we needed persons familiar with breaking codes but, additionally needed persons familiar with Naval terminology in order to make sense out of the information from those codes.

I would hope that if I were in charge of releasing information about significant new products such as the Tamron lenses, that I would have the release proof read by someone familiar with the subject...

[xpatUSA]

Yep, happens in Japan too:

[DanK]

Actually, my ability to take monotonous pictures isn't limited to any particular camera picture style. I'm much more versatile than that.

Seriously, I don't find this at all surprising. I briefly lived in a non-English-speaking country, and I vividly remember the frustrations of speaking a second language. Now that I am retired, I teach English to immigrants, and I am often overwhelmed by the amount of detail that native speakers of any language can take for granted. Even fluent speakers of a second language often make mistakes. I think we often don't notice them because we fill in, but they are more apparent in writing. Now that I am teaching English, I hear far more mistakes by my immigrant friends than I used to.

I think the only really safe solution is to have these things proofed by native speakers--ideally more than one, as it is all to easy to miss errors even when written.

[Manfred M]

Richard - even with native English speakers, there are regional variations of terminology. This is often country dependent. I grew up referring to lenses as "glass" and was taken to task by someone until I showed them written examples of this term in use in reputable photographic publications.

My oldest daughter lived in Japan for around three years and when she first arrived there she delighted us with some of the badly butchered English that was in use in that country. The same thing happened when she first moved to India (a country she lived in for over two years) and while English is an official language in that country, expressions and spellings are often quite unique and confined to that part of the world. She's been in Hong Kong for almost two years and the same cycle followed with camera phone snaps of things written in "Chinglish".

We had suggested that she start collecting images of these, but that project fell by the wayside. This is one of my favourites snapped the last time I was in Japan...




Definitely something unlikely to be found at home.

[William W]

. . . Now that I am retired, I teach English to immigrants . . .

Now that she 'retired', my Wife teaches a purpose-created English, spelling, reading and writing course for native English speakers: 1st yr hi scool kids like txting 2 replace ritten + spoken words + cut and paste wiki for there assinements spel chek dose the rest.

WW

[rpcrowe]

The sonyrumors.com article could easily have been proofed by a native English speaker. However, I think that it would take a native English speaker who is also fluent in photography lingo to have caught that mistake.

Manfred remarked about Chinglish... There was a profusion of Chinglish signs appearing in Beijing just prior to the Olympics in that city. I wish that I had made a photographic collection of Chinglish signs such as these...

This was posted over a urinal in a public park men's room...


This was posted by a pond in the park...


Although the Chinglish might seem humorous it did get the points across. I stepped up and I didn't try to walk on the water

[lunaticitizen]

Yep, happens in Japan too:

Upon reading the sentences, I think that's a direct translation from Japanese language. "Monotonous" is obviously incorrect, though.

This is what happens when you ask engineers to translate documents from their native language to another they're not familiar with. It happens a lot here

[lunaticitizen]

I was reading this blurb about the releases of three new Tamron lenses...

https://www.sonyrumors.co/tamron-hk-...-prime-lenses/

I have a strong suspicion that there were some problems when translating the original release from Tamron, Hong Kong into the English language.

The Sonyrumors release consistently refers to each of these lenses as: "the newly released wide-angle fixed-focus lens" instead of "fixed focal length lens".

There is quite often a problem when a translator is not intimately familiar with the subject of the translation. For a translator who is not photographically oriented, "fixed focus" and "fixed focal length" might seem to be interchangeable terms; which obviously they are not.

I have just been reading a book "Joe Rocheford's War" about the U.S. Navy breaking of the Japanese Naval Code during the early months of our participation in World War II. In order to break the codes, we needed persons familiar with breaking codes but, additionally needed persons familiar with Naval terminology in order to make sense out of the information from those codes.

I would hope that if I were in charge of releasing information about significant new products such as the Tamron lenses, that I would have the release proof read by someone familiar with the subject...

Aren't they machine-translated using Google Translate? The original pages are in Chinese.

[rpcrowe]

Aren't they machine-translated using Google Translate? The original pages are in Chinese.

This could very well be the way they translated the Chinese...

But, just like shooting in auto mode, a machine doesn't always give the best results unless tempered by human intelligence...

[lunaticitizen]

This could very well be the way they translated the Chinese...

But, just like shooting in auto mode, a machine doesn't always give the best results unless tempered by human intelligence...

I'd venture a guess that the admin just didn't care.

[rpcrowe]

Regardless of the translation difficulties, the new Tamron lenses look pretty interesting - especially the small 20mm f/2.8 prime at $349 USD... That lens would be nice on both a full frame and a crop camera. It would be a nice adjunct to the Tamron 24-75mm lens when you need to go a bit wider...

The upcoming 70-180mm f/2.8 is also interesting - a full-frame, six inch long (152 mm) f/2.8 telephoto at 28.7 ounces or 815 grams... Again, nice for both full frame and for crop format cameras... Even lighter than the Sony 70-200mm f/4 G OSS lens. However, I think that I will stick with the Sony lens... it is 25 grams heavier and one stop slower but, it has OSS and the very handy programmable focus hold button...

[lunaticitizen]

Regardless of the translation difficulties, the new Tamron lenses look pretty interesting - especially the small 20mm f/2.8 prime at $349 USD... That lens would be nice on both a full frame and a crop camera. It would be a nice adjunct to the Tamron 24-75mm lens when you need to go a bit wider...

The upcoming 70-180mm f/2.8 is also interesting - a full-frame, six inch long (152 mm) f/2.8 telephoto at 28.7 ounces or 815 grams... Again, nice for both full frame and for crop format cameras... Even lighter than the Sony 70-200mm f/4 G OSS lens. However, I think that I will stick with the Sony lens... it is 25 grams heavier and one stop slower but, it has OSS and the very handy programmable focus hold button...

I'm also interested in the 20mm lens. The price is very reasonable. If I get this one I might sell my 21mm manual lens.