Break vs. Brake

Nissan, here's a suggestion: fix your FAQ page on facebook. Right now you have:

Q: Will it be equipped with a 4-wheel disc break or drum for a standard option?
A: Braking will be regenerative to help maintain battery charge and optimize driving range. It will be 4-wheel disc.

That should be brake, not break. You don't want to follow in the footsteps of Aptera where every little grammar goof is torn apart by the frustrated reservers and seen as proof of total incompetence.

Maybe it was a direct quote from a customer question. The question was wrong but the answer was correct. Agreed that they should have corrected the question to look better.

palmermd said:

Maybe it was a direct quote from a customer question.

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In that case you would say

Q: Will it be equipped with a 4-wheel disc break [sic] or drum for a standard option?

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In some instances where grammatical and spelling mistakes are made, we could well be talking about someone whose first language isn't English. I've seen a few mistakes in the various .pdf files we've seen.

Of course, it would make sense to have a native English speaker create the written materials for our markets. But perhaps it isn't feasible early in the game.

LEAFer said:

palmermd said:

Maybe it was a direct quote from a customer question.

Click to expand...

In that case you would say

Q: Will it be equipped with a 4-wheel disc break [sic] or drum for a standard option?

Click to expand...

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Academically correct, but it would be bad form to correct the customer's spelling when responding to a query.

There are legal concerns for website owners as well. Publishing user letters and/or product reviews untouched isolates the author and website owner from each other (and any legal challenges that might occur from the review, for example). If a website owner edits the letter in any way, the website owner can be seen as a 'partner' or 'accomplice' should a legal question arise.

Webmasters are advised to either not accept questions/reviews/inputs from the public, or are advised to publish them completely untouched in order to maintain a liability separation.

Sad but true.

Yes, but Nissan's FAQs are most likely derived from hunderds of user questions
(that is the the "frequently-asked" part).

Thus, the "Question" part should be representative of the (many) user questions,
and not necessarily the text from any specific user question.

In this case, it would seem that correct verbage would be preferred.

garygid said:

Yes, but Nissan's FAQs are most likely derived from hunderds of user questions
(that is the the "frequently-asked" part).

Thus, the "Question" part should be representative of the (many) user questions,
and not necessarily the text from any specific user question.

In this case, it would seem that correct verbage would be preferred.

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Right, Gary, this is not a specific quote since no one is named or even vaguely identified. It is a generic distillation question written by Nissan and thus should be spelled correctly.

mwalsh said:

In some instances where grammatical and spelling mistakes are made, we could well be talking about someone whose first language isn't English. I've seen a few mistakes in the various .pdf files we've seen.

Of course, it would make sense to have a native English speaker create the written materials for our markets. But perhaps it isn't feasible early in the game.

Click to expand...

No doubt you're right, but I don't know if that's much of an excuse for a major international company. The last page of this pdf (http://www.nissan-newsroom.com/JPN/en/PRODUCTS/ZEROEMISSION/images/01/NNR/100611/leaf_presen_100611-05.pdf) was pretty painful to read:

Link with start-up sound, Twin Digital Meter highlight EV’s welcomming atmospher and High-teck image.
Flat pauel center cluster emphasize distinctive EV-ness and evoke Hightech image of Latist digital devices.
Shift knob, based on By wire system, inspired from mouse for PC,offer obrious difference both look and smooth touch

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A simple brake vs. break error would have gone unnoticed in that mess. :|

Most likely that one was just a "rough" translation from Japanese, but not by somebody fluent in English.

I don't think the FAQ questions are manufactured or massaged by Nissan, folks. My question was posted untouched. Early on there were duplicate questions and answers. It appeared to more like a twitter feed rather than a hand-made FAQ.