Authenticity is paramount. Product use affects countless households and directly impacts the interests of consumers; therefore, exaggerated claims, promotional claims, and even the use of counterfeit or substandard products for personal gain are strictly prohibited.
For example, in specific fields such as medical devices, relevant regulations impose stricter and more specific requirements on the authenticity of instruction manuals. According to the "Regulations on the Management of Instructions and Labels for Medical Devices," instruction manuals for medical devices must not contain assertions or guarantees of efficacy, such as "best efficacy," "guaranteed cure," "radical cure," or "complete cure"; must not use absolute terms such as "highest technology," "most scientific," "most advanced," or "best"; must not state cure rates or effectiveness rates; must not compare the efficacy and safety of products from other companies; must not contain promises such as "insured by an insurance company" or "money-back guarantee"; must not use the name or image of any organization or individual for endorsement or recommendation; and must not contain misleading statements that may cause a certain disease or worsen a condition if the product is not used. These regulations clearly define the legal red lines regarding the content of product instruction manuals and embody the principle of "authenticity" in specific industries.
Scientific Rigor: Products are the product of scientific and production practices, reflecting to a certain extent the level of contemporary technology and serving as a practical representation of science and technology.
Furthermore, as technical documents guiding user operation, product manuals themselves must possess scientific rigor, ensuring accurate and standardized information based on reliable technical standards and facts.
Organizational Structure: Due to differences in culture, geography, lifestyle, and environment, people's understanding and interpretation of product manual content may vary. Therefore, when describing various elements of the product, the manual should follow a progressive and gradual order.
For example, in writing English user manuals for equipment, basic writing principles, including the "hierarchical principle," are proposed.
Popularity: Many consumers lack professional knowledge, so it is necessary to use simple, easy-to-understand, and widely appealing language to clearly introduce the product, enabling consumers to use it with ease, understand precautions, and conveniently and quickly maintain and repair it.
As society's demands for information accessibility increase, the connotation of "accessibility" is also expanding. For example, "age-friendly modifications" for drug instructions targeting the elderly have been proposed, requiring accessible formats such as audio, large print, Braille, and electronic versions. In cross-cultural contexts, product instruction manual translation needs to emphasize "user-friendliness," sometimes employing communicative translation strategies to ensure effective information delivery. Furthermore, in certain specific fields (such as medical devices), regulations explicitly require instruction manuals to use clear, accurate, and standardized language, prohibiting absolute terms such as "highest technology," "most scientific," "most advanced," and "best," as well as exaggerated or misleading statements such as "cure" or "guarantee."
Practicality: Emphasizing the practicality of a product aims to highlight the important indicator that "mine is better than yours," facilitating the product's advantages and making it easier for consumers to use.