NG is OK?

[noka]

Hello All,

I have a question about usage of "NG". In Japanese, you often see
people using the word "NG" to mean "no good" or "bad". I know it is in
English dictionaries but I wonder if it is really OK to use the word
"NG" in business writing. Could anyone give me some opinions?

Thank you in advance.

Noriko Oka

[Matthew Schlecht]

IMHO, I would say "NG" is not acceptable usage in formal business
English prose, since it is too informal. It could appear in notes, or
possibly in a PPT presentation where other abbreviations appear. Otherwise,
this concept should be fleshed out as "unacceptable", "insufficient", "not
compliant" or the like.
I do see "NG" quite often in tables, where the status of an item is
either OK or NG, and this is fine, as the abbreviation saves column width.
If it isn't present already, I often add a brief legend at the bottom of the
table explaining what these abbreviations mean.

Matthew Schlecht

[TimL...@aol.com]

I have never seen NG used in this way in English.  NBG for "no bloody good", very informally, yes, but even that is rare in written usage.

 

Regards

Tim Leeney

[Manako Ihaya]

I think this came up some years back, and I learned from the discussion then that NG really stood for "No Go" and that in fact, Go/No Go is used in the manufacturing industry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go/no_go

--
Manako Ihaya (aka Monica)
ATA-Certified Japanese-English Translator
Lake Forest, California

----- Original Message -----

[Mari Hodges]

I have never seen that and I wouldn't recommend it. The phrase you would
need to use might depend on the context.

Mari Hodges

[Wes Freeman]

In manufacturing (quality) it is used to note that a product isn't good, I've always assumed it meant "not good". I agree with Matthew that it shouldn't be used in formal documents in its abbreviated form.

Wes

[JKNagai]

It should be clear to anybody who checks the Wikipedia site but just to
be extra clear:

"No Go" is not an expression used extensively in the manufacturing
industry. It specifically refers to a simplified inspection method that
uses a Go/No Go gauge. It also appears on one end of a Go/No Go gauge
used in the inspection method by the same name.

To my knowledge, "NG" is not used to mean No Go on Go/No Go gauges. It
would be wise to make the No-Go end self explanatory by avoiding any
abbreviations like NG for that.

NG may be connected with No Good in Japan, but has nothing directly to
do with "No Go" in Go/No Go inspections, at least in the US.

Joseph Kei Nagai

[Minoru Mochizuki]

----- Original Message -----
From: "JKNagai" <jkn...@earthlink.net>
To: <hon...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 11:55 AM
Subject: Re: NG is OK?

>

> NG may be connected with No Good in Japan, but has nothing directly to
> do with "No Go" in Go/No Go inspections, at least in the US.
>
> Joseph Kei Nagai
>

According to a dictionary I have (Acronyms, Initialisms & Abbreviations
Dictionary 1991; Fifteenth Edition, Edited by Jennifer Mossman;
Published by Gale Research Inc., Detroit, New York, London
ISBN 0-8103-5097-1; Total Number of Pages: 3676 ),

NG can be:
No Go [i.e., an unacceptable arrangement]
No Good [similar to IC - Inspected and Condemned]

You may like it or not, but that's what the book says and
it's none of my business.

Minoru Mochizuki

[Alan Siegrist]

Minoru Mochizuki writes:

> > NG may be connected with No Good in Japan, but has nothing directly to
> > do with "No Go" in Go/No Go inspections, at least in the US.
>

> According to a dictionary I have (Acronyms, Initialisms & Abbreviations
> Dictionary 1991; Fifteenth Edition, Edited by Jennifer Mossman;
> Published by Gale Research Inc., Detroit, New York, London
> ISBN 0-8103-5097-1; Total Number of Pages: 3676 ),
>
> NG can be:
> No Go [i.e., an unacceptable arrangement]
> No Good [similar to IC - Inspected and Condemned]

I think NG as an abbreviation for "No Good" can be industry insider jargon.
For example, it can be film jargon as in the following:

| NG
| AKA: No good
| An abbreviation of the phrase "no good", which can be used to describe
| various aspects of filmmaking, i.e. "a ng take".
http://www.imdb.com/Glossary/N

However, I think NG is more common in mainstream business Japanese than it
is in the equivalent business English, so care is required in its use, as
others have correctly pointed out.

Regards,

Alan Siegrist
Orinda, CA, USA
AlanFS...@Comcast.net

[JKNagai]

Thank for your findings.

1) What does this dictionary say exactly? Does it say "NG can be NO GO"
(a speculation) or does it say "NG means NO GO" (a hopefully valid
observation)?

2) Wikipedia describes what a Go/No Go inspection/gauge is, but not a
Go/NG inspection/gauge. Whenever a Go/NG gauge is invented, the
Wikipedia entry should be revised.

3) All I want to do is to warn against assuming that NG always means No
Go in the US manufacturing industry.

Joseph Kei Nagai

[Minoru Mochizuki]

----- Original Message -----
From: "JKNagai" <jkn...@earthlink.net>
To: <hon...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 3:29 PM
Subject: Re: NG is OK?

>

> Thank for your findings.
>
> 1) What does this dictionary say exactly? Does it say "NG can be NO GO"
> (a speculation) or does it say "NG means NO GO" (a hopefully valid
> observation)?

The book says exactly how I wrote. I copied the book.
They have another 15 NG interpretations.

>
> 2) Wikipedia describes what a Go/No Go inspection/gauge is, but not a
> Go/NG inspection/gauge. Whenever a Go/NG gauge is invented, the
> Wikipedia entry should be revised.

Wikipedia is basically written by people like you and me.
I wrote one subject on Wikipedia in Japanese and it is a part of Wikipedia
Japan.
Don't trust everything you read on it. It also allows everyone to edit it
(there is
a proper procedure to do it).

>
> 3) All I want to do is to warn against assuming that NG always means No
> Go in the US manufacturing industry.
>

Fair enough. You have the right to do so.
As I said, it's none of my business.

Minoru Mochizuki

[noka]

Thank you all who responded to my question for your comments and
references. They were very informative and helpful. I was not clear in
my original question but yes I wondered if it is OK to use NG in
business English when it is used in business Japanese. Materials that
I usually translate are general business type of documents (e.g.
business management) and not very technical ones. After reading
everyone's comments, I think I learned it is better not to use NG to
mean "no good" or "not good" in formal English writing.

Noriko Oka

[Warren Smith]

Haven't been following this thread, so don't know contexts or previous
suggestions.

However, often "Go/NG" or "OK/NG" appearing in a Japanese document would be
translated appropriately as "pass/fail" (at least in the context of
inspections in manufacturing lines).

Warren