placing an order

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tzfujimino

Key Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2007
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Japanese
Home Country
Japan
Current Location
Japan
Hello.:)

1. Please push this button when you wish to order or pay the bill.
2. Please push this button when placing an order or paying the bill.

#1 is tedmc's suggestion. (Thank you, ted.)
I think it's very good.
#2 is my original translation from Japanese into English. Is 'placing an order' unnatural?

Thank you.

P.S.
I'm talking about this thing:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/p...7teRlMbZyRnd4KYAtR0wXnI33lOw_SmE=w403-h365-nc
 
2. Please push this button when placing an order or paying the bill.
When you are placing an order or paying the bill, you are already speaking to someone, so why do you have to push the button to call someone?
 
(You can) press this button to order something or to pay the bill.

Or you could put a label on the actual button saying:
"Order/Pay", "Order/Bill" or "Service."
 
"When you are ready to order (or pay the bill), please call our staff by pushing the button." is what I meant.
Are you usually ready to order as soon as you take your seat, Matthew?

:)
 
Matthew's point was that your press the button before ​placing the order.

I see. I got it.
It is a literal translation from Japanese into English, so I didn't notice how weird the sentence was.:oops: Thank you for pointing that out, Matthew and Piscean.:)
 
For a sign by a button I would write, "To order, or pay, please press the button". You could use "Please press the button to order, or pay".

It depends what you would like. In the first version, the emphasis is on telling customers the relevant information before inviting them to push the button. By bringing "please" to the front of the sentence in the second version the emphasis is more upon politeness, although you may get some people who'll just read the first few words as an invitation to push the button for any reason.
 
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