TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Re: Need Your Opinions re Simplified English (Can I quote you?)
Subject:Re: Need Your Opinions re Simplified English (Can I quote you?) From:"Gary Clark" <Gary -at- wtw -dot- org> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 31 May 2002 07:35:48 -0700
Fiona Hurley wrote:
> > By limiting the vocabulary and the syntax that may be used, Simplified
> > English seeks to remove as much ambiguity as it can from written
> > instructions in safety-critical situations.
> >
>
> Safety-critical situations where many people do not have English as a
first
> language. I would not call people "simpletons" when they are reading
highly
> technical instructions in what may be their 3rd or 4th language.
If the documents are in English, the assumption should be that the users of
those documents are native readers of English. If the users of documents are
native readers of some other language then 100% of the documents in question
should be translated into and published in that other language. If that
requires a hundred different language sets, then so be it.
The whole concept of requiring everyone to use documents in English, and
then
corrupting the English to 'ostensibly' make the documents 'easier' for non-
native user of English is nothing more than penny pinching.
It's a concept for simpletons. The simpletons are the ones who want all the
documentation in English, not necessarily the end users.
IF SAFETY IS THE ISSUE, SPEND THE MONEY TO PUT IT INTO THE USER'S NATIVE
LANGUAGE IN THE FIRST PLACE. SPEND LOTS AND LOTS OF MONEY! AFTER ALL, IT'S
AS SAFETY ISSUE, ISN'T IT. (Yes, shouting!)
In safety-critical situations, ALL THE DOCUMENTATION should be in the native
language of the reader! No exceptions! No cost spared to do this!
Gary Clark
Las Vegas, Nevada USA
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Free copy of ARTS PDF Tools when you register for the PDF
Conference by May 15. Leading-Edge Practices for Enterprise
& Government, June 3-5, Bethesda,MD. www.PDFConference.com
Check out RoboDemo for tutorials! It makes creating full-motion software
demonstrations and other onscreen support materials easy and intuitive.
Need RoboHelp? Save $100 on RoboHelp Office in May with our mail-in rebate.
Go to http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
