RE: Need Your Opinions re Simplified English (Can I quote you?)

[David Farbey <David -dot- Farbey -at- lazysoft -dot- com>]

For some reason, Gary Clark's original response made me think that he did
not know the specific meaning of Simplified English in the AECMA context,
which is why I contributed my explanation.

Now I am sure that he does, I apologise for calling his opinion "strange".
It is indeed a very strong opinion, but one I do not share.

I am sure Gary is right, and that cost is an issue. But in the European
aerospace industry, where projects are often shared between factories in
different countries, surely the deficiencies of Simplified English are
preferable to the inevitable delays inherent in translating every single
version of every single document into French, German, Spanish, Dutch,
Italian and so on?

Are there any European aerospace tech writers on the list who have an
opinion on this?

David Farbey
mailto:david -dot- farbey -at- lazysoft -dot- com
Technical Writer
Lazy Software Ltd., UK
http://www.lazysoft.com
Phone: 01628-642314

-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Clark [mailto:Gary -at- wtw -dot- org]
Sent: 31 May 2002 15:31
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: Need Your Opinions re Simplified English (Can I quote you?)

David Farbey wrote:

>Gary Clark wrote, in response to Ronald Brown's question:
>
>>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> Do any of you have an opinion about using Simplified
>>> or Controlled English?
>>
>>Sure do. Simplified English is for simpletons. It is offered up as a
>>crutch and excuse for a failed education system (whether in the US or
>>internationally). If any one told me I was required to use it I would
>>inform that person that he should go to hell immediately.
>
>This is a very strange opinion.
>
>To the best of my knowledge, the most widespread application of Simplified
>English is the standard drawn up by the European Association of Aerospace
>Industries (AECMA). (If anyone is interested, there are details at:
>http://www.aecma.org/Publications.htm) This standard was first published in
>1986.

By his own statement, David Farbey points out the single biggest reason for
my loathing of simplified English. The concept was 'invented' by the French
who then held, and still hold, undue controlling influence over the AECMA.)
French have had a long and well documented battle against the English
language. They had little difficulty 'enrolling' the Germans and Italians
into their viewpoint.

Here's a concept... 'simplified French' or how about "German for
non-Germans?'

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!)


>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.

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


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