Instruction Manuals for Other Places

[Amy Gale <amyg -at- grammatech -dot- com>]

There is a serious need for these, I think. It's nice to give little 
scripts in phrasebooks, and write an "about the culture" section in 
travel guides, but sometimes you need something a little more 
task-oriented[*].

I wrote a small one for my parents a few years ago when they visited 
NYC. It had procedures like "buying a cup of coffee" and "taking a 
cab".  They even allowed for system malfunction (what do you say when 
the coffee guy says something interrogative but you don't understand? [**]).

It would be a great project for a technical writer or a group of 
technical writers. I call dibs on NYC.

Amy


[*] Most useful piece of "orientation" paraphernalia I got at school 
here: a labeled diagram of a filled-out check (ours are surprisingly 
different). Most horrifying and counterproductive: a 3 page document 
titled "What is a US American?". Apparently you all like showers and 
deodorant, and it's difficult to develop close, deep friendships.

[**] Yes, "I beg your pardon?" is a reasonable response, but chances are 
that your NZ-tuned ears won't do any better the second time. It's 
generally more productive to just say "black, please" the first time and 
"to go, please" the second time. JMO. YMMV.
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