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"... but I still wonder if the term "all caps" instead of "all capitals"
would be confusing to non-native speakers of English?"
If you use the phrase "all caps" instead of "all capitals," then why not
define it at first use. For example, "all caps (all capital letters)," or
have a definition list at the beginning of the document that defines all
those phrases that we speakers of English take for granted, but those
speaking English as a second language might not understand. That way it only
has to be translated once.
Al Geist
Technical Communicator, Help, Web Design, Video, Photography
Office/Msg: 802-872-9190
Cell: 802-578-3964
E-mail: al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com
Website: www.geistassociates.com
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-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+al -dot- geist=geistassociates -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+al -dot- geist=geistassociates -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2010 4:00 PM
To: Technical Writing
Subject: Question about "All caps"
I have a question for the hive mind.
I'm working on a contract, and one of the things I've been told to look out
for is phrases that would cause problems for non-native English speakers, or
when they start to localize the documents at some distant point in the
future.
Today I ran across the phrase "all caps" in a discussion of formatting data
fields in the database. I checked MS Manual of Style, and they use "caps"
all throughout the guide. I know that the key on the keyboard is "Caps
Lock",
What say you? I'd especially like to hear from folks with experience with
translations.
--
Julie Stickler http://heratech.wordpress.com/
Blogging about Agile and technical writing
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