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Subject:Re: Arabic text in multilingual manual From:"Peter Neilson" <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Thu, 19 Jul 2012 13:02:33 -0400
The standard method of presenting Arabic and ONE other language that I
have seen is to make the Arabic read from the "back" of the book (with its
own front cover on the "back") and the L-to-R language in the "front" half
of the book in the usual manner. Having all the stuff crammed in there
surely seems like an error of design. I would prepare a separate Arabic
book with only Arabic and English in it.
Page numbering in Arabic is traditionally done in the Arabic numbering
system, rather than in our numbering that WE call Arabic numerals.
Fortunately, all technical readers of Arabic know our numerals.
You would be well advised to consult with people who design Arabic
multilingual books as their profession, preferable actual Arabs.
I know that I always feel frustrated when I have to wade through an
instruction sheet that is presented in ten or more languages, trying to
find the parts in English. It only makes matters worse that I feel I can
read German, Dutch, Danish, French, Italian and Spanish to some slight
degree. "Oops, I'm trying to read the Dutch. Why does it have to be so
much like English and German?"
To whose benefit is it, to have all the languages sqwooshed in together?
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