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Take them out; and please remember this:
don't do it anymore. It will drive the
translator who trying to put your concepts
and ideas into Chinese, or any other
language, almost nuts.
Cheers. (Now, try translating that into good ole
'merican English.) :-)
...........................................................
E. Winters 510-843-0909 ewinters -at- netcom -dot- com
Information_Mapping.........Non_Linear_Instructional_Design
Cross_Cultural_Issues...Interactivity.....Writing_&_Editing
On Thu, 6 Apr 1995, Daniel John Brinegar wrote:
> > Author : Ron Miller <RSMH -at- AOL -dot- COM>
> > Subject : Re: Contractions
> > Written : 04/06/95.05:52am
> >
> > I too have heard the old rule that contractions are not allowed in tech
> [snip]>
> > If you want to set an informal tone in your manuals, I say, "go for it."
It's
> > not as if using contractions is some bold step that's never been tried
> > before. If you think it will help your readers relate better to the
material,
> > then by all means do it. If we blindly follow these rules, we will never
> > experiment and find ways to improve the way we communicate with our
> > audiences.
> >
> > Ron
> Just as I got done cutting-and-pasting a whole buncha simple procedures into a
> quickie User's Guide, I come over here and realize that I'd used a *lot* of
> contractions in them: trying to get thr passive engineerese translated
> into direct, active style.... Now I'm suddenly concerned that since the
> immediate audience for this guide will be local managing engineers in
> places like Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur, I'm wondering if I need to
> "extract" them.... I recall that HK Business English avoids contracdions,
> but know that they are used to working with Americans...
> But what about KLM?
> Regards,
> Dan'l
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