capitaliz/other languages

[Lisa Pena <pena -at- MMSI -dot- COM>]

On Aug 2, James Perkins <perkins -at- tele -dot- nokia -dot- fi> wrote:

> It is interesting to note that many other European languages do not
> capitalize seasons or days of the week or even month names.  They don't
> even use capitals for names of languages (although they do for names of
> countries).  Two good examples are Finnish and Swedish.

The same is true for Spanish:

Proper names are capitalized, as are names of countries, but not their in-
habitants. The names of days and months are not capitalized.

  Spanish                  English
  ----------              ---------
  lunes                    Monday
  junio                    June
  invierno                 winter
  espanol                  Spanish
  americanos               Americans
  Carlos                   Charles


> An associated question: Does anybody on this group do technical writing
> in languages other than English?
> ...it would be interesting to hear some comments from
> people who also work with other languages.

I work as a Spanish/English translator and tech writer for a Mining
Company in Arizona. Most of my time is spent translating documents into
Spanish, including technical manuals. Business is booming in Central and
South America, and the need for Spanish manuals has increased tremendously.
This is so important that our newer contracts mention that we will provide
documentation in the client's language. With the amount of manuals we pro-
duce (mostly in English, up til now), there's lots of work ahead! <g>

Our company currently has two tech writers and two translator/tech writers
<Yeah Mike, Pat and Juan!!> out of roughly 100 employees.

One problem we're encountering is that technology is changing and improving
so rapidly, that certain products are practically obsolete by the time
we're ready to start translating the English documentation!!

Another part of my job is writing manuals in English, which I then translate
into Spanish for our Spanish-speaking clients.

The fact that I write manuals and translate others, allows me to partici-
pate in the art of creating manuals as well as enjoy the challenge of ta-
king someone else's work and putting it into another language, all the
while attempting to maintain the original writer's personal style and flair.

Aaaah... What I really enjoy about my job is this variety!


Lisa Pena
pena -at- mmsi -dot- com