TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Using Contractions in Software Manuals From:Howard Peirce <howard -dot- peirce -at- SDRC -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 11 May 1999 13:16:39 -0400
jgilger_it -at- NV -dot- DOE -dot- GOV wrote:
> Contractions cause problems with internationalization and translations.
Not so. We provide localized documents in about 8 languages, included Chinese,
Japanese, and Korean. Contractions are used consistently throughout. Extensive
research and contact with our translators went into this decision, and without
exception the translators for both Western and Asian languages prefer to see
contractions. They seemed a bit insulted that we thought they might have
trouble with it.
I'm no linguist, but some Western languages are inconcievable without
contractions (imagine replacing every "zum" in a German text with "zu dem").
English uses contractions like any other Western language, yet
English-speaking people still cling to an artificial standard for writing. Fie
on't, I say.
IMNSHO, the prohibition of contractions is just another example of phoney,
19th-century latinate prescriptivism. If I had my way, they'd be considered
part and parcel of speaking and writing English.
