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Subject:RE: Translation of manuals From:kerstin -dot- molthagen -at- etas -dot- de To:TECHWR-L -at- LISTS -dot- raycomm -dot- com Date:Fri, 1 Oct 1999 15:17:59 +0200
Hi Sean, hi Ivo!
>>>My understanding was that the EU set up guidelines for this requiring
you
provide documentation in the native language of the country in which you
are
selling plus one other EU language--usually English.<<<
That's right, but - Switzerland is not part of the EU.
Anyway, although Germany is part of the EU, my company (which produces
software for the automobile indistry) provides (US) English and German
documentation only. About 80% of our customers are German; the others are
either from the USA or Japan. I'd wager it would be _very_ difficult to
find one person in Germany who could translate technical documentation
into Japanese...
Some (afaik less than 10) of our manuals have been shipped to France or
Italy, and up to now the translations into these languages have been
cosidered too expensive for such a small audience. I can understand that
position, even though I regret it.