tekom-Jahrestagung 2012 - ActiveDoc

Professionelles Schreiben / Technical Authoring
Many languages do not have an equivalent of the gerund, or “ing” form,
of verbs. As a result, readers who are subconsciously translating into
their native language often find this feature challenging. Similarly, many
languages have fewer layers of past and future tenses than English.
For technical documents one past and one future tense should usually
suffice. If they don’t, rewriting the sequence of events in a more linear
fashion – first event one, then event two, etc. – should help non-native
English speakers better understand your text.
Cultural issues
Use the literal meaning of words. Wordplays and metaphors rarely carry
over well across languages and cultures. For the same reason, do not
use expressions referring to sports, movies or cultural icons. Since your
audience comes from many different cultures, avoid anything that might
offend: politics, religion, even slightly off-color jokes.
Keep in mind that time zones, units of measure and holidays differ
among nations. Some such references may be unavoidable, but don’t
add them unnecessarily. Visual clues may also differ – not everyone’s
stop sign looks the same as in the U.S., for example. And for readers
from a left-to-right language it is not necessarily obvious that a sequence
starts on the top left of the page. Arrows or numbers help to
clarify the direction in which steps are to be performed.
Many cultures have more than one form of address. Being too formal
rarely offends, but the opposite may well do so. So write in a formal
tone, without going overboard – the Queen of England is unlikely to
read your heater installation manual.
Evaluating your document
When creating documents that will be read online also take into account
slower download speeds and differing standard fonts on non-
English computer systems. It’s also a good idea to have colleagues from
the countries where the document will be mostly used read your text to
point out potential pitfalls.
i18n, t9n, L10n
The presentation focuses on writing for audiences who will read the
text in its original English. But such documents sometimes do end up in
other languages. So here’s a short primer on the terminology associated
with translation:
−−
i18n means Internationalization, the process by which local references
in the original are removed.
−−
t9n stands for Translation, that is transferring the text into another
language.
−−
L10n is Localization, which adapts the translation to a specific country.
I will send a list of resources to attendees who give me their business cards
after the presentation. If you would like that resource list, but did not attend
the presentation, e-mail me at office@reliable-translations.com.
tekom-Jahrestagung 2012
399