Improving Translatability and Readability with Syntactic Cues
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/stc/tc/1999/00000046/00000002/art00004
  access restricted (by the publisher) to members/subscribers/customers only
  peer-reviewed

Kohl, John R.
Technical Communication Online
1999

Abstract:

More and more technical writing is being translated from English into dozens of languages for use worldwide by readers who have varying degrees of fluency in English. More and more technical documents are translated using computer-assisted or machine translation and are then post-edited by human translators whose first language usually is not English. As a result, more than ever before, technical writers need to be aware of syntactic ambiguity in order to ensure the most accurate, timely, and cost-effective translation. This manuscript explores an approach to writing unambiguously that is based on research from several disciplines. In addition to facilitating translation, the syntactic cues approach improves the readability of technical documents for both native and nonnative readers of English. The manuscript discusses considerations for integrating the syntactic cues approach into established documentation processes and also provides a procedure that helps technical writers learn to use syntactic cues effe