Controlled Languages in Industry

A Controlled Language is a form of language with special restrictions on grammar, style, and vocabulary usage. Typically, the restrictions are placed on technical documents, including instructions, procedures, descriptions, reports, and cautions. One might consider formal written English to be the ultimate Controlled Language: a form of English with restricted word and grammar usages, but a standard too broad and too variable for use in highly technical domains. Whereas formal written English applies to society as a whole, CLs apply to the specialized sublanguages of particular domains.

Wojcik, Richard H. and James E. Hoard. Oregon Health and Science University (2005). Articles>Language>Technical Editing>Controlled Vocabulary

Did Somebody Say 'Duh'?

The year 2000 is a big duh for computers. But 2020 is when today's kids will rule the universe, as they already seem to rule the language. We'll have a State of the Union address consisting of 'duh!' with a rebuttal of 'DUH-uh' followed by the analysis, 'Excuse me?' I'm not sure whether this is a bad thing, given the present state of adult rhetoric and the occasional charms of juve-talk, or kid-lish. Concise and animated, the sardonic/ moronic idiom of school kids can slice through our stale officialese. Some of it -- the more cuddly terms, not the hard-edged hip-hop -- tickles that laugh-spot recently located in the brain. Yet, when millions of grown-ups, even those who communicate for a living, start aping little people in baggies, one has to fear for the range of human expression.

Plotnik, Arthur. Editorial Eye, The (2003). Articles>Language>Editing

Practical Tips for Language: The Ladder to the Top

We the Technical Editors are spared of one worry which our colleagues from journalism generally have: In our work we need not pay 'so much' attention to 'as much as possible' large number of editions. But the situation is different, if we--as is always the case--are to also look after the company's web presence. What is an edition in the context of printing is here the so-called 'page ranking' among the major search engines like Google and Yahoo. Many imagine that a listing in the hits lists depends on chance or, that it is mainly due to some technical means. That is all wrong: by employing some clever textual work the chances of web pages being found can be significantly increased. In reality, even elaborate techniques can lower the chances of hits: Frames, JavaScript and Flash Intros often derail the search engines. And the results may look all right, but regrettably the page will no longer be found.

Nickl, Markus. tekom (2006). Articles>Language>Editing>Business Communication

Lost in Translation: Contributions of Editors to the Meanings of Text    

Authors of scientific articles in one language are often required to provide abstracts of their papers in a second language, and they use a variety of ways to achieve this.

Hartley, James, Alan Branthwaite, Frank Ganier and Laurent Heurley. Journal of Information Science (2007). Articles>Language>Editing>Translation

How to "Proof" a Translation

As the global economy expands, American companies are translating large numbers of documents into multiple languages. As a technical writer, my job is to read documents in German, Italian, Danish, French, Spanish, Greek, and Polish among other languages. I also review documents in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, but the process is harder and less productive. This article will provide a few practical tips for "proofing" translations of Western documents.

Ribert, Roger. STC International TC SIG (2005). Articles>Editing>Translation>Language