http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Language A listing of the most recently indexed works about Language in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Language http://tc.eserver.org/35832.html http://tc.eserver.org/35832.html When there’s a decision to be made and several gormim are consulted, a complication for the translator is that a גורם can be an individual or a whole department or company. Personally I sometimes get away with office as a translation because the גורמים can presumably all be found in offices of their own. But only sometimes. A גורם that you consult could also be a sample of schoolchildren, shoppers, or beachgoers. Sometimes גורמים can be stakeholders, but again only sometimes. http://tc.eserver.org/35665.html http://tc.eserver.org/35665.html Localization is the process of adapting a product or service to a particular language and culture. Internationalization is the precursor to localization and involves the process of planning, designing and implementing a culturally and technically neutral product, which can easily be localized. Internationalization helps decrease translation cost and speeds up time-to-market by addressing crucial technical, aesthetic, cultural, and linguistic issues at project start-up. It also has the unique advantage of streamlining not only the localization of your content but authoring in general. http://tc.eserver.org/35668.html http://tc.eserver.org/35668.html If you have struggled with a good way to assess the countless translation agencies vying for your business or looked for a way to assess your current provider, you’re not alone. Companies around the globe have longed for a standard objective means by which to carry out their assessments. Some help has arrived in the form of European Standard EN 15038:2006, “Translation Services — Service Requirements.” http://tc.eserver.org/35669.html http://tc.eserver.org/35669.html In the current global financial crisis, Latin America has at least one advantage over most parts of the world. Crisis mode is the norm, rather than the exception, and presumably this means that people here consider what is happening to the world economy far less threatening than people in Europe and North America. The region is also one step removed from the closely interconnected economies of the western world, which means that the impact of the crisis has taken longer to see tangible effects. But does that mean Latin America is a safe haven from woes of the global financial crisis? I think not. http://tc.eserver.org/35678.html http://tc.eserver.org/35678.html Controlled languages use basis writing rules to simplify sentence structure. Here is how they work and how your company can benefit from introducing a controlled language. http://tc.eserver.org/35682.html http://tc.eserver.org/35682.html It is not surprising that myths, half-truths, and misunderstandings abound regarding machine translation: It seems as if the experience most players in the translation field have with this technology does not go beyond toying a little with one of the free online translation tools. Almost every week, I come across an article informing its readers either that machine translation is and always will be a complete waste of time or that machine translation, while being a waste of time today, might actually be useful some time in the distant future. In the hope of setting the record straight, here is a closer look at some of the most common myths about machine translation. http://tc.eserver.org/35689.html http://tc.eserver.org/35689.html In the translation and localization business we often come across the terms US Spanish and Latin American Spanish. Are there any differences between them? In what way do they differ from International Spanish and Neutral Spanish? Despite the slight variations that may occur in US Spanish, Latin American (LA) Spanish, International Spanish and Neutral Spanish, they all have one thing in common: none of them actually exist. http://tc.eserver.org/35620.html http://tc.eserver.org/35620.html Includes an illustration of international professional communication, the double commitment of international professional communicators, and professionals and documentation experts. http://tc.eserver.org/35581.html http://tc.eserver.org/35581.html An article about machine translation was translated into Spanish by Google Translate (www.google.co.uk/language_tools?hl=en). In September 2009, professional translators evaluated the translation for fluency and for accuracy of meaning. http://tc.eserver.org/35422.html http://tc.eserver.org/35422.html People often ask us which commercial market is the most advanced when it comes to viewing linguistic diversity as a boon instead of a bane. Language service providers (LSPs) in other countries often point to the United States, which in 2010 will support an estimated market of US$765 million for telephone interpreting services, largely generated from organizations that sell goods and services to its multicultural residents. However, is the U.S. market truly 'mature' when it comes to embracing multilingualism? Not by a long shot. http://tc.eserver.org/35424.html http://tc.eserver.org/35424.html Optimizing the translation process has two basic components: improving the writers' source texts and improving the translators' process. For the moment, we'll focus on the writer's job. Dear Translator: Please remember that most writers never had any training at all about translation and usually know one lonely language. Many of them can only rely on the limited writing advice that they got in school. They're never aware of how they can make life hellish for translators and for international readers. So, don't blame them; help them out. Pass this list on to them and discuss it until they understand. http://tc.eserver.org/35327.html http://tc.eserver.org/35327.html It is clear that the term blacklist, and the newer term whitelist, and yes, graylist, are not racist in origin. Nor are they used today with any connotation about race. But these terms are culture-bound and might present globalization issues. That is, the colors black and white are not globally perceived as negative and positive, respectively. In some cultures, the meaning is the opposite. http://tc.eserver.org/35275.html http://tc.eserver.org/35275.html Translation memory is not a burden to be vilified, but I do think translation agencies and some TEnT developers should think long and hard about their practices. We pay for our tools – not the agency. Why should we be paid less to use them? That just doesn’t make sense. http://tc.eserver.org/35205.html http://tc.eserver.org/35205.html "Leverage," "interface," and "circle back" are among the most annoying and overused terms in work settings today, according to a new survey of executives. http://tc.eserver.org/34948.html http://tc.eserver.org/34948.html The human mind is geared to derive meaning out of what it perceives. And this attribute is so fundamental to it, that it may even be the most basic building block of human cognition. In our zest to dig out some meaning from everything, we even go to extreme lengths. There have been diviners, oracles, and witch-doctors who try to read meaning from chicken entrails, yarrow sticks, tea leaves, bird flights, etc, with the same seriousness that a doctor reads an x-ray, or a hot-air balloonist reads weather patterns. The famous metaphysical saying “there is no such thing as a coincidence” is something which rides on the underlying philosophy that says - there is always a meaning in everything - if you can find it. Understandably, this philosophy can be a highly devious tool in the hands of occultist quacks, and yet the motive behind it is a fundamental driving force of human cognition. http://tc.eserver.org/34970.html http://tc.eserver.org/34970.html The purpose of this research is to compare several machine learning techniques on the task of Asian language text classification, such as Chinese and Japanese where no word boundary information is available in written text. The paper advocates a simple language modeling based approach for this task. http://tc.eserver.org/34757.html http://tc.eserver.org/34757.html It is critical to address localization as part of the DITA adoption early as it may significantly impact your localization process with potential schedule and cost implications that could negate many benefits of XML. http://tc.eserver.org/34598.html http://tc.eserver.org/34598.html Over the past two years my team conducted an extensive review of translation process and costs, and we found a lot of ways to reduce translation time and costs. This including exploring use of machine translation. In the end, we found that machine translation created more hassles than it fixed. It was hard to explain to upper management, but the concept that helped most was explaining that translators aren't translating word for word, they're translating thought for thought. http://tc.eserver.org/34600.html http://tc.eserver.org/34600.html Have you ever wished you could remember everything you've written over the past few years, and reuse it whenever needed? Now that would be a valuable, timesaving tool. In the same vein, it would be worth a great deal if a translator could recall every sentence translated for a client, and recycle it wherever appropriate. Today there are tools that help translators do exactly that. These tools are programs, called translation memory software, which allow translators to store and retrieve text. Using this software saves time and money and contributes to a better translation. http://tc.eserver.org/34602.html http://tc.eserver.org/34602.html When you have materials that need to be translated into a foreign language, how do you decide where to send them? Your basic choice is between an agency that uses only freelance translators or one that has employee translators in-house. Your decision on which to use should depend on the type of final product you are looking for and the subject matter of the material to be translated. This article describes the two types of agencies in more detail, to help you make an informed decision regarding the type of agency that will work best for you. We have tried to maintain an impartial view of both types while making potential clients aware of the industry and its various practices and levels of quality. http://tc.eserver.org/34603.html http://tc.eserver.org/34603.html Just as developing an English document may take months as it crosses the desks of subject matter experts, sales and marketing managers, and editors, so does producing translations. Documents to be translated can go before a translator, editor, subject matter expert, proofreader, in-country reviewer, and client before a final version is ready for distribution. http://tc.eserver.org/34604.html http://tc.eserver.org/34604.html Internationalization is the basis for ease of localization and includes support of international character sets, separation of localizable features such as translatable character strings from the code, and provision for locale-specific features and functions. http://tc.eserver.org/34605.html http://tc.eserver.org/34605.html Don't turn down a project just because part of it requires work in another language. With a little forethought, you'll see that it's not "rocket science" after all, and that it's not so different from testing the original version of the product. In fact, the quality assurance team that works on the original version of the product is the one best suited to testing the localized versions. http://tc.eserver.org/34606.html http://tc.eserver.org/34606.html Through experience, I've discovered that foreign language typesetting can be very challenging--even when using the right software and platform, or having the help of a very experienced foreign typesetter. Through solving the problems encountered in the process, I also developed a new appreciation for simple, "internationalized" designs that are much easier to "localize" than others. Many problems can be avoided if the graphic designer keeps in mind that the document may be later translated into other languages. Sometimes, an attractive and very professional design in English can be a "nightmare" in other languages. http://tc.eserver.org/34589.html http://tc.eserver.org/34589.html Whether you are new at the translation business or a veteran of many globalization projects, a benchmarking study of your translation supplier(s) is a worthwhile endeavor. In benchmarking, you compare suppliers against one another based on specific criteria. The suppliers’ performance in the study can reassure you that your current relationship is a good one, or can lead to you a more compatible agency. http://tc.eserver.org/34590.html http://tc.eserver.org/34590.html There is no single factor that will determine your best choice of a translation agency. It should not be based on price alone, because as the old saying goes, “you get what you pay for”. Nor should it be based solely on the company’s size, number of employees, or any similar strictly objective measurement factor. Although such information may be important, and should be considered, it is just part of the total picture you need to adequately evaluate an agency. http://tc.eserver.org/34591.html http://tc.eserver.org/34591.html Your company's overseas personnel are important to its success. It's natural to want their input on translated documents. Including them in a review of the translation before it's published gives them a chance to contribute their knowledge. Understanding the purpose and structure of the review can help you avoid trouble down the road. Here are some details to consider in advance. http://tc.eserver.org/34593.html http://tc.eserver.org/34593.html Many methods and measures for evaluating machine translation (MT) systems have been developed over the years. The ISLE project, funded jointly by the European Union and the US National Science Foundation, is continuing the work started in the EU's EAGLES project on systematizing these methods and measures. http://tc.eserver.org/34594.html http://tc.eserver.org/34594.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/34509.html http://tc.eserver.org/34509.html that optimal word choices, good sentence structure, and general readability are the basics that comprise usability. “Writing is what most of us do most of the time.” http://tc.eserver.org/34510.html http://tc.eserver.org/34510.html Using an example from his personal life, Haller shows how government writing should be simplified to ensure that a reader can understand government documents. He also discusses the importance of passing the Brayley Bill, the plain language bill. http://tc.eserver.org/34424.html http://tc.eserver.org/34424.html Provide a glossary of terms specific to your product and/or industry. Consider other languages' space requirements and writing conventions (e.g., right‐to‐left). Provide context, especially for translating interfaces only. Provide original (Word, Excel, ...) documents rather than PDFs. http://tc.eserver.org/34123.html http://tc.eserver.org/34123.html Unfortunately, there seems to be no such thing as simplicity-checking software - even remotely like the description above. Audience Dialogue tried to persuade a few software developers to make their fortunes by writing this software, but with no success so far. In the meantime, there are a few widely available tools to use. http://tc.eserver.org/34107.html http://tc.eserver.org/34107.html A little-understood corner of Unicode is its handling for bidirectional text (The spec is a little dry). While English languages are read left-to-right, plenty of scripts (notably Arabic and Hebrew) are read from right to left. When only a single direction of text is used in a document, it's fairly straight forward, but when texts with different directions are mixed in one document, some difficulty arises in determining direction. This document attempts to explain how bidirectional text in Unicode works and what this means for the web. In the Unicode standard, characters have a representational order in memory (which English speakers tend to think of as left to right, but is really start-to-finish in a file), which the bidirectional algorithm then operates on to determine the display characteristics. http://tc.eserver.org/34108.html http://tc.eserver.org/34108.html Unicode Technical Report #36 on Unicode Security Considerations "describes some of the security considerations that programmers, system analysts, standards developers, and users should take into account [when using the Unicode Standard], and provides specific recommendations to reduce the risk of problems." http://tc.eserver.org/34109.html http://tc.eserver.org/34109.html This document is mainly intended for “ordinary” people who read the Unicode standard in order to get information about some particular characters or character processing issues that are important to them. The standard, though available online, is difficult to use without some help, and you can easily miss essential information when looking up things in it. http://tc.eserver.org/34061.html http://tc.eserver.org/34061.html Follow the data. Choose a representation that can use unsupervised learning on unlabeled data, which is so much more plentiful than labeled data. Represent all the data with a data. Of course, we’ll find immense opportunities to create interesting data sets if we can automatically combine data from multiple tables in this collection. This is an area of active research. Another opportunity is to combine data from multiple tables with data from other sources, such as unstructured Web pages or Web search queries. http://tc.eserver.org/34011.html http://tc.eserver.org/34011.html Machine translation (MT) is the automatic translation of text using only software without the help of a human translator. An alternative name for machine translation is automated translation. http://tc.eserver.org/34026.html http://tc.eserver.org/34026.html Money paid to qualified technical writers and translators in a localization project is money spent very well indeed. Why? Because the worst thing for a project is to have the customers or end users switch to another product since they either cannot understand the instructions and the way an interface works, or the localized copy contains embarrassing mistakes that damage the brand name and image. http://tc.eserver.org/33821.html http://tc.eserver.org/33821.html Machine translation often gives humorous translations or incorrect translations. Usually, a bad translation is because the source text is not clear in a way that a machine can 'understand'. If text is optimised for machine translation, machine translation gives excellent results. There are two sets of texts. The first set is written in standard English. The second set is equivalent to the standard English text, but it is optimised for machine translation. Google Translate was used to translate the texts into Bulgarian and into Spanish. http://tc.eserver.org/33752.html http://tc.eserver.org/33752.html Translating XML documents presents many opportunities as well as challenges. There are clear do's and don'ts when it comes to designing your documents regarding translation. You can use also use XML to your advantage to reduce costs and increase quality. One of the most exciting ways to do this is via the use of the XML Text Memory Namespace - xml:tm. http://tc.eserver.org/33708.html http://tc.eserver.org/33708.html The documentation used in manuals and other technical writing worldwide is predominantly created in English. Though much discussion has been devoted to it in academia and elsewhere for years, technical English continues to be written in a way that is difficult for many people to understand. http://tc.eserver.org/33399.html http://tc.eserver.org/33399.html Undertaking a localization project is a multi-step process. This article offers a step-by-step guide to localization that makes the project seem less daunting. http://tc.eserver.org/33043.html http://tc.eserver.org/33043.html Character encoding and character sets are not that difficult to understand, but so many people blithely stumble through the worlds of programming without knowing what to actually do about it, or say "Ah, it's a job for those internationalization experts." No, it is not! This document will walk you through determining the encoding of your system and how you should handle this information. It will stay away from excessive discussion on the internals of character encoding. http://tc.eserver.org/32819.html http://tc.eserver.org/32819.html Observations on British and American English by an American linguist in the UK. http://tc.eserver.org/32539.html http://tc.eserver.org/32539.html Stay flexible. Maintain vendor relationships. Avoid proprietary lock-ins. Maintain ratio of writers/engineers. Stay focused on deliverables. Shift job descriptions and work responsibilities. http://tc.eserver.org/32288.html http://tc.eserver.org/32288.html Three experiments that examine communicators' ability to inhibit linguistic bias are reported. Research has shown that communicators use more abstract language (e.g., "Jamie is affectionate" vs. "Jamie kisses Rose") to describe more expected behavior. Recent research has shown that this bias may be overwhelmed by goals to put a "spin" on actions or to manipulate audiences' impressions of actors. Similarly, the present experiments show that people who wish to communicate without bias may often be able to do so. Inhibition occurred when participants selected descriptions from a list of alternatives and when they freely described both expected and unexpected behaviors. However, inhibition failed when participants were asked to freely describe either expected or unexpected behaviors alone. http://tc.eserver.org/32289.html http://tc.eserver.org/32289.html The present research examines how hiring committees strategically use language abstraction to collectively account for their decision to hire a job applicant over the others. In addition, the authors investigate how work interdependence between single members of hiring committees and applicants and common affiliation to the same work organization affect the language used to write individual reports on job candidates. Results of the first study show that selected applicants were described with positive terms at a higher level of abstraction and negative terms at a lower level of abstraction. The second study supports the selection linguistic bias in individually written reports and demonstrates that members of hiring committees describe interdependent applicants and those belonging to their group with negative terms at a lower level of abstraction than other applicants. The implications of the findings for the wider personnel selection context are discussed. http://tc.eserver.org/32273.html http://tc.eserver.org/32273.html Searching the web is a common activity of web users. English and non-English speakers utilize international or local search engines so as to satisfy their information needs. Most of the attempts at evaluation of search engines focus on English queries and on English document collections. In this paper an evaluation methodology is presented and the capabilities of international and local web retrieval systems using Greek queries are evaluated based on this method. We aim at identifying difficulties and knowledge requirements when using a Greek supporting search engine. The importance of interface localization and the effects of standard information retrieval techniques such as case insensitivity, stopword removal and simple stemming are studied in international and local search engines. The evaluation methodology is applicable to other non-English natural languages as well. http://tc.eserver.org/32274.html http://tc.eserver.org/32274.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/32275.html http://tc.eserver.org/32275.html SHIL on the Web is the website of the Israeli Citizens' Advice Bureau. It provides information about rights, social benefits, government and public services and civil obligations. Activity on the site approaches 10,000 pages visited per day. It has interfaces in four languages: Hebrew, Arabic, Russian and English. Logfile analysis of the SHIL website revealed to our surprise that about 60.7% of the requests reaching SHIL from external sites (excluding requests from robots) are from general search engines (e.g. Google and MSN), and users reach a specific page on the site linked from the search results page. This finding seems to indicate that the site is not known well enough to the public. On the other hand the site is very active, thus it seems to serve Israeli citizens well, even without being a well known brand. In this paper we analyzed the external requests coming from search engines. The analysis is based on the 266,295 queries from search engines that reached SHIL during March—October 2005. Studying queries submitted to search engines is a novel technique for analyzing the access patterns to the site and provides a better understanding of the user needs and intentions than analyzing the distribution of the visited pages only. We are not aware of any previous study that analyzed the relation between the query submitted to the search engine and the webpage the user clicked on the search results page. Since search engines provide snippets, when the user clicks on a specific page he already has some information on what is to be found on the page and the user makes a conscious decision to click on the specific result. Thus, this type of analysis provides additional information about the users' actual information needs. http://tc.eserver.org/32206.html http://tc.eserver.org/32206.html Using a process called localization, language professionals translate the source document’s words and adapt its content to the needs and norms of the target country or market. Because language professionals can work only with what they are given, the document’s creator is partly responsible for ensuring the localization process is effective. After all, poorly written English cannot be turned into good Japanese. http://tc.eserver.org/32220.html http://tc.eserver.org/32220.html How do you identify the many options available for localizing your products or materials, and how do you select the right ones for your company? http://tc.eserver.org/31792.html http://tc.eserver.org/31792.html In this project special attention is given to legal, commercial, political and institutional discourse used in specific workplaces, analysed from an intercultural perspective. In particular, through an exploration of the international ‘image’ suggested by major social and economic actors, our project aims to improve the understanding of identity-forming features linked to ‘local’ or professional cultures, as communicated by contemporary English in various specialised domains among native and non-native speakers. http://tc.eserver.org/31782.html http://tc.eserver.org/31782.html Kaplan's framework of contrastive rhetoric has been widely accepted in the field of cross-cultural technical communication. However, in the last four decades, contextual factors such as economic globalization trend and the advances of communication technologies are changing our ways of interacting with others. As a result our understanding of culture and cultural differences need to be adjusted. In this research, I start by recommending a workable definition of culture in the present context—culture as a process, which establishes a foundation for cross-cultural rhetorical research in the new era when communication across cultures transcends national boundaries. Based on the critical perspective of culture, I continue to point out the limitations of contrastive rhetoric and argue that contrastive rhetoric's view of culture and its research purpose and methodology need to be modified to overcome its constraints and better meet the needs of the present social context. http://tc.eserver.org/31730.html http://tc.eserver.org/31730.html Companies operating in a global marketplace know they need to translate documents for their audiences. But some documents actually need more than translation – they need localization. Although a document’s words can be translated perfectly, the document can still be ineffective in another market, due to differences in the way local businesses operate and in the way people think. http://tc.eserver.org/31647.html http://tc.eserver.org/31647.html A-dec Inc. is a dental equipment manufacturer headquartered in Newberg, Oregon. A 40-year leader in the dental products industry, A-dec/spl trade/ has targeted the international market as their growth market. The change in scope has brought with it the recognition that the A-dec Technical Communications team must address how to align their content to support an international audience, as well as clearly communicate the company's core values. The process has been ongoing and dynamic as new discoveries occur. They faced the challenge of understanding the differences between translation and localization, which started their education in the area of necessary requirements for competing in the international marketplace. This case study discusses their journey towards creating a globalized product. http://tc.eserver.org/31422.html http://tc.eserver.org/31422.html The issue of translation is a global one and doesn't just relate to mistranslations by American and British English speakers. Today, poor translation can be particularly dangerous given the speed at which events are reported. How dangerous? According to the Dow Jones Newswire of 12 May 2005, one mistake was worth several billion U.S. dollars. http://tc.eserver.org/31353.html http://tc.eserver.org/31353.html Explores the benefits of using Language QA Software to optimize documentation for organizations and companies. http://tc.eserver.org/31368.html http://tc.eserver.org/31368.html Open source content management systems can be installed free of charge on an entity's servers or web hosting account, and provide a way for organizations to develop multilingual web sites. There are some challenges in finding a good open source content management system, but there are several that can fit a variety of needs. An example CMS is Plone, which has strong support for different languages, and which also integrates tools for managing the translation of content. http://tc.eserver.org/31355.html http://tc.eserver.org/31355.html Are you looking for ways to maximize your company's global Web presence? Look no further, as the authors have laid out a step-by-step plan for creating and designing a multilingual site. http://tc.eserver.org/31365.html http://tc.eserver.org/31365.html World English is the result of applying a set of writing and editing principles to create a simplified, highly-intelligible international dialect. The principle is similar to that of Basic English, which was developed by linguists during World War II. While Basic English had only 800 words, you could really say a lot of things with it. The number of situations where misinterpretation can take place is practically infinite. But a fairly small number of writing and editing principles will cover a very large number of cases and considerably reduce the burden on the non-native reader and listener. http://tc.eserver.org/31176.html http://tc.eserver.org/31176.html Wörterbücher, Glossare, Ausgangspunkte für die Recherche, weitere Links für Übersetzer. http://tc.eserver.org/31175.html http://tc.eserver.org/31175.html Der Unterschied zwischen dem richtigen Wort und dem beinahe richtigen ist derselbe Unterschied wie der zwischen dem Blitz und einem Glühwürmchen. http://tc.eserver.org/30838.html http://tc.eserver.org/30838.html Vocabulary Profilers break texts down by word frequencies in the language at large. Most of the English web Vocabprofilers on this site are based on Laufer and Nation's Lexical Frequency Profiler, and divide the words of texts into first and second thousand levels, academic words, and the remainder or 'offlist.' http://tc.eserver.org/30733.html http://tc.eserver.org/30733.html Personal experience shows that all localization clients are interested in terminology--without exception. Only very large organizations, however, actually seem to maintain terminology databases. http://tc.eserver.org/30697.html http://tc.eserver.org/30697.html The Language of Corporate Leadership is a study of the written discourse of CEOs that is found in annual reports, corporate Web sites, congressional testimonies, and employee newsletters. The book contains 10 case studies of CEOs' writings from past and present megacorporations, including Enron, General Electric, Microsoft, Disney, and AOL. The organizations covered in the book represent both new and old economies and include two Canadian companies and a public-sector company. The authors, Joel Amernic and Russell Craig, are accounting and business professors and appropriately focus on accounting and financial reporting aspects of CEOs' written discourse. http://tc.eserver.org/30725.html http://tc.eserver.org/30725.html This study investigates the influence of students' perceptions of task similarity/ difference on the transfer of writing skills. A total of 42 students from a freshman ESL writing course completed an out-of-class writing task. For half of the students, the subject matter of the writing task was designed to be similar to the writing course; for the other half, it was designed to be different. All students were also interviewed about the writing task. Reports of learning transfer were identified in the interview transcripts, and students' performances on the task and on a recent assignment from the course were assessed. Results indicate that the intended task similarity/difference (i.e., in subject matter) did not have the expected impact on learning transfer; however, students' perceptions of task similarity/difference did influence learning transfer. Implications of these findings for theory, practice, and future research are discussed. http://tc.eserver.org/30530.html http://tc.eserver.org/30530.html Worldwide communication, international markets and growing needs of local customers today demand globally competitive software products that are able to satisfy multiple user requirements. This paper looks at the problems arising when software supporting local languages, conventions and cultures is designed. It then describes a new programming concept called 'internationalization' and finally leads into a discussion of possible influences on the documentation process. http://tc.eserver.org/30536.html http://tc.eserver.org/30536.html For software products to succeed in the international marketplace, the documentation team needs to plan for translation from the beginning of product development. Experience shows that the following factors can contribute to the elusive goal of simultaneous release of software domestically and internationally: early freeze of the product interface, a well-thought-out translation plan, agreed-upon procedures and goals, standard tools for creating art and text files, and early editing. This paper gives practical tips for avoiding problems in translation. http://tc.eserver.org/30492.html http://tc.eserver.org/30492.html Conservative estimates suggest that the translation market is currently over $1 billion and growing at a rate of 15% annually. The impact of an increasingly global economy continues to be felt by many business people, not the least of whom are the technical communicators who are charged with the mission of writing with international audiences in mind. Producing culturally appropriate, quality translations requires an awareness of how documents intended for foreign markets should be written. The purpose of the proposed Technical Translation and Software Localization PIC is to increase awareness of localization issues and to provide a forum for discussion, information exchange and education for those technical communicators who are involved in international communication. http://tc.eserver.org/30515.html http://tc.eserver.org/30515.html Successful localization of software and documentation for foreign-language markets requires thorough planning, effective systems, skillful project management and excellent communication. Working as a team, Rocky Mountain Translators, a 17-year old translation company based in Boulder, Colorado, and a Hewlett-Packard Division in California, describe a successful association localizing a horizontal software product. The unique perspectives of each company provide the backdrop to an in-depth discussion of the steps involved in this partnership process. http://tc.eserver.org/30516.html http://tc.eserver.org/30516.html Machine translation, the use of computers for translating between languages, is only now coming of age, just at a time when there is increasing need for such technology. Views of machine translation range from realistic assessments to extravagant statements for and against the technology. The reality is that machine translation can provide high-speed automated quality translation depending on a variety of factors; it is not a panacea for all translation problems. Successful machine translation requires human-computer interaction which promotes the strengths of each. Machine translation has reached a stage at which it can contribute to multilingual technical communication. http://tc.eserver.org/30458.html http://tc.eserver.org/30458.html Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is a type of discourse analytical research that primarily studies the way social power abuse, dominance, and inequality are enacted, reproduced, and resisted by text and talk in the social and political context. With such dissident research, critical discourse analysts take explicit position, and thus want to understand, expose, and ultimately resist social inequality. http://tc.eserver.org/30413.html http://tc.eserver.org/30413.html The Doublethink and Newspeak of Orwell's 1984 have counterparts in the Doublespeak that can be identified in many contemporary public documents. As technical editors, we may be confronted with documents that use Doublespeak to misdirect or deceive the reader. What is our role in dealing with such documents? http://tc.eserver.org/30392.html http://tc.eserver.org/30392.html Technical communicators need information about the nature and uses of language. Developing a working theory of language helps technical communicators conceptualize the qualities of good technical writing. Theory development and its application are especially important considering how rapidly technology changes the nature, function, and means of technical communication. http://tc.eserver.org/30394.html http://tc.eserver.org/30394.html Caterpillar is developing an Automatic Machine Translation (AMT) system for translating product support literature into eleven languages. Source language authors write in Caterpillar Technical English (CTE) which uses a constrained English language domain and sophisticated spelling, lexical, grammar and disambiguation software. CTE tools are accessed through pull down menus in the author's text editor. Integrating the source language author into the translations process using CTE has allowed the development of the AMT system which completely eliminates the need for human post-editing of the translated service literature. http://tc.eserver.org/30348.html http://tc.eserver.org/30348.html Use active voice, because it is easier to understand. If the material is being translated into a language which frequently uses passive voice, such as German, the translator will make the accommodation for that language. http://tc.eserver.org/30346.html http://tc.eserver.org/30346.html In addition to creating product specifications in support of locale-specific conventions, savvy localization managers will ensure that developers have coding practices to enable localization and adaptation. Double-byte enabling, for example, must be part of the code base. http://tc.eserver.org/30349.html http://tc.eserver.org/30349.html Leverage, CAT, translation memory, and aligning are quite interrelated and build on each other in the process. http://tc.eserver.org/30343.html http://tc.eserver.org/30343.html The liability of a translated manual is several times greater than the English version. This increased liability can be tied directly to the accuracy of the translation. http://tc.eserver.org/30342.html http://tc.eserver.org/30342.html As more companies sell in the global market and recognize the importance of customer service and satisfaction, they are beginning to realize the importance of translating software and documentation into foreign languages. Once your own company realizes that it needs to translate its documentation, to whom will it turn for project management? You, of course. The technical writer is in an ideal position to control the translation of documentation and the textual element of software. http://tc.eserver.org/30309.html http://tc.eserver.org/30309.html Rapidly expanding international commerce demands multilingual product descriptions and instructions for users. Technical products require precise translations by knowledgeable translators to avoid costly or even fatal errors. These may range from simple business letters to legal documents, patents, scientific articles, service or end-user manuals. http://tc.eserver.org/30278.html http://tc.eserver.org/30278.html 'Syntactic cues' are function words and punctuation marks that indicate syntactic relationships. Research in psycholinguistics, reading, and reading in a foreign language has shown that readers rely heavily on these cues to help them analyze and predict sentence structure. Yet technical writers and editors routinely eliminate many of these cues from their writing in the mistaken belief that they are improving readability. This workshop will show you how to use syntactic cues not only to improve readability, but also to eliminate ambiguities that cause problems for translators. This approach does not require knowledge of grammatical terminology, and it will increase your sensitivity to many subtleties of the English language. http://tc.eserver.org/30155.html http://tc.eserver.org/30155.html Consonant with a trend toward investigating professional writing in naturalistic settings, this discourse-analytical study of a corpus of 'suggestion letters' written in a Big Eight accounting firm demonstrates how auditors use negative politeness strategies to meet the complex demands of potentially threatening interactional situations. The study substantiates Brown and Levinson's claim that politeness is a linguistic universal by showing that the same politeness strategies found in speech also occur in written communication. Analysis of negative message strategies in ten leading textbooks shows that business communication pedagogy needs to modify strictures on the use of passives, nominalizations, expletive constructions, and hedging particles in light of research on the exigencies of real-world linguistic interaction. http://tc.eserver.org/30154.html http://tc.eserver.org/30154.html The task of communicating in a global environment requires planning, sensitivity and expert help. The authors have developed a series of check lists and tips to guide writers, editors, and other members of the localization team through the process. http://tc.eserver.org/30060.html http://tc.eserver.org/30060.html Discursive activity in any setting (classrooms, coffee bars, laboratories, greenhouses, or the virtual settings of the Internet), occurs within a semiotic system, and it is useful to think of settings in this way. And, because I've be recently integrating an Activity Theory perspective into my teaching of qualitative research en methods, I wanted to describe the socially-situated organization of talk-in- context in Minneapolis's neighborhood coffee houses. I'm very pleased that Beth Sokolowski's drawings capture the typified activities indigenous to the settings and demonstrate what an important role the setting plays. http://tc.eserver.org/29944.html http://tc.eserver.org/29944.html Ever wonder about that mysterious Content-Type tag? You know, the one you're supposed to put in HTML and you never quite know what it should be? I've been dismayed to discover just how many software developers aren't really completely up to speed on the mysterious world of character sets, encodings, Unicode, all that stuff. http://tc.eserver.org/29779.html http://tc.eserver.org/29779.html Three components of American English create great difficulty for Chinese-American college students and professionals trying to improve their technical writing. They are the articles ('a,' 'an,' and 'the'); prepositions; and verb tense. This paper reveals key reasons for these difficulties and explains how to ease them. It is meant to assist teachers, editors, and the Chinese-Americans who write for them. As a starting point, teachers and editors need to know how the Chinese language differs from English in its treatment of these three components. So informed, they can take appropriate actions to bring about improvement. http://tc.eserver.org/29662.html http://tc.eserver.org/29662.html Technical communicators have many potential advantages for managing the translation process. When the translation process is outsourced, the technical communicator can ensure that the translators have access to all the resources necessary to achieve quality documents. The same resources used to create the source document will be valuable resources to a translator. Also, the SME team can become an essential part of ensuring the quality and completeness of the translated documentation. http://tc.eserver.org/29878.html http://tc.eserver.org/29878.html The percentage of revenue that companies are generating from global markets is increasing rapidly. Not only does the global nature of sales help to increase overall corporate revenue, it also aids in building global brand equity, maintaining competitiveness against global competition and reducing geographical market reliance. In today's challenging economic environment, though, international efforts are often given low priority within the corporation. With this backdrop, localization teams are forced to do more with less in order to meet global market needs. Consequently, achieving a high Return On Investment (ROI) from localization initiatives is more important than ever. http://tc.eserver.org/29692.html http://tc.eserver.org/29692.html When budget constraints prevent bringing overseas testers to the development lab to verify product translation, Web conferencing sessions allow the testers to work in their own countries but still communicate directly with the lab. http://tc.eserver.org/29198.html http://tc.eserver.org/29198.html This is a list of limitations of the types of automated audio translation offered by such services as Talkr.com. Since we do not see a list in their help center, we thought we would compile our own list and offer it as a wiki page for any customers to keep a list of limitations. http://tc.eserver.org/29121.html http://tc.eserver.org/29121.html Communication practice can be aided significantly by good communication models. In this article, the author positions models of communication in natural language within a broader perspective sketched by the role of models used in empirical sciences in order to outline the foundational limitations for constructing linguistic/communication models. http://tc.eserver.org/29089.html http://tc.eserver.org/29089.html In studies of political communication the use of personal pronouns is often put forward as one of the strategies for influencing sender-receiver relations (e.g., De Fina [1], Haverkate [2], Zupnik [3]). As Rogers and Swales [4] among others have demonstrated, similar techniques can be detected in corporate communication. In this article, the use of French and Dutch personal and possessive pronouns in the first person plural is examined in internal communication documents. The focus is on the link between text types and the use of inclusive, exclusive, or ambiguous we. First the research material is described; then a concise overview of the literary sources is given; finally the results of the research are discussed. It will be demonstrated that managers can exploit personal pronouns strategically and that the use of we is a parameter for identifying text function. http://tc.eserver.org/29076.html http://tc.eserver.org/29076.html The connection between language and empiricism is a central issue in technical writing and communication, more so than in other fields. Our field deals with technical and scientific knowledge which is oftentimes very definite and objective, yet there has been increasing recognition over the past few decades that this knowledge is socially constructed and rhetorically negotiated. Debates have ensued over the rhetoricity of technical communication in contrast to its empirical and instrumental aspects. W.V. Quine, one of the most influential American philosophers of the twentieth century, however, rejected the distinction between empirical knowledge and knowledge stemming from language and social negotiation. Understanding technical writing and communication through the lens of Quine's theory ameliorates the tension between instrumental and rhetorical/humanistic views of technical discourse by recognizing the validity of both views and integrating the two. This understanding in turn will facilitate our pedagogical interactions with technical and scientific majors. http://tc.eserver.org/29084.html http://tc.eserver.org/29084.html This article argues that leadership and rhetoric are intimately connected; therefore, rhetoric should include the explicit examination of all aspects of leadership (that is, including but not limited to rhetorical criticism of the speeches and writings of leaders), both as an area of research and an area of pedagogy. This is particularly important when helping students become active members of the citizenry is seen a central goal of what teachers are doing in the English or Communication class. The interconnections between leadership and the concept of the polis, the active assembly of citizens empowered to discuss and make public policy, is useful here, even though the polis may no longer exist in its original form. In particular, leadership through identification with the polis appears to be an approach with great potential. http://tc.eserver.org/29042.html http://tc.eserver.org/29042.html Advocates of brain-based learning have argued that instructional methods, to be successful, must be based on an understanding of how the brain processes information. In the past most descriptions of neurocognitive function were largely speculative, relying on theoretical constructions of how we believed the brain to work. Recent advances in functional imaging Positron Emission Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging have, however, opened the brain to empirical study. This article will consider the potential importance of brain study for composition instruction, briefly describe functional imaging techniques, and review the findings of recent brain-mapping studies investigating the neurocognitive systems involved in language function. In short, understanding how language systems are organized in the brain represents the first step in our attempts to create brain-compatible instructional methods in the composition classroom. Following a review of the recent literature, the article will consider the possible implications of this information for pedagogical practice. http://tc.eserver.org/29055.html http://tc.eserver.org/29055.html Teachers and researchers in the field of Technical English have always been concerned with the nature of this subject, its major characteristics, and its chief uses in Science and Technology. Obviously, less time and efforts have been spent on how technical English is learned, particularly in situations where foreign students have to relate their limited linguistic knowledge to meaningful realizations of the language system in technical texts of immediate concern to their specialist studies. This research is an early effort to show how technical English is learned and, more specifically, what relevant factors are involved in the overall learning process. http://tc.eserver.org/29100.html http://tc.eserver.org/29100.html Scientific and technical jargon--specialized vocabulary, usually Latinate--plays a vital role in scientific and technical communication. But its proper use continues to be a point of discussion because of our concern with audience adaptation, rhetorical exigence, rhetorical purpose, and ethics. We've focused on teaching students--and on convincing scientists, engineers, and other writers/speakers--to gear their specialized language to the recipients of their communication, to the occasion calling for their communication, to what they wish to accomplish through their communication, and to the ethical goals of safety, helpfulness, empowerment, and truth. These are exactly the sorts of things we should be doing. My contribution to this conversation is a reinforce ment and, I hope, an extension of the argument that we should also be teaching and convincing students and professionals: 1) to fully appreciate what makes jargon either good or bad; 2) to carefully distinguish jargon usage from other aspects of scientific and technical style; and 3) to recognize that in every context, even in communication among experts, jargon should be used judiciously--that is, in the most helpful, least taxing way. Jargon, i.e. scientific terminology, is essential for designating new entities for which the language has no name. It makes for economy and for the accuracy and precision required in scientific research [1, p. 319]. Does the excessive use of technical terms impede the advance of science? I think it does. It kills the grace and purity of the literature by means of which the discoveries of science are made known [2, p. 116]. What if it should turn out that we are all jargon makers and jargon users, and that jargon is necessarily involved in the growth and change of language? That we are consumers of jargon as we are eaters of sliced bread? [3, p. 3]. To attempt a definition of jargon threatens unusual dangers [4, p. 69]. The above epigraphs are glimpses into discussions about both the uses of jargon and its definitions. My article enters in on such discussions, offering a point of view about the definitions and about the proper uses of jargon. http://tc.eserver.org/29045.html http://tc.eserver.org/29045.html Within a theoretical context of speech accommodation theory, this study follows Lambert et al. (1960) matched-guise technique. Seventy-two African-American students at a mid-south university listened to and evaluated a tape-recorded excerpt of a speech given by Jesse Jackson at the 1996 Democratic National Convention. The first version of the speech was translated into Ebonics. After students listened to the first four-minute speech in Ebonics, students then proceeded to answer a questionnaire concerning the ethos/source credibility and perceived sociability of the speaker. Next, students listened to the same audiotaped speech (given by the same speaker), except the text of the speech was translated (and subsequently delivered) in Standard English. The students then rated this second speaker on those same ethos/source credibility and sociability scales. The speaker who used Standard English was viewed as more credible (i.e., more competent and having a strong character) and sociable than the Ebonics speaker. Both of these scores were significant at the p .05 level. Future research replicating these results is urged across other African-American samples. http://tc.eserver.org/29105.html http://tc.eserver.org/29105.html This article studies the stylistic variation in the design of administrative forms in three European countries--the United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain-- through the linguistic analysis of a small corpus of multilingual administrative forms dealing with pension benefits and other kinds of allowances written in four different languages--English, Spanish, Italian, and German. The analysis included both monolingual administrative forms--written in English, Spanish, and Italian--and bilingual Italian/German and Italian/ English forms. The purpose of the study was to search for cross-linguistic regularities in the design of administrative forms which would enable their characterization as a genre, both in terms of its staging structure and of the linguistic and formatting features of the elements which configure it as such. The analysis performed on the small corpus yielded interesting stylistic differences and tendencies in the design of comparable administrative forms in the different countries, characterized by different socio-cultural backgrounds. It is suggested that these differences are a reflection of the social attitudes of the different administrations toward their citizens. http://tc.eserver.org/29039.html http://tc.eserver.org/29039.html This article describes the linguistic and semantic features of technocratic discourse using a Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) framework. The article goes further to assert that the function of technocratic discourse in public policy is to advocate and promulgate a highly contentious political and economic agenda under the guise of scientific objectivity and political impartiality. We provide strong evidence to support the linguistic description, and the claims of political advocacy, by analyzing a 900-word document about globalization produced by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). http://tc.eserver.org/29018.html http://tc.eserver.org/29018.html In the workplace setting professionals use language to create boundaries of exclusion and inclusion, using the discourses of their professions and of specific workplace domain. Some boundaries are marked by formal tests--directed memos, posted notices, stamps that read "For Your Eyes Only." Less overt forms, and arguably more effective, are specific rhetorical devices relying on knowledge of the corporate and professional culture. People are included or excluded from such cultures by their knowledge and ability to manipulate professional fables and folklore, historical data, workplace experience narratives, and practical knowledge. These discourse practices can be used to promote solidarity and positively strengthen professional cultures, but they can also be used to obstruct communication and to create social fragmentation in the workplace. This article examines some examples of discourse practices among managers and employees in the customer service department of a large manufacturing firm, and shows how knowledge of the ways that language can both include and exclude people from cultural groups in the worksite can help professional communicators facilitate more effective and responsible communication practices in workplace settings. http://tc.eserver.org/29041.html http://tc.eserver.org/29041.html This article aims to expound the importance of a knowledge of linguistics and the theories of human language to a technical author. Linguistics is often seen as a specialised branch of language for language experts. When technical authors communicate, they do need the tools of linguistics to handle the rhetorical grammar and patterns of technical prose. The linguistic features and semanics involved in technical writing also become relevant, as is visual and graphic representation. http://tc.eserver.org/28874.html http://tc.eserver.org/28874.html Writing is a culturally situated activity. When writing is outsourced to other cultures, because of a lack of knowledge of the users' culture and also because of influences from the writer's local culture, those doing the writing and designing, despite various strategies adopted for overcoming the disadvantage of not knowing the users' culture, may not know how to culturally situate writing. It is, therefore, important that bicultural people, who know the users' culture, as well as the culture of those doing the outsourced work, give writing teams feedback about the users' culture. Doing so can make outsourced writing more culturally situated. http://tc.eserver.org/28803.html http://tc.eserver.org/28803.html Too often, in-country translation reviews are overlooked, even though they can document valuable feedback and save customers time and money on translation projects. The author provides several criteria for deciding whether such a review is right for your project. http://tc.eserver.org/28537.html http://tc.eserver.org/28537.html This site contains details of most alphabets and other writing systems currently in use, as well as quite a few ancient and invented ones. It also includes information about some of the languages written with those writing systems, multilingual texts, tips on learning languages, a book store, some useful phrases in many different languages, and a ever-growing collection of links to language-related resources. http://tc.eserver.org/28285.html http://tc.eserver.org/28285.html The new European standard DIN EN 15038 on translation services will become effective on August 1, 2006. http://tc.eserver.org/28152.html http://tc.eserver.org/28152.html Will the global interconnectedness of our conversations freeze the features of our languages in place? If so, farther into the future than anyone can foresee, much of the human race will be stuck with English as we now know it. http://tc.eserver.org/28082.html http://tc.eserver.org/28082.html What are the secrets of a stress-free and productive translation experience? Davis's article highlights some important tips to keep in mind as you work on your next translation project. http://tc.eserver.org/28019.html http://tc.eserver.org/28019.html Knowledge gained from usability testing is often applied merely to the immediate product under test and then forgotten--at least at an organizational level. This article describes a usability knowledge management system (KMS) based on principles of pattern language and use-case writing that offers a way to turn lessons learned from usability testing into organizational knowledge that can be leveraged across different projects and different design teams. http://tc.eserver.org/27995.html http://tc.eserver.org/27995.html We know a product has a lifecycle, but does the language we use for that product also have a lifecycle? From TiVo to the Internet Superhighway, Rice shows us how the metaphors we use have an evoluation all their own. http://tc.eserver.org/27901.html http://tc.eserver.org/27901.html For some time now, machines have been constructed and built using modules. i.e. encapsulated and reusable standard components. In manuals, the modular approach has only slowly been gaining acceptance. With XML and a wide variety of editing tools, the technical prerequisites for the change are by now only a matter of the individual requirements – a right solution can be found for virtually every purpose. But for technical communicators the question arises what needs to be considered when texting under these changed conditions. This language tip is intended to be a basic aspect: how can one determine whether a text component is suited as a module? http://tc.eserver.org/27829.html http://tc.eserver.org/27829.html In recent years, the subject of terminology and its significance to technical documentation has gained importance. Training and education are paying more and more attention to this area, and an increasing number of software companies are offering sophisticated solutions to give companies a technological tool for handling terms efficiently. http://tc.eserver.org/27830.html http://tc.eserver.org/27830.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/27735.html http://tc.eserver.org/27735.html This research is aimed at analysing the mass media information campaigns carried out for the introduction of the Euro. http://tc.eserver.org/27212.html http://tc.eserver.org/27212.html A persistent rule of thumb in the programming trade is the 80/20 rule: '80 percent of the useful work is performed by 20 percent of the code.' As with gas mileage, your performance statistics may vary, and given the mensurational vagaries of body parts such as thumbs (unless you take the French pouce as an exact nonmetric inch), you may prefer a 90/10 partition of labor. With some of the bloated code-generating meta-frameworks floating around, cynics have suggested a 99/1 rule—if you can locate that frantic 1 percent. Whatever the ratio, the concept has proved useful in performance tuning. http://tc.eserver.org/26998.html http://tc.eserver.org/26998.html 可用性是 好的沟 通技术 的一 个重要部 分。很多作者将可用性技术如站点访问、用户任务分析 和可用性测试结合到他们的 工作中。 http://tc.eserver.org/26997.html http://tc.eserver.org/26997.html Usability is an important part of good technical communication. Many writers incorporate usability techniques such as site visits, user task analysis and usability testing into their work. http://tc.eserver.org/27003.html http://tc.eserver.org/27003.html These days, staff in localisation departments spend their time essentially on project management, translation and quality assurance. However, by using one of the emerging systems that integrate content creation, localisation and content management into an efficient system, many of these activities can be automated or avoided all together. We are now seeing the emergence of technical content control systems that can be used to improve the turn-around time, translation costs and the quality of the translations themselves. In recent projects, where these systems have been implemented, organisations have seen substantial savings in localisation costs, with word count reductions and translation costs of around 30%. http://tc.eserver.org/26888.html http://tc.eserver.org/26888.html The Unicode consortium is dedicated to maintaining a character set that allows computers to deal with the vast array of human writing systems. When you think of computers that manage such a large and complex data set, you think databases, and this is precisely what the consortium provides for computer access to versions of the Unicode standard. The Unicode Character Database comprises files that present detailed information for each character and class of character. The strong tie between XML and Unicode means this database is very valuable to XML developers and authors. In this article Uche Ogbuji introduces the Unicode Character Database and shows how XML developers can put it to use. http://tc.eserver.org/26855.html http://tc.eserver.org/26855.html Explores how basic, scaffolded technical-writing exercises can help ESL students gain cognitive maturity, practice science literacy, improve their note taking, and use text signals and science idioms more effectively. http://tc.eserver.org/26702.html http://tc.eserver.org/26702.html Argues that it is crucial that technical writing courses raise the awareness of the implications of intercultural communication, and specifically, how to include the translator as the target audience. http://tc.eserver.org/26701.html http://tc.eserver.org/26701.html Our rejection of language as a system necessitates the rejection of pedagogical methods that seek to cultivate 'linguistic competence' or seek to develop 'intercultural competence' on top of the 'regular' work of technical communication instruction. http://tc.eserver.org/26615.html http://tc.eserver.org/26615.html Many tech writers do not see grammar as a set of conventions to help them write clearly. Instead, to judge by the wording of the questions and responses, they see grammar as a set of unchanging rules that can provide definitive answers in every situation. http://tc.eserver.org/26465.html http://tc.eserver.org/26465.html Der DTT e.V. ist ein Forum für alle, die sich mit Terminologie und Terminologiearbeit beschäftigen. Er hat sich zum Ziel gesetzt, durch Beratung und Koordination sowie durch die Veranstaltung von Symposien und Workshops zur Lösung fachlicher Kommunikationsprobleme beizutragen. http://tc.eserver.org/26459.html http://tc.eserver.org/26459.html Along with China’s rapid development in science and economy, technical communication between Chinese and Westerners is becoming more and more important. The purpose of this study is to promote the teaching of technical communication in China by introducing it into China’s college English for specific purposes. Postgraduate classes from grades 2001 to 2004 at Capital University of Medical Sciences in Beijing were assigned to study English for Technical Communication, a course that integrated the concepts of technical communication into English for specific purposes. In the survey of Grade 2004, over 96% of the graduates claimed that it was necessary for them to study English for Technical Communication; more than 90% of the students confirmed that the course was practical; and 90% of them claimed that the course had significantly improved their abilities in technical communication. Therefore, introducing technical communication in English for specific purposes would be a feasible way to develop the teaching of technical communication in China.