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On 23 Sep 2002, at 9:40, Wilcox, Rose (ZB5646) wrote:
>
> Another potential problem besides overdoing it is localization. If your
> words ever have to be translated into another language, humor or the
> vernacular may provide stumbling blocks to the translator. Even if you
> aren't going to be translated ever, many audiences contain people reading
> English as a second language and in that case, your efforts may backfire.
> Just thoughts to consider when writing.
>
> Rosie Wilcox
>
That's true, of course. I can't think of any form of humorous writing
that would be immune. If it's wordplay or vernacular terms, the second
language won't have equivalents.
No, let me amend that. Jokes like "A priest, a minister and a rabbi
walked into a bar..." would probably translate intelligibly, because they
describe basic human situations. But they don't belong in a technical
document in the first place.
Cartoons bypass the translation process. If carefully chosen, they
ought to be OK. Someone in this thread mentioned a successful case.
If I ever work on a document that's destined for translation, I'll have to
put the humor in as conditional text.
Chris
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