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Re: Converting American English to British English
Subject:Re: Converting American English to British English From:"Michael West" <mbwest -at- bigpond -dot- com> To:techwr-l Date:Wed, 25 Feb 2004 08:20:07 +1100
Sean Hower wrote:
> ... This
> thread has discussed British culture as though it is a monolithic
> thing, but it does, in fact, have subcultures. So, wouldn't the issue
> really be one of finding someone who knows the subculture of your
> _target audience_, and not just finding someone who knows a thing or
> two about Britain in general? :-)
Exactly! That's why the first questions I would ask
would be about the purpose of the document and the
demographics of the intended audience. It's entirely
possible that no changes might be required at all. As
an American, I can read and use British English in many
contexts. We need to know what we're dealing with before
we can tell someone how to get it fixed.
> This little wrinkle could lead to
> that Bristish editor you've just hired to localize your docs causing
> more problems (in much the same way an American editor who doesn't
> understand the target audience can mangle a manual) than a non-native
> who knows your target audience.
