RE: Choosing the right word: Guidelines for our global audience

["Pinkham, Jim" <Jim -dot- Pinkham -at- voith -dot- com>]

Second that. Some decades later (we'll not specify how many), I still
recall my high school Spanish teacher recounting her year in Madrid and
making friends with some Brits. One of the gentlemen when she first
arrived, after she, he, and other friends had agreed to go out that
night, said, "I'll come 'round this evening and knock you up!" 

She could laugh heartily about it a few years later, but was quite
stunned -- and virtuously insistent he would do no such thing!!! -- at
the time. 

The words do change meanings indeed.

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Geoff Lane
Sent: Monday, October 01, 2007 3:04 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: Choosing the right word: Guidelines for our global audience

On Monday, October 1, 2007, Wroblewski, Victoria wrote;

> It seems like you have a situation of writers trying to impose 
> *beyond* straight English, they're trying to apply connotations from 
> their native language on to English.
---

It's not just connotations - some words actually change meanings between
one country that calls its language "English" and another that calls its
similar, but subtly different, language "English". There are enough
differences between the two for American and English to be distinct, but
related, languages - and it's the same story if you compare almost any
two of the languages that call themselves "English".

For example, in the automotive world many terms change meanings as they
cross the pond. As they move right to left, a "car" becomes an
"automobile", a "boot" becomes a "trunk", a "wing" becomes a "fender", a
"bonnet" becomes a "hood", a "hood" becomes whatever left-pondians call
the roof of a convertible car (or should that be "cabriolet").
Even the infrastructure isn't immune because a "road" becomes a
"pavement", and a "pavement" becomes a "sidewalk". Also, as a gallon of
petrol moves West across the pond it magically grows to become a gallon
and a fifth of gasoline.

Notwithstanding that, Kate's concerns over regional connotations are
valid. I worked for a Canadian company some years ago when my editor
returned my copy with a comment that one module invoking another had
connotations of demonic ritual. She suggested using "summons" instead,
and was shocked at my comment that in UK "to summon" has the same
connotations as "to invoke" seemed to have in Canada, and that a
"summons" was the same as a "subpoena". We ended up using "to call",
thus writing out both terms. Although it sometimes dilutes the semantics
for any one of the target languages, this is probably the best option
where you cannot localise for each.

For example:
US: Make sure you understand the requirements before you begin.
India: Make sure you appreciate the requirements before you begin.

Issue: The Indian writer considered "understand" to be rude. The US
writer considered "appreciate," and its connotation of recognizing
quality, to be too broad.

Rewrite to avoid both terms, e.g. "Ensure you have a good grasp of the
requirements before you begin."

JMHO but HTH,

--
Geoff

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