RE: Ampersands in TOC and headers?

[Kat Kuvinka <katkuvinka -at- hotmail -dot- com>]

It's rock'n'roll...another problem entirely!! 

 

8^)
 
> 
> Wow, you guys are cool with ampersands and contractions. I thought
> they'd be shot down. Pesonally I avoid the former as they're not words -
> okay in trade names but not in prose - and I avoid the latter as they're
> colloquial. But it's eye-opening to see that other writes cut these some
> slack. 
> 
> Although I've no problem with ampersands in phrases where you might
> expect them, like mergers & acquisitions and rock & roll. I'm surprised
> too that /can't/ isn't flagged by translators as it closely remembles
> /cant/. I guess the word cant is used rarely enough. 
> 
> 
> David
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+dhandy=informatica -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+dhandy=informatica -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
> Behalf Of Kat Kuvinka
> Sent: 10 February 2010 16:27
> To: lemay -at- lauralemay -dot- com; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: RE: Ampersands in TOC and headers?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> True, some contractions are easily understood and translated. Some are
> not. I just trained myself to avoid them. I trained myself so well I do
> not even use them in speech.
> 
> > 
> > 
> > On Feb 9, 2010, at 12:44 PM, Kat Kuvinka wrote:
> > > Both should be avoided if you are localizing.
> > 
> > 
> > In the 90's I wrote third-party technical books that were translated 
> > into somewhere north of 20 languages. Not a single translator had any 
> > problems at all with my liberal use of contractions. None.
> > 
> > My overly long compound sentences were sometimes a problem. My 
> > sometimes strange and pop-culture-heavy sense of humor typically 
> > didn't work at all (translators substituted locally-appropriate 
> > examples and jokes with my blessing). The actual technology was 
> > occasionally difficult. But contractions were not an issue.
> > 
> > I believe this to be an overcautious ban.
> > 
> > Laura
> > Teach Yourself HTML in Klingon in 21 Days
> > 
 		 	   		  
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