Re: English for Asian readers

[Len Olszewski <saslpo -at- UNX -dot- SAS -dot- COM>]

Pam Tatge returns from the Asia-Pacific part of the world:

> The information that I received will help me when I write
> for our internal Asia-Pacific audience, but I can really only pass
> it on as (perhaps) interesting information. Treat it as hearsay.

> The general concensus was that using "you", the imperative mood, and a
> friendly/conversational tone were, in general, okay in the countries I
> mentioned, but would probably not be acceptable in Japan.

Here's some more hearsay about the Japanese and technical literature.

They do *not* like big books. This is a practical consideration, since
the amount of office space they generally have is limited, and the
8-1/2x11 books we produce just don't fit on their shelves.

They do not like books with a lot of white-space. In fact, the denser,
the better. Text-density is desirable feature. Keeps the books small.
Doesn't look like you're wasting space.

I got these tidbits from our director of A-P ops. This is a big market;
the economies are robust and growing (the Japanese economy is taking a
hit now, but will bounce back).

Ok, I've "hearsayed" enough. Time for some Q. 8-)

|Len Olszewski, Technical Writer |"Is your IQ still as low as it was  |
|saslpo -at- unx -dot- sas -dot- com|Cary, NC, USA| when I first met you?" - Groucho   |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Opinions this ludicrous are mine. Reasonable opinions will cost you.|