Re: English for Asian reade

Subject: Re: English for Asian reade
From: Deborah Adair <Deborah_Adair -at- TALIGENT -dot- COM>
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 1993 13:28:21 -0800

Reply to: RE>>English for Asian reader
Steven Youra writes:
>>It's been my impression that they [please excuse the generalization] >>favor
the visual over the verbal--icons over text. What do others know >>about
this?

Awhile back, I wrote an operator's guide for a test system used by a chip
manufacterer in Japan. I was fortunate in that they had some very specific
documentation requests-I knew what they wanted and how they intended to use
it. It turned out that, for this group of equipment operators, they wanted
very explicit, step-by-step instructions with screen shots that showed them
what to expect at each step. While all of the operators knew some english,
they wanted to be able to match the screen shots in the documentation with the
actual tester display so they were sure they were on the right track. As a
result, the operator's guide was a very graphic manual, with minimal text.

Granted, this was a very special case where the documentation was designed
specifically for non-native english speakers, who happened to be Japanese, who
were using an interface that was not localized. Rather than translating the
documentation up front, we provided the english version and the source, at
their request. They preferred to use the english documentation initially, and
prepare their own internal translations using the graphics from the english
version.

As you might have guessed, the company that builds the test systems isn't in a
high volume business, and each system tends to be heavily customized. It was
to their advantage for the customer to handle the translation, rather than
contracting out the translation themeselves.


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