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> One of the requirements of a documentation set that i am planning at the
> moment is that the documentation is easy to translate into languages other
> than English. I've read about "restricted grammars" - limited
> sets of usable words - that can be used to aid this process.
> Please email me if you have:
> - knowledge about restricted grammars (not sure about the term)
> - an example restricted grammar or pointer to one
> - any tips about preparing doco for translation
> - translated documention before and can list things that would make your
> job easier.
> I will collect responses and post them back to the list.
> Thanks,
> Doug
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Doug Osborn | CiTR, Level 6, Gehrmann labs,
> Technical writer | The University of Queensland,
> InterNet: d -dot- osborn -at- citr -dot- uq -dot- oz -dot- au | St Lucia, Qld, Australia 4072.
> Phone : +61 7 365 4321 | Fax: +61 7 367 0441
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
You might want to research Basic English, a concept invented early
in the century by a British linguist named Osgood (?) at Cambridge (?).
He developed a carefully selected vocabulary (750 words) and a subset
of English grammar, that would be much easier to read and learn than
the full language as it was usually taught.
The idea was promoted enthusiatically up through World War II, and the
Caterpillar equipment corporation used a derivative called Caterpillar
English (!) to write the technical manuals for their earth-moving devices.
The concept was hotly debated, like Esperanto, simplified spelling, and other
language notions. It seems to have faded into complete obscurity.
But I think there is a lot of merit in it and would like to learn more.
Our University of California library had quite a few books on it.
Please, has anyone else got experience with this line of thought?
Ray Bruman In this establishment,
Raynet Corp. we DO NOT DISCUSS
rbruman -at- raynet -dot- com race, religion, politics,
415-688-2325 or nutrition.
