...tech spec for Japanese audience - thanks for these replies

[Kellie Delaney <SoftText -at- AOL -dot- COM>]

At 13:28 8/15/95 -0400, I posted the following message:

<<I'm getting ready to expand/edit/DTP a technical specification to be
reviewed
by a company's internal audience in Japan.  Since I've never done this sort
of thing before, I wondered if anyone had suggested guidelines/suggested
reading for things like style, syntax, linguistic preferences.  Any thoughts
appreciated - please reply to me personally; I'll compile and post results
from my query.

Kellie Delaney
(SoftText -at- aol -dot- com)>>

Thanks to Susan Fowler for her suggested readings and for the following
personal replies, which should all help me get started.  I compile them here,
as promised.  I'm new to this list; glad to be made aware of it recently
(mentioned in _Intercom_, I think).  I appreciate the help and lively
discussions!

- From Betsy Maaks: -

>>...Nancy Hoft. She just published a book _International Technical
Writing_ by Wiley and Sons, 1995. It gives all the basics.

the STC is publishing an anthology of information on international tech
writing. I can get you more information, or you can contact the STC office
(703-522-4114 or email stc -at- tmn -dot- com)

(3) I am the Manager for the International Technical Communication
Professional Interest Committee (ITC PIC, for short) of the STC and we are
writers involved or interested in writing for international audiences. We
just published a great newsletter featuring two articles: "Technical
Communication in Japan: Overcoming the Language Barrier" and "Across the
Pacific Pond: Chinese and Japanese Bargaining Environments." <<

- From Ken Gross: -

>>One suggestion: Use a limited vocabulary even if the spec won't be
translated.  I'm sorry I don't know of any tools that will check your
work for the limited vocabulary...<<


- And, from Karen Kay: -

I work as a translator and editor of translations from Japanese to
English. One thing I would say is to include as many drawings and
tables as possible. This sounds rather silly, but Japanese tend to be
visual learners. (The documentation I work with has a lot of drawings,
etc., that I would consider redundant in English, but we generally
leave them in because they are there.)

The other thing I would say is to make sure the hierarchy of
information is clear. Japanese *love* those 2.3.6.22.25 numbering
hierarchies! I'm not sure you need numbering, but the headings,
subheadings, and subsubheadings should all be clear.

That's about it off the top of my head.

Cautions and warnings usually go at the end in Japanese, so I think I
would try to state them twice (if there are any), once at the
beginning and once at the end.<<