I highly recommend '"A Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker. Genuinely interesting and a great pleasure to read.
On Sat, Oct 20, 2018, 3:40 PM Ian Clark <[email protected]> wrote: > > A "widely-used standard of technical English" is probably not what he is > after, if I may disagree. > > @R.E. I give you full permission to disagree. Since you say English is your > second language, I respect your opinion on the matter. More than I would > most people's. > > I don't profess to know what my hypothetical Dr XXY is after. That was not > my point. What I bet he is *not* after is having to waste yet more time > decyphering my English, when the remedy lies in my hands. > > See ftp://ftp.iitb.ac.in/LDP/LDP/abs/abs-guide.pdf -for an example of the > sort of manual I'm grousing about. You'd think the writer was aiming for > the Pulitzer Prize, not to deliver his know-how efficiently. > > So what exactly is the remedy which lies in my hands? > > My first impulse was to set about drawing up my own style guide. It would > include a phrasebook of stock phrases. There's enough similarity between > programming languages to predict it wouldn't be particularly large. Yes, > the Oxford English Dictionary is good on technical terms, but only "terms" > (nouns and verbs), not entire phrases, like "Type-in the following > expression and press Enter". > > Once drawn-up, my proposal would need to be promoted. And *that* is the > difficult bit. It would never be that useful until it was ISO standard > 12345 (say). Then documenters would be encouraged to write ISO > 12345-compliant manuals – and non-English speakers learn the requisite > skills to use them: a trivial task. > > But why reinvent the wheel? I'd be most surprised if the need for such a > guide or manual hasn't already been thoroughly recognised – and duly > satisfied. > > So… given it's been satisfied, where's the ISO standard? Failing one, do > forum members have their favorite manual / style guide? I'm shopping for > one to adopt myself. > > Thank you all for your suggestions to-date. Oh… and thank you @Roger for > the Orwell reference. In his novel "1984" Orwell offered a thorough spec > for a language ("Newspeak") designed to mystify what it purported to > communicate. I wasn't aware he'd gone into the theory of the matter. I > shall try to get hold of the original paper. > > It strikes me that what I'm looking for is an anti-Newspeak. Not just a > list of platitudes. "Show-not-tell". > > > On Fri, Oct 19, 2018 at 7:33 PM R.E. Boss <[email protected]> wrote: > > > A "widely-used standard of technical English" is probably not what he is > > after, if I may disagree. > > And even more probable, he will nowhere have better guidance in his > > language learning than at Harvard. > > English is a second language for me as well and even at my age (which has > > the same binary length as yours) I consult the internet to assist me. > > And if I write a paper to be published, I pay for proofreading. > > > > My 2 cents. > > > > R.E. Boss > > > > > > -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- > > Van: Chat <[email protected]> Namens Ian Clark > > Verzonden: vrijdag 19 oktober 2018 19:40 > > Aan: [email protected] > > Onderwerp: [Jchat] Standardized technical English > > > > For Dr XXY, English is a second language. One of many. His first language > > has never been studied, let alone learnt, by an outsider: it is spoken by > > hardly anyone outside his village, but they've all saved up to send him > to > > Harvard. > > > > Dr XXY is on the point of reconciling Quantum Theory with General > > Relativity. > > His English is now good enough to read a road-sign and to buy food > without > > pointing – and to use the internet. > > Especially to read the pearls of technical wisdom that fall from my pen. > > Not for pleasure, I might add: he wants to know more about J. > > > > I want to be helpful, so I adopt a chatty tone. Yesterday I wrote: "Do > > what you like but it doesn't do to do it all the time." > > It took Dr XXY an evening of intense investigation on ويكيبيديا to > > discover what I was actually saying. He did so on the off-chance it might > > turn out to be crucial. > > A lifetime of deep study has taught him the importance of attending to > > detail. > > > > Now Dr XXY is no dunce. > > I am. (I used not to be, but as I get older it's getting worse.) Dr XXY > is > > not smart: he is super-smart. He holds the destiny of the world in his > > fingertips. I don't. > > He is not grateful to me for wasting his time. It mortifies me to know > > that I do. > > I'd have done better to write: > > "You are free to adopt your own strategy, but it's not good to employ > this > > idiom in every situation." > > He'd have sussed that out in less than minute, using nothing but his > > well-thumbed Websters. Because the words I used, although they were big > > ones, were unambiguous. > > > > When I write technical stuff, Dr XXY is very much in my mind. > > Can anyone recommend a widely-used standard of technical English that > > would gladden his heart to read? > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
