Hi Gilian, I've read all the replies to your question that have been posted so far. I don't agree about offending your audience. Our docs are translated to seven languges and distributed all over the world, including the UK. We write in standard American English and internationalize our docs to make localization easier. We write short instructions and use imperatives on a regular basis.
We include an email address in the manuals for customer feedback and we do get comments. I have never seen a comment from anyone in any country that mentioned language or stated that they were offended by the writing style. To answer your question, I suspect that not all UK writers write the way those who wrote the manual you have. Sorry you are having problems. BTW, we have similar problems rewriting docs that come from Japan. The engineers write in Japanese and the in-house ESL translators there send us "English" versions. It is often difficult to understand what they are saying. Closing thought -- It's well known that Asians are often ultra-polite when they speak so that they do not to offend anyone. Our coworkers in Japan, for example, rarely use the word No. They say, "we will consider it," but never seem to finish considering. :-) I'm wondering if your UK writers are trying not to offend your Asian audience. In any event, you are doing it right by deleting the extra verbiage. Go girl! Diane =================== -----Original Message----- From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com]On Behalf Of Flato, Gillian Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2009 8:10 PM To: framers at frameusers.com Subject: Why do British Tech Writers pontificate We are going through the grueling task of editing some manuals written by British Tech writers. It's quite painful. Why, oh why, do British Tech Writers pontificate so much? Do they know the definition of the word concise? Do they just like to hear themselves talk? Additionally, are they paid by the freakin' word? I have never seen such excessive use of as many words as possible. It's ridiculous. Didn't anyone ever tell them that when you translate a manual you actually do pay by the word so being concise is actually important! Part of that old British politeness comes through. They are so scared of offending anyone that they are afraid of giving an imperative in a manual. It's full of, "if you wish" "if you would like" "if you would be so kind as to" "if it's not to much trouble than" Give me a freakin' break. Tell the User what to do to accomplish the task and stop pontificating. It's not about you! <Thanks for letting me rant. I am tired of this manual. It's due tomorrow and I am behind schedule.> Thank you, Gillian Flato Technical Writer (Software) nanometrics 1550 Buckeye Dr. Milpitas, CA. 95035 *408.545.6316 7 408.232.5911 * gflato at nanometrics.com <mailto:gflato at nanometrics.com> _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to Framers as dgcaller at earthlink.net. Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/dgcaller%40earthlink.net Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.