Re: Devel Digest, Vol 20, Issue 22

[Micheal Cooper]

 From: Ed Trager [EMAIL PROTECTED]

 So while I have no objection to simple English which will be easily
 understood by younger learners of the language, we must also be sure
 that we do not proscribe an incorrect idea regarding the usage of the
 pronoun you in imperative sentences in English.

I understand completely and agree. My examples were forced and
hastily-chosen. I wanted the use of the second person to be clear in
my explanation, and I made the mistake of making it too clear. That is
what happens when one concentrates on form over effect. I was not
thinking that the docs would repeat you all the time.

 But in many other languages (perhaps most other languages?) we would
 not use possessive pronouns here at all.  All of these English
 yours, if translated quite directly into foreign languages, results
 in very annoying and unnatural sounding texts in my experience.

 So I would advise we try to fix the English from the start by avoiding
 unecessary invocations of possessive pronouns, especially your:

   I will explain how to switch the screen to black-and-white.
   First, press the X button on the keyboard

Writing to accommodate a particular target language would not be wise
because there are many target languages and many differences. These
kind of adjustments would have to be made by the translator. That
being said, I agree with you that omitting the possessive would
introduce the less misleading information, so it would be best to
leave it out. The examples above are just as easy to understand and
less wordy.
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Re: Devel Digest, Vol 20, Issue 22

[Micheal Cooper]

 From: Steve Fullerton [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Subject: Re: slightly long and detailed proposal for
 documentation-translation   workflow

 I fully appreciate the detail.  However, IMHO I think that there is some
 re-thinking required re: the traditional user documentation.  The core  of
...
 The highly intuitive design of Sugar and the experience of the pilots bears
 this out.  The children seem to do just great without manuals,  discovery is
 enhanced, and many of the constructionist ideals are realized.

 What do you think?

I seem to have been working under a misconception. I thought that the
manuals were mainly intended for teachers and local educators who
might be trained to do some low-level support. The language should be
comprehensible by younger children because the manual will be the
teacher's main reference, and we can assume that the manual language
will find its way into the teacher-speak.

Docs are definitely necessary for educators, since they will not have
time to discover, and since they are responsible for getting the
children going with XO.

Don't you agree?
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