[NCUC-DISCUSS] NCUC French translation project [was Chinese Translation Project]

[Timothe Litt]

On 18-Mar-15 08:12, Tapani Tarvainen wrote:
> On Mar 18 07:52, Timothe Litt (litt at acm.org) wrote:
>
>> The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit
>> organization.
>>
>> If one removes the article, it makes no sense.
> Of course it does. It would be awkward and arguably nongrammatical
> or even abuse of English, but certainly understandable and probably
>
If you know nothing about ICANN, reading with the missing article is
surprisingly
challenging.  I tested this on fellow native English speakers.  Awkward
and challenging
is not helpful.  I think you want "approachable and easy to read", from
the first sentence.
> would not cause anyone more than a slight pause while reading it.

Perhaps.  Is that the impression that this organization wants to make on
new/potential members?

That we don't know grammar and abuse language? 

Jargon is often the single biggest barrier to getting people to join a
new group.  This is a small point,
but I took the trouble to reply because of the larger one.

Studies show that even college-educated adults prefer to read, and have
better comprehension reading, writing at the (US) 8th-10th grade level. 
(~age 13-15)
And that jargon and grammatical errors both create a negative impression
and reduce comprehension.  Consult any style guide for technical writers
for details...

>> So the issue is whether ICANN is a well-known enough acronym to be
>> considered a noun, rather than something that people need to expand
>> in-place to understand.
>>
>> In an introductory document, on behalf of the audience, I say no.  In
>> any language.
> In _any_ language? Finnish does not have articles at all,
> and this distinction does not exist as a grammatical construct:
> it is only semantics, inferred from context.
You are correct.  I meant "In any language (that has articles)".  That's
what happens
when one assumes that the reader understands your jargon.

The point is that you want to write in the best, jargon-free
grammar/style that
you can.  Also, note that even translated, readers may be reading in a
secondary
language.  E.g. there are many places that speak languages that we won't
translate,
but do speak English or French or Spanish as a secondary language.

> As for English or French, I claim no expertise, but really don't
> think it matters much. People will understand it either way.
True for motivated native speakers.  Less true for the secondary
languages. 

A "welcome" document should make extra efforts to be welcoming.  Not
off-putting.
>> And that's the larger challenge for writing any document: know your
>> audience.
> That is certainly true.
>
This entire thread may seem like an over-reaction to Nicholas' single
decision about a
definite article.  But it gave us the opportunity to think about the
audience.  I, for one,
am grateful.

But I'm signing-off on this topic.  Anyone who isn't convinced by now
won't be convinced
by me :-)


Timothe Litt
ACM Distinguished Engineer
--------------------------
This communication may not represent the ACM or my employer's views,
if any, on the matters discussed. 



-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: smime.p7s
Type: application/pkcs7-signature
Size: 4942 bytes
Desc: S/MIME Cryptographic Signature
URL: <http://lists.ncuc.org/pipermail/ncuc-discuss/attachments/20150319/1e28c42e/attachment-0002.bin>