Comments on: Let’s drop the formalities http://ginstrom.com/scribbles/2009/05/04/lets-drop-the-formalities/ Random scribbling about programming, translation, and Japan Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:05:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Tom Ellett http://ginstrom.com/scribbles/2009/05/04/lets-drop-the-formalities/comment-page-1/#comment-5038 Tom Ellett Sat, 06 Jun 2009 04:40:51 +0000 http://ginstrom.com/scribbles/?p=1022#comment-5038 I had a similar reaction recently from a Swedish client for whom I had translated a how-to guide intended to get new volunteers involved in political campaigning. The original text was written in very simple, conversational Swedish, so I adopted a similarly chatty tone in English, using lots of contractions. I half expected to have to justify this to a client who had probably been taught overly formal English (by today's standards) in high school. Sure enough, I had to deal with a reaction along the lines of "But I thought you only used 'don't' and 'it's' in speech, not in serious writing." I had a similar reaction recently from a Swedish client for whom I had translated a how-to guide intended to get new volunteers involved in political campaigning. The original text was written in very simple, conversational Swedish, so I adopted a similarly chatty tone in English, using lots of contractions. I half expected to have to justify this to a client who had probably been taught overly formal English (by today’s standards) in high school. Sure enough, I had to deal with a reaction along the lines of “But I thought you only used ‘don’t’ and ‘it’s’ in speech, not in serious writing.”

]]> By: Ryan Ginstrom http://ginstrom.com/scribbles/2009/05/04/lets-drop-the-formalities/comment-page-1/#comment-2737 Ryan Ginstrom Mon, 11 May 2009 07:07:37 +0000 http://ginstrom.com/scribbles/?p=1022#comment-2737 @Judy Choosing not to capitalize "internet" is certainly a valid decision, and in my non-translation writing I tend not to. If your clients are happy with "internet," great! You're lucky to have a client who both cares about getting it right and is able to make intelligent decisions about it. :) Working with Japanese clients can be very rewarding, because I feel that I'm giving them a service that they really need, but it can be frustrating as well. In general, though, I prefer working for Japanese clients over American ones. At least Japanese clients never send me Chinese documents and ask me to translate them, or send me a fax with the last two characters of each line cut off (because they couldn't tell the difference). @Judy

Choosing not to capitalize “internet” is certainly a valid decision, and in my non-translation writing I tend not to. If your clients are happy with “internet,” great! You’re lucky to have a client who both cares about getting it right and is able to make intelligent decisions about it. :)

Working with Japanese clients can be very rewarding, because I feel that I’m giving them a service that they really need, but it can be frustrating as well. In general, though, I prefer working for Japanese clients over American ones. At least Japanese clients never send me Chinese documents and ask me to translate them, or send me a fax with the last two characters of each line cut off (because they couldn’t tell the difference).

]]> By: Judy Jenner http://ginstrom.com/scribbles/2009/05/04/lets-drop-the-formalities/comment-page-1/#comment-2339 Judy Jenner Wed, 06 May 2009 17:05:11 +0000 http://ginstrom.com/scribbles/?p=1022#comment-2339 Interesting point. A lot of companies go to greath lenghts to provide language-accessible documents in "plain" English, but I certainly understand that for your Japanese customers, it's a huge paradigm shift. If the friendly, less-formal language makes it into their textbooks (in, hm, 10 years) perhaps they will be more receptive. Until then, you are the pioneer! :) I completely agree that formal can be/has to be friendly and understandable. There's no reason to be stiff and writing from the ivory tower. BTW, at my old employer (a dot-com) we argued about Internet vs internet for a long time (and considered all the important guides), but finally did settle on internet (analogous to other forms of communication with lower-case: telephone, mail, etc.), but both work. Interesting point. A lot of companies go to greath lenghts to provide language-accessible documents in “plain” English, but I certainly understand that for your Japanese customers, it’s a huge paradigm shift. If the friendly, less-formal language makes it into their textbooks (in, hm, 10 years) perhaps they will be more receptive. Until then, you are the pioneer! :) I completely agree that formal can be/has to be friendly and understandable. There’s no reason to be stiff and writing from the ivory tower. BTW, at my old employer (a dot-com) we argued about Internet vs internet for a long time (and considered all the important guides), but finally did settle on internet (analogous to other forms of communication with lower-case: telephone, mail, etc.), but both work.

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