TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Surely a non-native speaker of English is not being expected -- or asked -- to write without an editor, or at least a mentor to review his work before it is distributed.
Speaking as a user of lots of computer documentation, it's obvious when it _is_ the company policy to throw brilliant developers to the wolves -- maybe as punishment for speaking with an accent. It's about time everybody got over that nonsense. The only person who receives the real punishment is the user (customer).
Speaking as a Title I Remedial Writing tutor with my fair share of Ameriglish newbies, I found that it's easy for a native-speaking editor to insert articles where needed, almost completely impossible for the non-native-speaking writer to grasp the intuitive nature of articles whose placement often has more to do with the cadence of the spoken word than a "rule" that can be memorized and consistently applied. We can thank the polyglot nature of English for this. Diversity is great but sometimes there's a price for the ticket and this is one of them.
My suggestion for the situation: present whatever information can be found in a decent ESL textbook about articles, and be prepared to provide ongoing editorial support until the writer's intuition clicks "on". Some people do this quickly, others never do. Even when their writing is exquisitely good, they will always need an editorial tweak on the "localization" details such as articles.
Dori Green
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more. http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
