International Technical Communication Research Articles

Cultural Dimensions as Guidelines in Handling Language Problems for Effective Written Communication Across Cultures

This research explores potential problems that might occur in the use of language for cross-cultural written communication. It uses corpus-based study as methodology and cultural dimensional theory by Geert Hofstede as guidelines and identifies potential problems in language use in areas such as word choices, syntaxis, textual organization, translation, and rhetorical strategies. These findings will help cross-cultural communicators avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, misleading information, and cultural blunders and create effective written information for successful business and technical exchanges internationally. In this sense, the research makes a good contribution to international business and technical communication and enriches the education in cross-cultural communication.

One Size Does Not Fit All: On Application of Translation Theories to Teaching a Course of Website Localization

Website Localization is an important part of international technical communication. Its goal is to make an existing website culturally, linguistically, visually, technically, and rhetorically adapted (customized) to the target audience so that they can read and use it as if the website were written for them. Web localization places two tasks on technical writers: To have a good understanding of the target culture and to make their own culture and its related elements easily accepted by the target audience. As a website mainly contains verbal information, translation naturally plays an important role. Therefore, the appropriate use of translation theories helps achieve successful web localization. This article mainly focuses on how to apply translation theories to teaching website localization, using Chinese culture and American culture as examples. It analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the major translation criteria and explains how they can be used to communicate as much cultural information as possible from the source language and to increase the readability and acceptability of the target audience in the course of the website localization. Major findings are that no single translation criterion is able to handle all the translation cases effectively. In light of the nature of works to be translated, the purpose of translation, and the audience needs, various translation criteria need to be used. Suggestions are also made for customizing colors and graphics in light of the dynamic equivalence. With economical globalization, companies are competing with one another for international markets. Successful Website localization helps companies achieve this goal. So, the article is of great practical significance.

Research on Teaching Reform of Professional English Course for College Students Majoring in Mechanical Engineering

Professional English takes a very important role in China College course construction. Through analyzing the teaching situation of the mechanical engineering professional English course, the necessity of course teaching reform is put forward, and the course teaching reform suitable for the college students majoring in mechanical engineering is discussed in aspects of teaching materials, teaching language, teaching methods, teaching fashion, teaching process, homework patterns and autonomous learning under network environment. The purpose of the teaching reform is to train applied technical mechanical engineer competent in international technical communication.

Intercultural communication: a new approach to international relations and global challenges (sadri, h.a. and flammia, m.) [book review

The authors of this book have brought together their expertise in international relations and technical communication, respectively, and produced a fresh and topical treatment of intercultural communication from an interdisciplinary perspective. The book aims to enhance the reader's basic stance as a culturally aware person and his/her ability to act mindfully in intercultural encounters. The book is divided into four parts: an introduction of the central concepts and key theories of intercultural communication; an explanation of the four different approaches to the study of intercultural and international communication: the social science approach, the interpretative approach, the critical approach, and the dialectical approach; a discussion of the various processes and technologies related to intercultural and international communication; and finally, a discussion of the ethical dimensions related to culture. The book is highly rich in detail, and the work is an invaluable source of information for the reader who is looking for a holistic picture of intercultural and international communication on a global level. On the other hand, its wide scope does not permit a more in-depth treatment of many issues, such as linguistics or translation. There is a fair degree of repetition in the book, which makes skimming and browsing through the book easy, but which might cause some frustration for the chronological reader. However, for classroom purposes, the book is ideal as it offers numerous theoretical viewpoints.

Flatness error evaluation and verification based on new generation geometrical product specification (GPS)

New generation geometrical product specification (GPS) links the whole course of a geometrical product from the research, development, design, manufacturing and verification to its release, utilization, and maintenance. Measurement process is one of the most important part of verification/inspection in the new generation GPS. With the knowledge-intensive and globalization trend of the economy, unifying the evaluation and verification of form errors will play a vital role in international trade and technical communication. Considering the plane feature is one of the most basic geometric primitives which contribute significantly to fundamental mechanical products such as guide way of machine tool to achieve intended functionalities, the mathematical model of flatness error minimum zone solution is formulated and an improved genetic algorithm (IGA) is proposed to implement flatness error minimum zone evaluation. Then, two evaluation methods of flatness error uncertainty are proposed, which are based on the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (GUM) and a Monte Carlo Method (MCM). The calculating formula and the propagation coefficients of each element and correlation coefficients based on GUM and the procedures based on MCM are developed. Finally, two examples are listed to prove the effectiveness of the proposed method. An investigation into the source and effects of different uncertainty contributors for practical measurement on CMM is carried out and the uncertainty contributors significant are analyzed for flatness error verification. Compared with conventional methods, the proposed method not only has the advantages of simple algorithm, good flexibility, more efficiency and accuracy, but also guarantees the minimum zone solution specified in the ISO/1101 standard. Furthermore, it accords with the requirement of the new generation GPS standard which the measurement uncertainty characterizing the reliability of the results is given together. And it is also extended to other form errors evaluation and verification.

Moving International Technical Communication Forward: A World Englishes Approach

This article explores how the English language contributes to cross-boundary communication failure and establishes that there is an “English language problem” that has not been adequately addressed in preparing United States native English-speaking students for international technical communication tasks. For example, U.S. technical communication scholars are still grappling with the problems of using English in software internationalization and translating technical communication products across boundaries of national culture and language without privileging Western values and beliefs. The tendency is to assume American culture and American Standard English as the norm, and to identify cultural and linguistic differences as problems only when there is a communication failure or when non-native speakers of English translate product users' manuals and other documents for use by Americans. The article draws attention to the limitations of the current favored strategies for training native speakers in international audience analysis and calls for a revamping of the curriculum to allow for the integration of language-based methodologies. It suggests the incorporation of the World Englishes perspective into training programs to internationalize students' learning experiences.

An Application of Robert Gagné's Nine Events of Instruction to the Teaching of Website Localization

Website localization is an important part of international technical communication. However, at present, few technical communication programs offer courses in localization. This article provides an overview of a course devised to familiarize students with ideas and approaches related to website localization. The course was based upon Robert Gagné's nine events of instruction—an approach that allowed students to move from the learning of abstract ideas to the application of knowledge to the website localization process.

Preparing Technical Communication Students to Play a Role on the Translation Team

Technical communicators need to be prepared for the challenges of international communication. This tutorial focuses on the need for technical communication faculty to prepare students to be skilled intercultural communicators and to play a role on the translation team. The tutorial begins with a discussion of the importance of writing for translation in the international workplace and then presents specific assignments designed to instruct students in intercultural communication and give them experience writing for translation. In addition to introducing students to the cultural issues that impact the creation of documentation for international audiences, these assignments also serve to reinforce core skills recognized as vital to professional success in the field of technical communication. Taken together, these assignments can be used as the basis for a course in international technical communication. An appendix to the tutorial includes numerous resources available to faculty who want either to develop a course in international technical communication or to include some of the assignments in existing technical communication courses.

German Academic Programs in Technical Communication

While research in international technical communication has flourished during the last 10 years, there has been little published on technical communication programs outside the United States. This article addresses this need by describing 12 representative academic technical communication programs in Germany, including Germany's first master's degree program. While there are no statistics on the number of technical communicators working in Germany, tekom (Gesellschaft für technische Kommunikation), the German professional society for technical communication, estimates roughly 4,400 members. While German academic programs in technical communication share many features with their counterparts in the United States, German academic programs do stress internships, foreign language study, and study abroad exchange programs more than technical communication programs in the United States.

Global contexts: case studies in international technical communication [Book Review

Global contexts: case studies in international technical communication [Book Review

Controlled English for international technical communication : Kincaid, J. P., Thomas, M., Strain, K., Couret, I. and Bryden, K. In: Countdown to the 21st century. Proc Human Factors Soc 34th ann meeting, Orlando, Florida, 8–12 Oct 1990. Human Factors Society, Santa Monica, Cal, Vol 2, 1990, pp 815–819, 2 refs

Controlled English for international technical communication : Kincaid, J. P., Thomas, M., Strain, K., Couret, I. and Bryden, K. In: Countdown to the 21st century. Proc Human Factors Soc 34th ann meeting, Orlando, Florida, 8–12 Oct 1990. Human Factors Society, Santa Monica, Cal, Vol 2, 1990, pp 815–819, 2 refs

Which English Should We Teach for International Technical Communication?

There are differences of vocabulary, grammar, and usage in American English and British English. As international interchange of information increases, we must alert writers and editors to these differences, and encourage them to find forms of expression common to both versions of English. If they do not, their texts may create difficulties, not only for readers using English as a foreign language, but also for native speakers of American English or British English.

Controlled English for International Technical Communication

This paper describes a project to develop and use intelligent software to automate the authoring of technical documents written in controlled English, such as Simplified English (SE). SE is a subset of English with a limited vocabulary and a set of writing rules; its use in aircraft maintenance manuals makes them so clearly written that translation is not needed. The paper also describes courseware for rapidly teaching controlled English to those with limited English language ability. Finally, it presents implications of using controlled English for international technical communication and language training, and describes how the computer techniques being developed in our laboratory will facilitate this process.

Basic technical and business writing — Joanna M. Freeman

A wealth of examples and assignment suggestions alone makes Joanna Freeman's Basic Technical and Business Writing invaluable to teachers and students of technical communication. Chapter 3, “Headings, Tables, and Figures,” includes 41 illustrations, most of them courtesy of business organizations. So impressive and useful is this array that one tends to overlook the misplaced apostrophe in one of the charts. Dr. Freeman complements even her discussion of formal reports with three full-length examples, each demonstrating a different communication problem and solution: a statistical study from the Journal of Marketing Research, a persuasive argument from the 25th International Technical Communication Conference Proceedings, and a student paper classifying and summarizing the results of research.

BIG D attracts record breaking crowd of technical writers & illustrators

This was the Silver Jubilee of the International Technical Communication Conference (ITTC 25), and the largest crowd ever gathered in Dallas, Texas in May for the occasion. Since most registrants only signed up at the last minute, the conference overflowed into not one, but two hotels, with the odd person at still others.

Evaluation of a Master's Program in Technical Communication—Results of a Questionnaire

This is an expanded version of an evaluation originally given at the International Technical Communication Conference, Washington, D.C., 1976. The questionnaire was an attempt to get in touch with as many graduates of Rensselaer's Master's Program in Technical Communication as possible and to find out their reactions to the curriculum. The questions covered such topics as present and past occupations, usefulness of the Rensselaer curriculum, recommended curriculum changes, making use of invited speakers, degree of emphasis on style and format, supplementary courses, contact with professional writers, and adoption of new techniques.

23rd International Technical Communication Conference, "Meeting the Challenge of Economic Reality"

In aid of cross fertilization I'll attempt to bring you the best genes from this May Conference, particularly since our own Trish Durr was a participant. Most sessions dealt with the practical information: editing, graphics and management, based on the notion that in days of tight budgets, you have to be good to keep your job. Many of the ideas here are gleaned from several papers.