Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!uunet!munnari.oz.au!uniwa!DIALix!metapro!bernie From: bernie@metapro.DIALix.oz.au (Bernd Felsche) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Subject: Re: Coding in English Message-ID: <1991Jan29.045233.27215@metapro.DIALix.oz.au> Date: 29 Jan 91 04:52:33 GMT References: <747@cbmger.UUCP> <8179@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> <755@cbmger.UUCP> <1991Jan20.023612.14976@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> <188ff65e.ARN11fd@pilhuhn.ka.sub.org> Organization: MetaPro Systems, Perth, Western Australia Lines: 44 In <188ff65e.ARN11fd@pilhuhn.ka.sub.org> (Heiko W.Rupp) writes: >In article <1991Jan20.023612.14976@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG>, Kent Paul Dolan writes: >>zerkle@iris.ucdavis.edu (Dan Zerkle) writes: >>> software. The people who wrote the programs can not write English >>> well. The people who can write English well can not understand the >>> computer programs. Anybody who's worked in the "front-line" of customer support realizes that there are (at least) three type of manuals: 1) Those which the client reads and understands; 2) Those which the client reads but can't understand; 3) Those which the client doesn't bother to read. Most are of category 3. :-( >>And in a horrible burst of jingoism (note the followup!) I chip in: >> >>Probably a smiley should be in there someplace, but I learned German, >>Latin, and Spanish, and I still want to see the code and docs and even >>commentary in English, damnit. Too right! And isn't it fun to compare the different translations in a multi-lingual manual? Often, you'll find things explained better in another language. >That's allright, but there are more and more users which have to use a >computer, but which are not able to understand the manuals in english. Often, despite the fact that the manuals are in their primary language. (My native language is german, my primary language is english.) >But if hard- and software is distributed in a land where they speak another >language than the developpement language, the local distributor should >at least take someone to read the translated manual carefully and to >discover and correct the errors. Very true, but then again, you'd miss out on a lot of laughs. :-) -- _--_|\ Bernd Felsche #include / \ Metapro Systems, 328 Albany Highway, Victoria Park, Western Australia \_.--._/ Fax: +61 9 472 3337 Phone: +61 9 362 9355 TZ=WST-8 v E-Mail: bernie@metapro.DIALix.oz.au | bernie@DIALix.oz.au