How to deal with incorrect editing

["Cassandra Greer" <cassandra -at- greer -dot- de>]

Is the person who made the changes a native English speaker? (asking just in
case)

The first time I was introduced to a new technology in a new job, there were
terms and concepts and formulations that I was sure everyone was using
incorrectly - I was working with Germans for the first time but in a more or
less English environment and I blamed it on their non-nativeness and the
influence of German (and a few other languages). As it turned out, after I
started getting more familiar with the technology and the related
literature, I found that most of the things I was sure were wrong actually
belonged to the jargon and typical conventions used with that particular
technology in English and were not a result of my guys being non-native
English speakers.

Being sure of what is really a grammatical mistake or just usage may take
some time and experience. What you can do is ask the person who made the
'corrections' whether those changes reflect typical usage in that technology
(this is not a bad thing esp if you are new to this area and everyone knows
this anyway). It might just be that the 'mistakes' introduced into your doc
really are mistakes and found their way there by accident. That can happen,
esp. if it was read and corrected quickly.

If the mistakes really are mistakes then I suggest being polite but firm
about it. Have some documentation to back it up just in case (but don't pull
it out until you have to - no need for overkill - you want them to respect
your personal/native abilities).

This counts even for native speakers. Be polite but firm and back it all up
(here you can be more obvious with your documentation, since the others will
also rely on their nativeness). I often have 'discussions' with the
native-speakers I work with especially in ambiguous areas. The one with the
highest quality official documentation in context (and on occasion, the most
Google hits in context ;)) wins. You can say we sometimes make a game of it
and in the end everyone learns something they didn't know before or had
forgotten. BTW this is also an important exercise for us since the longer we
are in a foreign country the greater the danger that our English will be
influenced by the language around us. We have to keep on our toes!

A grammatical mistake is of course not worth your job. However, it looks bad
for the company (and therefore for you) if docs are released to the public
containing mistakes that could have been avoided.

hth!

Cass :)


> I have just started a new job as the technical writer for the
> security department of a bank. I've done tech writing before, but
> as a contractor in a team; now I'm a lone writer.
>
> The first piece of writing I gave to my manager was changed to be
> ungrammatical. I tried to point this out, but was afraid to push
> very hard. I've since checked my references to make sure I'm
> right, and I am. My version also sounds fine, according to some
> writing-savvy friends -- it isn't a case of really awkward
> "correctness," and the changes are distractingly wrong. While
> there are no points of grammar that are actually worth my job, if
> anyone has advice on how to handle this, I'd appreciate hearing it.
>
> Thanks much,
> Rachael Lininger



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