Re: Re: Fwd: Technical Writing - What's the catch?
...More than a dictionary is called for, though. There is a field of study termed
in the U.S. "English as Second Language (ESL)." It uses the tools of
linguistics as well as grammar and vocabulary to improve the idiom of persons
who were not taught English by Americans (or Brits or Aussies or Kiwis)...
Thanks for providing this insight as well, Guy. Is there an
online source for this type of study or does it require
personal instruction? I'd be interested to learn what
techniques you use to improve your remote teams.
-Sue Gallagher
The ESL needs a review by non-academic, honest-to-god working writers, in my opionion. In the 90's, I was tutoring a Japanese students for their ESL exams, and was appalled by the bad practices suggested in their ESL textbooks. One exercise was, "Rewrite each of the following sentences to change it from the active to the passive voice." I advised the students that this trick was useful only for academic papers, and should never appear in any of their personal or business correspondence.
The "academic" application note was from almost-firsthand experience. Several months earlier, my wife, at that time also a technical writer with several years of experience and a "Best of Show" award from an STC competition, returned to college to finish work on her bachelor's degree. Her first English paper earned her a grade of "C". When she asked why she got such a low grade, the professor informed her that her writing was "too plain, too active, and not really college academic quality." Expressing my honest, heartfelt opinion of her fellow students' acceptable "college academic quality" writing I examined during her soiree through college would get me kicked off this list for sure.
---- Jerry Muelver
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Re: Re: Fwd: Technical Writing - What's the catch?: From: Susan W . Gallagher
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