Re: Translating the Ideas, Not the Words

[Howard <howardg -at- SAVVY -dot- COM>]

I wrote...
> When trying to translate the ideas alonmg with the words, you may be
> better off using a staff member who speaks the language.
Then Karen reponded with...
>>My first response to this was a very loud shriek, which I've deleted
>>so as not to hurt your tender ears. Instead of using a 'staff member',
>>I think you'd be MUCH better off finding a technical writer who is a
>>native speaker of the target language. (Or maybe that's what you
>>intended and I misunderstood? If so, I take the shriek back.)

Well, maybe a half-shriek is in order. The staff member will give
translations for local idioms and corporate-jargon. A tech writer fluent
in the language can be used to clean up the staffer's input. I've had to
create manuals in three languages (English, Spanish and Russian).
Luckily, they have been short how-to guides. We relied on the staffers
fluent in the language and the support of you kind folks for help with
technical words and phrases (thank you all, again). My elementary
understanding of these languages helped, so we weren't working totally
in the dark.

Are you still shrieking?

--Howard                howardg -at- savvy -dot- com