Thank You from new tech writer

McLauchlan, Kevin Kevin.McLauchlan at safenet-inc.com
Fri Mar 7 08:07:58 MST 2008


On Behalf Of Leonard C. Porrello wrote:
> What Kevin say is true (and PC), 

Friends and neighbors, I do apologize. Leonard will no longer be posting
to this list. He called me "PC", and I had to kill him.

> and I agree with Gene's point that one
> doesn't have to be a non-native speaker to write poorly. It is not too
> far a stretch to think that anyone with a writing talent who is fluent
> in a given language--if trained--can learn to write without obvious
> colloquialisms. But I still need convincing. How do the docs that come
> out of India (for your company) stack up against the docs that come
out
> of Canada?

At least one of the writers is a pleasant, motherly sort who had a good,
well-rounded education. I think I can sometimes detect items that she
has written. It's really no big deal, and since US companies are only a
portion of our market, and since even the US companies employ a lot of
immigrant techie people, nobody has complained nor are they likely to.
Another of the India writers is much younger, and a recent grad of a
real technical writing program. She would pass even your Touring test...
er... or would have, while you were alive.

Let me put it another way. Our far-flung empire is "managed" by an
American woman who lives at Headquarters, in Maryland. We check in with
her once in a while. After a bit of startup hand-holding when the India
division was established, the Techpubs manager spends really no more
time and effort herding the India writers than she does me.  She and I
have exchanged e-mails twice this year, talked once by phone last year
and twice the year before, and have never met.   She did journey to
India one time, when they were starting up and hiring writers.  In other
words, my experience with Indian writers is quite positive.   No PC-ness
invoked at all.

Kevin



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