By Teresa Mulvihill
March 14, 2002

Introducing technical information to diverse cultures creates unique challenges in publishing. In the global economy, successful publishers cannot afford to ignore cultural influences on information presentation. Yet there are loads of excuses for ignoring international issues. For example, "All business professionals speak English, therefore translation is not necessary," "This company only sells to English speaking countries, so there is no internationalization," and "Internationalization is someone else's job."

These excuses will not hold up in today's market. While budgets are shrinking, audiences are growing, and more so outside English speaking countries. Documentation in a native language is good business and common sense. Consumers will not buy a product if they have to translate the help themselves.

Color, humor, layout, and media nuances also make a publication friendlier in a given culture. US companies who have launched British versions of their web sites claim their Internet sales rose by 30 percent in just a few months. A more idealistic reason for incorporating cultural influences is world peace. It is not about throwing out one culture and language for others to learn and respect, but to learn and respect every culture and language. We are in this together and every little bit helps. Most publishers are thinking, "Don't we do enough? Besides, I only speak English." However, beginning a project with cultural issues in mind conserves time, saves costs, and reaches a larger audience.

International Content

Incorporating cultural issues into content can be simplified by merging the methodologies of writing for a single sourced environment and those of writing for multilingual audiences. These methodologies also help save editing time, translation costs, and reuse information in multiple publications.

As in writing for a single sourced environment, on an international project avoid referring to sections and graphics by their position in a printed document. For example, referring to a segment as, "the section above" may not identify the correct section in an online help document. Write identified segments keeping paragraphs to three-to-five short sentences and segments to three-to-four paragraphs on one concept. It is important to identify each segment clearly, using "Introduction" and "Overview" alone for a segment header causes confusion in large documents such as manuals. Instead use "Introduction to Technical Publishing" or "Overview of FrameMaker Tools."

Writing for multilingual audiences requires writing in simple English. For translators and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) readers it is important to keep their attention in the content not in their dictionaries. Using consistent terminologies and phrases aids both human and machine translators. Humans will not have to look up difficult words and machine translators can "remember" reused phrases.

Do not use repetitive sentences after descriptive headers. For example, after the title "Overview of FrameMaker Tools" remove the sentence, "This chapter gives an overview of FrameMaker tools." If this sentence is merely a way to have text between headings, list the subsections under a sentence similar to, "This chapter includes the following sections."

Reducing the number of words will not only keep content simple, it will keep the cost of translation down, as translation is priced per word. Do not use unnecessary words or phases such as: manually edit, automatically, or in order to. Hans Fenstermacher of ArchiText Inc. is a great source for guidelines on reducing words and writing simple English.

Also, consider units of measurements and humor. Most of the world uses metric units, yet the US uses imperial units. Humor can be used as a way to "lighten" text and increase retention. However, it can rarely be translated directly. When humor is used in a document that must be translated, be sure to identify humorous passages to the translator.

International Layouts

Cultural issues must be considered in the layout of international documents. Most documents translated from English grow by 25 to 30 percent. Paper sizes will also affect the layout as most of the publishing world uses A4, yet the US standard is 8.5 x 11 inches. Color interpretations differ greatly in different cultures. For example, yellow is associated with warning in most western cultures, however in Japan yellow signifies peace and tranquility.

Although most pictures paint a thousand words, graphics can be miss-interpreted depending on cultural interpretations. Traffic and road signs are generally safe, but stay away from using body parts. For example, the palm of the hand signifies the "stop" command in western cultures, yet it can be an invitation in Eastern cultures.

FrameMaker Tools

The tools used can also help alleviate headaches on international projects. FrameMaker has many functions that are excellent for single sourcing international projects. Using the book feature allows adding and removing chapters as needed for different audiences. Some media, such as print, online, or wireless, may be favored over others depending on location. FrameMaker allows books and documents to be saved for PDF, HMTL, and wireless publications.

Within each file, the conditional text feature can identify words, sentences, and phrases that will be published in a certain book. For example, if a manual is to be published in the US and the UK conditional text helps identifies the words that are spelled differently and the phases that are punctuated differently in each country. When translating, conditional text can identify words and phrases that should not be translated into the other language.

International Publishing Conclusion

International publishing requires extensive audience and tool analysis. There are obvious factors such as language, spelling, time zones, standard paper sizes, and units of measurement that must be considered before beginning an international project. However, technical publishers must also consider effects, such as cultural interpretations of layout, colors, and symbols. Keeping these issues in mind from the beginning of an international project and using the available tools to their fullest extent will help shorten production times, lower costs, and reach a broad audience.