ubuntu-manual team mailing list archive

[Patrick Dickey <pdickeybeta@xxxxxxxxx>]

It's easy to miss. The author probably thought it sounded right (which
being an idiom aside, it did). The editor probably didn't think anything
of it, because they understood what was meant. And the proof-readers
probably thought the same thing.

In other words, while it should have been avoided, it's a "no harm, no
foul" type of thing. And this also serves to show that even if it's
missed most of the way through, it will get caught eventually (most
likely in the translation phase).

Have a great day.:)
Patrick.


On Tue, 2013-05-28 at 23:52 +0100, Tony Pursell wrote:
> 
> 
> On 28 May 2013 23:12, Craig Hrabal <crhrabal@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>         On 05/28/2013 04:28 PM, Kevin Godby wrote:
>                 Hello, Hannie.
>                 
>                 On Tue, May 28, 2013 at 8:42 AM, Hannie Dumoleyn
>                 <lafeber-dumoleyn2@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>                         There is no need to adjust English language
>                         expressions so that non-native
>                         speakers understand. It is my duty as a
>                         translator to find out what a less
>                         common expression means. I already felt stupid
>                         that I sent this question to
>                         the mailing list.
>                 Actually, we should try to avoid idioms in the English
>                 manual because
>                 the manual hasn't been translated to all languages
>                 yet.  If the manual
>                 hasn't been translated to a person's native language
>                 yet but they
>                 speak a little English, they should still be able to
>                 read our manual.
>                 
>                 Avoiding idioms not only helps the translators but the
>                 large number of
>                 non-native English speakers.
>                 
>                 —Kevin
>                   _______________________________________________
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>         I would have to agree. Expressions like that aren't too far
>         off from slang, and therefore only serve to confuse people.
>         Phrases and expressions like this should be avoided, as there
>         is no clear way to translate the expression into another
>         language. The fact that you had to ask what a simple phrase
>         meant sort of proves why it shouldn't be written in that way.
>         When someone is trying to get help using Ubuntu, language
>         barriers shouldn't be a source of difficulty for readers.
>         
> 
> I entirely agree with Kevin and Craig's remarks.  It is exactly what I
> had in mind in my reply to Hannie (which should have gone to the list
> - apologies for that).  There is even several distinct forms of
> English to consider.  It is possible for me, as a UK English speaker,
> to use idioms that sound odd to US English speakers, even if they do
> understand them.  So our aim should be always to use plain,
> straightforward English that can be understood by native and
> non-native English speakers.  I have made a few edits along these
> lines, but I have to confess to missing the expression that Hannie
> queried. 
> 
> Tony 
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