Vistatec recently interviewed me for their VistaTalks episodes. Each episode is an interview with an expert in localization. In my interview, we talked about The Language of Localization and some trends in technical communication and localization. You can watch the interview on the VistaTalk YouTube channel, or access the podcast version on the Vistatec website.
The interview is approximately 30 minutes.
My company tagline is, “Communication for a Connected World”, and I firmly believe that it is only by communicating effectively that we can solve problems and work together.
The events with the U.S. election show how deep the divide can be when we are stuck in an echo chamber and do not heed the cries of people who are different from us and who are suffering, and how easy it is for the wingnuts on both sides to hijack the process and the relationships.
I normally don’t post political stuff in this space because I generally focus on professional topics here. However, what is happening in the U.S. is directly relevant to other conversations about multicultural communication, and the techniques we use to manage virtual, multicultural teams are also useful here. Make no mistake; this rift is a cultural one as well as a communication one.
Here are some practical things we can do to help get the conversation started and to protect the vulnerable members of our communities.
Many people surveyed said that they didn’t know anyone who was voting for the opponent of their preferred candidate. This is how bias and entrenchment grow, and it is deadly to solving problems.
Just because it’s on the Internet, doesn’t make it true (even if we want it to be so). The proliferation of fake news sites is disturbing, particularly with how easy it is to share it on social media. We need to be wary of confirmation bias, propaganda, and social engineering.
As professional communicators, we have a responsibility to stop the spread by making sure anything we share is fact-based, accurate, and well-researched. We need to actively debunk misinformation when we see or hear it.
North America is a land of immigrants, and has always been glorious melting pot of cultural and linguistic diversity. The first languages spoken on this continent were Native American/First Nations languages. Norse, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Hebrew were spoken here long before English was. Approximately 11% of the US population and approximately 40% of Canadians are non-native English speakers.
Yet, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported 867 incidents of hate crimes and harassment in the week after the US election. This ugliness erodes the safety of our communities and harms all of us, not just the people being targeted.
When we see such harassment, we have a duty to speak up and to stand up for those being targeted. This is not what America is all about. For some helpful instructions on how to stop bullying, check out this anti-harassment infographic.
In an era of demonization of the opposition and when it feels like blind partisanship on both sides has hijacked the conversation, it can be challenging to hold the middle and refuse to take the bait. We must remember that compromise is not a dirty word, and that it is only by coming to agreement and working together that we succeed as a society. We must remember that disagreement and civil discourse are important to a healthy democracy.
We must find common ground and reach out to people who think differently than we do about the important issues of the day. By keeping in mind the larger ideals of truth, equity, justice, and compassion, and by communicating respectfully with each other, we can continue to move forward and make the world a better place.
Here’s a list of articles and other resources that you might find helpful for continuing the conversation.
Earlier this week, in Part 1, I shared the first two things you need to know about global-ready content. Here are the other three.
One of the biggest reasons for content strategies and content management systems to fail is poor change management, both the human kind and the technical kind.
You can have the best technology and the most user-friendly system in the world, and it won’t matter one iota if you are having team issues that prevent you from maximizing the benefit. If you are asking people to significantly change the way that they approach their work, you need to prepare them properly, give them training and support, and reward the new behaviors that you want to see.
On the technical side, if you are not being proactive about your change management, you are costing your company money. Making changes to source content while it is being localized costs the company money and time, especially if the change is not vital. (Yes, I know everyone thinks their changes have to be done right now, but they are wrong.)
English is a difficult and confusing language, even for native speakers. Homonyms and false friends abound, the grammar is inconsistent, and often has more exceptions than rules…and then there’s the fact that “English doesn’t just borrow from other languages, it drags them down dark alleys, knocks them over the head and rifles their pocket for loose grammar and vocabulary.” (from a t-shirt I saw at a gaming con).
According to Global Language Monitor, there are ~1,025,109 words in the English language as of 1 January 2014 (up from 1,009,753 in 2011). This statistic includes all words (jargon, idioms, variations of a word, neologisms, etc.).
The reality is that most dictionaries contain about 200,000-250,000 English words that are used most commonly. The unabridged Oxford English dictionary contains about 650,000 words.
When you consider that most other languages have fewer than 500,000 words, this difference has significant implications for how we write for localization, for terminology management, and is a strong argument for controlled language initiatives like Simplified Technical English. It is also one of the reasons for text expansion.
Last, but certainly not least, do your best and produce excellent work in everything that you do, no matter how small.
Localization is a garbage in/garbage out process. If you have crappy source content, you are going to have crappy localized content and those issues will increase your costs, increase liability, and decrease usability and customer satisfaction. Make sure your source content is as error-free and high quality as possible with the project constraints. And, this is where an effective QA process comes in as well.
If you are in the habit of excellence and you have good QA processes, you will improve your chances of quality localized content.
Last week, Matt Sullivan interviewed Terena Bell and me about our upcoming Lavacon (www.lavacon.org) presentation, The Space Between Us: Managing the Expectations between Technical Communication and Localization.
It was great fun talking to Matt and previewing our presentation.
You can view the interview on Matt’s blog: http://www.mattrsullivan.com/tc2ls006-interview-kit-terena/.
Lavacon is 12-15 October in Portland, OR. Register before 13 September to take advantage of the early registration: http://lavacon.org/2014/registrationecontent/.
Day 17 of the 31-Day Blogging Challenge (#31dbc)
Zentangle Tree by Kit Brown-Hoekstra
At an STC conference a couple of years ago, Andrea Ames, Brenda Huettner, a few others, and I were sitting in the bar. Andrea told us about this cool meditation technique that involved drawing. She then introduced us to Zentangle. For the next hour, we drew shapes on pieces of heavy paper that looked like bar coasters. Andrea instructed us in the most basic shapes and we all drew the same thing. Yet, everyone’s drawing came out differently.
I was hooked! I don’t do it as often as I would like, but when I do, it always amazes me how different my drawings look, even if I use the same shapes and patterns in the drawing.
Andrea uses it to play with patterns that she often then incorporates into her incredible quilts. Brenda has done some really cool stuff using the outline of an animal, plant, or object. My niece drew a face and used the zentangle technique to draw her hair and clothing. Mine are still pretty rudimentary, but the point is to play and have fun, not to be perfectionistic.
As technical communicators, we spend so much time using the analytical side of our brain that we often don’t nurture the creative, non-verbal side enough.
I did the Zentangle Tree yesterday. It’s the first time I’ve tried to draw and actual object rather than abstract patterns. It took me about an hour. When I started, I was feeling a bit stressed about work, but by the time I finished, I felt calm but energized. And, the solution to a thorny problem popped into my head as I was working on this.
I find myself needing to be reminded to step back and play a little. Try this out if you need a mental break! The Zentangle website has insteructional videos and an online store where you can order supplies.
I also found a book, The Art of Zentangle by Walter Foster, at the library. It contains even more patterns and ideas. Have fun playing!