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6 Words that Technical Writers Struggle to Break Up With in Simplified Technical English

6 Words that Technical Writers Struggle to Break Up With in Simplified Technical English

TCLoc Master article on 6 Words that Technical Writers Struggle to Break Up With in Simplified Technical English by Ms. Shumin Chen, Principal ASD-STE100 Trainer & Consultant.

First published on TCLoc Master Blog • University of Strasbourg • 26 August 2019

Product documentation can potentially be confusing, incoherent, and ambiguous in many situations. Recognising language ambiguity usually takes months, if not longer. Several aggravating factors include:

  • A constant need to churn out or translate volumes of documentation, manuals, and working standards.
  • Rarely questioning the relevance or validity of legacy documentation.
  • Allowing unclear parts of your technical content to snowball into substantial chunks that will eventually make up parts of your “user-unfriendly” help guides.

Finally, let us not forget the insidiously familiar workplace jargon that often explains why we tend to ignore simpler alternatives that could help us express our thoughts with greater clarity.

From workplace jargon to user-friendly words

Sometimes, realising the level of complexity of one’s technical content involves an epiphany of sorts once the writer catches a glimpse of technical writing in Simplified Technical English (STE). This is true for one of our clients, who is both an experienced technical author and documentation manager:

“A training course helped me better appreciate the objectives of Simplified Technical English from a technical writer’s perspective. I like the fact that STE promotes the use of less complex sentence structures and does away with unnecessary words like: ‘would’, ‘should’, and ‘might’.”

Do we have a problem? If so, fix it!

For example, if you look up the meaning of the word “fix” in a standard dictionary, the definitions are aplenty, from “fixing a technical difficulty” to “fixing up a meal in the kitchen”. Given the many possible meanings that hold true for the verb “to fix”, one could also distil as many interpretations of the word in a sentence.

According to Simplified Technical English, Issue 7, January 2017, there is a solution for this. Instead of “fix”, synonyms such as “ATTACH*”, “SET”, “REPAIR”, and “INSTALL”  powerfully extend our understanding and knowledge of what “fix” really entails when paired with various contextual clues.

The next five words: are you thinking of these too?

Keeping in mind that these are not the only unproductive words I talk about in my workshops, they are among the most frequently discussed ones.

The word “should” usually indicates duty or correctness that points to a desirable or expected state. However, it still allows the possibility of non-compliance. “MUST”, on the other hand, makes it clear that the instructions are mandatory and leaves no room for a different reading.

Besides the roughly 900 approved words found in the STE general vocabulary, the STE specification also includes a list of non-approved words. “Would” is one of those words that is easily replaced by a more straightforward and approved STE word like “CAN”.

In the STE general dictionary, the approved word examples in the 2nd column are very useful for technical writers who are transitioning from Standard English to Simplified English. This is because they provide the writer with the correct use of words in a real-life context that would be difficult to think of independently. Here, we see that “CAN” is once again a very helpful alternative to the verb “may”. Using too many words that point to the same or similar meanings can be, at times, overwhelming for your readers, especially when documentation becomes lengthier and more detailed.  

By now, the effects of STE on everyday words that pose as potential roadblocks to concise writing are clear. Instead of “transfer”, STE encourages the use of “MOVE” or “INSTALL”. This adds granularity to your choice of verbs, making technical work instructions more detailed and easier to follow.

The preference in STE for the verb “MAKE SURE” over “confirm” is again another unique characteristic of this standard. This is very likely so because the maintenance committee (made up of a diverse mix of linguists, engineers, and translators) deems “MAKE SURE” a more fitting word with more frequent usage to back their word choice. 

What are some popular words in STE that trained technical writers have adopted to date?

We spoke to more than 30 technical writers and this is by far the most comprehensive response to date:

“My favourite STE verbs are ‘APPLY’, ‘ATTACH’, ‘MAKE SURE’, and ‘SHOW’. The verb ‘APPLY’ has multiple use cases for our documents. The verb ‘ATTACH’ is a great utility verb because common alternatives like ‘mount’ are not approved. The verb ‘MAKE SURE’ is extremely helpful in cautions and warnings, as well as in some procedural steps. Finally, the verb ‘SHOW’ is extremely helpful when I write about background processes and how things work in general.” 

STE as a game-changer in our technical communication landscape

Can you envision a future where STE serves as the primary language reference for content creation and development in your field? 

We would like to hear from you. Leave your ideas in the comments section below!

Middle East & Africa Online Workshop: ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English workshop for all industries

Middle East & Africa Online Workshop: ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English workshop for all industries

ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English workshop for all industries

Dates: 27 & 28 January 2020

Plan later: 

  1. 19 & 20 February 2020
  2. 4 & 5 March 2020.

Time: 09:00 to 17:00 Gulf Standard Time [MEA]

Length of training: 2 days

Course fee: 450 EUR**

Course registration ends one week before training commences.

**Course fee includes exercises, learning aids, certificate of completion, and 90-day post-training support.

Summary

Simplified Technical English (STE) is a controlled language that is used to write technical manuals in such a way that they can be more easily understood by an international audience. STE helps to make translations cheaper and more accurate. Often a formal requirement for aircraft and defence maintenance documentation, STE can easily be adapted to all technical industries and beyond. Ms. Shumin Chen will teach participants how to correctly and effectively use STE in practice. She will also address some of the mistakes commonly found in technical writing and the frequently incorrect use of common STE writing rules.

I’ve found all the rules introduced in this workshop equally valuable and applicable in my field of work. The ASD-STE100 Specification is very useful for searching examples and finding STE compliant alternatives. It was also great that we has such a large number of practical exercises. Personally, it would be more valuable to have more context available. This helps us judge how to apply STE optimally. Thank you Shumin! Your workshop was concise, clear, and pragmatic. I also liked the occasional humour! 🙂 Diane Goodrick, Information Architect/ Author Trainer, Schindler Group.

Course outline*

  • Day 1: Classroom Training
    1. Practical overview of Simplified Technical English
    2. How STE helps both native & non-native speakers of English
    3. Benefits of adopting the STE international writing standard
    4. Writing rules and how to apply them in practice
    5. How to use the general vocabulary.
    6. Approved and non-approved words discussion and the rationale behind.
  • Day 2: Application, Review, & Exercises
    1. How to deal with industry-specific terminology
    2. How to use STE for various documentation types
    3. How to implement STE with minimal disruption to on-going production and existing documentation
    4. Practical workshop session for applying STE rules to your own documents
    5. Review, edit, and discuss participants’ own documents to reinforce learning
    6. Classroom presentation of own documents.

* Shufrans also offers customised ASD-STE100 training solutions tailored to meet your specific requirements. These courses are normally provided at the customer’s premises.

 

Who should attend?

  • Compliance managers
  • CIO, COO, CTO
  • Customer support managers
  • Documentation managers
  • Editors
  • Engineering managers
  • Engineers and SMEs who create documentation
  • Graphics specialists
  • ILS managers
  • Maintenance managers
  • Operation managers
  • Product managers
  • Project managers
  • Quality managers
  • Software research engineers
  • Technical illustrators
  • Technical writers
  • Translation managers
  • Translators.

What training outcomes to expect?

Our interactive training, exercises and workshop, will teach participants to standardise content to:

  • Author more efficiently
  • Communicate more effectively with a global audience
  • Improve operational safety
  • Reduce AOG / downtime
  • Facilitate modular writing and reuse
  • Facilitate teamwork
  • Facilitate translation
  • Maximise consistency
  • Optimise product lifecycle support
  • Reduce the cost of creating and maintaining technical publications.

Trainer’s qualifications

Ms. Shumin Chen, principal trainer & consultant at Shufrans TechDocs received her professional on-the-job training in the field of STE under the tutelage of Dr Frans Wijma, a linguist and documentation expert. Together as an experienced global team, they provided their combined knowledge and dedication to benefit customers worldwide. To date, they have provided training and consultancy services to over 180 companies. Shufrans TechDocs is the only company with such vast experience in providing certified STE training.

Shumin has supported various companies with their STE and other documentation needs, based on standards where possible. Although STE was developed for the aerospace industry, more specifically for aircraft maintenance documentation, Shumin found that it made a lot of sense to apply the same principles to other industries and types of documents as well. Few -if any- changes to the specification are necessary to adapt STE to industries ranging from machinery to IT, automotive to medical equipment.

 

2018 ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English training workshops in Singapore

2018 ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English training workshops in Singapore

Write effective user manuals & instructions with Simplified Technical English

18 – 19 April 2018

13 – 14 August 2018

3 – 4 December 2018

Location: Singapore

Length of training: 2 days

Deadline: Registration ends two weeks before the commencement of every workshop

Summary

ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English (STE) is a controlled language that is used to write technical manuals in such a way that they can be more easily understood by an international audience. STE helps to make translations cheaper and more accurate.

This two-day professional training course is intended for technical authors to familiarise themselves with the ASD-STE100 controlled language specification through a series of classroom- and workshop-type instruction and interaction.

STE improves quality, both in the aviation and defence industries, where it is often mandatory for safety & security reasons, and in any other technical industries. 

We use the latest version of the ASD-STE100 specification: Issue 7, January 2017.

Course outline*

  • Practical overview of ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English
  • How STE helps both native & non-native speakers of English
  • Writing rules and how to apply them in practice
  • How to use the general vocabulary
  • How to deal with industry-specific terminology
  • How to use STE for various documentation types
  • How to implement STE with minimal disruption to on-going production and existing documentation
  • Hands-on STE editing and review

* Shufrans also offers customised ASD-STE100 training solutions tailored to meet your specific requirements. These courses are normally provided at the customer’s premises.

“The introduction to the ASD-STE100 gave me a nice and clear overview of what to expect in the two training days that followed. Consistent language and spelling in STE are the rules I like best. The list of approved and unapproved verbs was a nice surprise for me. Shumin gave a highly practical STE training using relevant and pragmatic examples that relate closely to our field of work.” Maikel Kornuit, Technical Author, Triview.

This training workshop is organised in collaboration with Asia Technical Services Pte Ltd, our preferred training partner in the ASEAN region.

Who should attend?

  • Compliance managers
  • CIO, COO, CTO
  • Customer support managers
  • Documentation managers
  • Editors
  • Engineering managers
  • Engineers and SMEs who create documentation
  • ILS managers
  • Maintenance managers
  • Operation managers
  • Product managers
  • Project managers
  • Quality managers
  • Technical writers
  • Translation managers
  • Translators

What will I learn?

Ms. Shumin Chen will teach participants how to correctly and effectively use STE in practice. She will also address some of the mistakes commonly found in technical writing and the frequently incorrect use of common STE writing rules.

Our interactive training, exercises and workshop, will teach participants to standardise content to:

  • Author more efficiently
  • Communicate more effectively with a global audience
  • Improve operational safety
  • Reduce AOG / downtime
  • Facilitate modular writing and reuse
  • Facilitate teamwork
  • Facilitate translation
  • Maximise consistency
  • Optimise product lifecycle support
  • Reduce the cost of creating and maintaining technical publications

Trainer’s qualifications

Ms. Shumin Chen, principal trainer & consultant at Shufrans TechDocs received her professional on-the-job training in the field of STE under the tutelage of Dr Frans Wijma, a linguist and documentation expert. Together as an experienced global team, they provided their combined knowledge and dedication to benefit customers worldwide. To date, they have provided training and consultancy services to over 180 companies. Shufrans TechDocs is the only company with such vast experience in providing certified STE training.

Shumin has supported various companies with their STE and other documentation needs, based on standards where possible. Although STE was developed for the aerospace industry, more specifically for aircraft maintenance documentation, Shumin found that it made a lot of sense to apply the same principles to other industries and types of documents as well. Few -if any- changes to the specification are necessary to adapt STE to industries ranging from machinery to IT, automotive to medical equipment.

 

 

 

 

Attend a 2-day hands-on Simplified Technical English editing & review workshop in Vienna, Austria

Attend a 2-day hands-on Simplified Technical English editing & review workshop in Vienna, Austria

Quick facts

Dates: 19 – 20 September 2016

Location: Vienna, Austria

Length of training: 2 days

Early bird registration: Before 25 August 2016

Sign up early to enjoy a 20% training discount

Deadline for registration: 9 September 2016

Summary

ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English (STE) is a controlled language that is used to write technical manuals in such a way that they can be more easily understood by an international audience. STE helps to make translations cheaper and more accurate.

ASD-STE100 is mandated by several commercial and military specifications (MIL-SPEC) that control the style and content of maintenance documentation. Military defence standards (MIL-SPEC / MIL-STD) such as MIL-STD-3048, as well as technical documentation standards like S1000D and ATA iSpec 2200 recommend the use of ASD-STE100.

Often a formal requirement for aircraft and defence maintenance documentation, STE can easily be adapted to all technical industries and beyond.

Course outline*

  • Practical overview of ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English
  • How STE helps both native & non-native speakers of English
  • Writing rules and how to apply them in practice
  • How to use the general vocabulary
  • How to deal with industry-specific terminology
  • How to use STE for various documentation types
  • How to implement STE with minimal disruption to on-going production and existing documentation
  • Hands-on STE editing and review

* Shufrans also offers customised ASD-STE100 training solutions tailored to meet your specific requirements. These courses are normally provided at the customer’s premises.

“STE is a ‘way of life’ in the field of technical writing and documentation. The ASD-STE100 exercises covered a wide spectrum of topics from choosing between approved and non-approved words to recreating documentation in STE. Shumin expertly guides us from classroom learning mode to real-life practical application of STE rules. The materials that she presented were informative and very convincing.” Martin Broekhuis, Technical Editor, Webasto.

Who should attend?

  • Compliance managers
  • CIO, COO, CTO
  • Customer support managers
  • Documentation managers
  • Editors
  • Engineering managers
  • Engineers and SMEs who create documentation
  • Graphics specialists
  • ILS managers
  • Maintenance managers
  • Operation managers
  • Product managers
  • Project managers
  • Quality managers
  • Software research engineers
  • Technical illustrators
  • Technical writers
  • Translation managers
  • Translators

What training outcomes to expect?

Ms. Shumin Chen will teach participants how to correctly and effectively use STE in practice. She will also address some of the mistakes commonly found in technical writing and the frequently incorrect use of common STE writing rules.

Our interactive training, exercises and workshop, will teach participants to standardise content to:

  • Author more efficiently
  • Communicate more effectively with a global audience
  • Improve operational safety
  • Reduce AOG / downtime
  • Facilitate modular writing and reuse
  • Facilitate teamwork
  • Facilitate translation
  • Maximise consistency
  • Optimise product lifecycle support
  • Reduce the cost of creating and maintaining technical publications

Trainer’s qualifications

Ms. Shumin Chen, principal trainer & consultant at Shufrans TechDocs received her professional on-the-job training in the field of STE under the tutelage of Dr Frans Wijma, a linguist and documentation expert. Together as an experienced global team, they provided their combined knowledge and dedication to benefit customers worldwide. To date, they have provided training and consultancy services to over 180 companies. Shufrans TechDocs is the only company with such vast experience in providing certified STE training.

Shumin has supported various companies with their STE and other documentation needs, based on standards where possible. Although STE was developed for the aerospace industry, more specifically for aircraft maintenance documentation, Shumin found that it made a lot of sense to apply the same principles to other industries and types of documents as well. Few -if any- changes to the specification are necessary to adapt STE to industries ranging from machinery to IT, automotive to medical equipment.