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China Online STE Workshop: 2-day Training Course

China Online STE Workshop: 2-day Training Course

 

Write effective user manuals & instructions with Simplified Technical English

China Online STE Workshop 

New training dates: 3 & 4 June 2021

Time: 09:00 to 17:00 UTC/GMT +08:00 [Beijing Time]

Length of training: 2 days

Course fee: 5,215 RMB 3,500 RMB**

Course registration ends one week before training commences.

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

Summary of Simplified Technical English (STE)

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

STE Rule 1.3 Use approved words only with their approved meaning is my go-to rule. My favourite STE verbs are “examine”, “measure” and “make sure”. I always use the non-approved verbs of “check” and “inspect” before. I highly recommend this course to other people. If most people write with STE, technical work steps will become clearer and easier for understanding. Kevin Zhao Kai, Vibration Analyst, Maersk Drilling

STE Course Outline*

This 2-day Online STE Workshop includes interactive training and exercises.

  • 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.

Good explanation with history and background of STE to illustrate the importance of using STE in the aircraft industry. Rule 6.1: To give information gradually is my favourite. My favourite verbs are DO, PREPARE, REPLACE, REMOVE and STOP.

I am now conscious of writing in shorter sentences for better clarity and getting the point across. Before STE100, I tend to include too much information for fear that the message was misinterpreted. These verbs are commonly used and I agree that the intrinsic meaning of these are sufficient to get the message across efficiently.

There were good practice sessions to reinforce the essence of the respective rules. I would most certainly recommend Simplified Technical English as a standard to maintenance related fields since I personally do not like to read instructions in a disorganized manner. JD Hong, Maintenance Superintendent, Maersk Drilling

 

The introduction to ASD-STE100 has offered me some helpful insights into the theoretical background of this technical language standard. The STE rules are governed a logical flow of technical information. I would certainly recommend this course to writers who are interested in changing the way of technical writing with buy-in from the company. Overall, I have enjoyed Shumin’s presentation! Markus Burri, Project Manager, ZetaVision GmbH

Who should attend this STE technical writing workshop?

  • 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 technical writing outcomes to expect?

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

ASD-STE100 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 200 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, she 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 industrial sectors ranging from machinery to IT, automotive to medical equipment.

Simplified Technical English STE examples

 

Asia Pacific: 2-day certified online STE workshop (APAC)

Asia Pacific: 2-day certified online STE workshop (APAC)

 

Write effective user manuals & instructions with Simplified Technical English

APAC Online STE Workshop

Dates:  11 & 12 April 2024

Time: 09:00 to 16:00 UTC/GMT+8:00 [APAC]

Length of training: 2 days

Course fee: 799 EUR*⁺⁺

Course registration ends one week before training commences.

*Course fee includes exercises, learning aids, certificate of completion, and 120-day post-training support.

⁺⁺A group discount is applicable when you have two or more participants registering for the same event. Send us your questions: enquiry@shufrans-techdocs.com.

🏷️ A €210 fee discount is applicable when you also sign up for 🆕 Certified STE Masterclass | Asia Pacific (APAC) Online.

Rediscover clarity in documentation with STE

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

STE can easily be adapted to all technical industries and beyond. Ms. Shumin Chen will show 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 frequent incorrect use of common STE writing rules.

What customers are saying..

I am giving this training a 10/10. There was a good introductory and explanation to describe the 2-day training seminar. Rule 1.1 0 lets me use words that are: approved in the dictionary / technical names / technical verbs and is one rule I like very much because of its flexibility.

I think rule 1.1 is the most critical and important for STE dictionary. Sometimes I have to use non-approved words as an exception, but I will try to keep this rule 1.1 in my documents for good measure.

Although some of the exercises were tricky, they remind me of each rule application at that time. So they were practical for my role as a technical writer.

I want to recommend this course to current technical writers in Korea or engineers who are interested in writing their own documents effectively. Seung Eun Lee, Technical Writer, DB HiTek

Online STE Workshop Outline*

This two-day Online STE Workshop includes interactive training, exercises, and a 120-day post-training consultation.

  • 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.

 

Why select a Simplified Technical English training with Shufrans?

Shumin is a very knowledgeable STE instructor. She kept the course interesting and was always open to our questions/feedback. The introduction to Simplified Technical English has been greatly beneficial for my understanding of what the specification entails. In terms of preferred rules, I cannot pinpoint a specific set of STE writing rules as they are all valuable. This was my favorite part of the course as I enjoyed analyzing how other writers went about using STE to best apply it to their line of work.

The rewriting workshop was my favorite part of the course as I enjoyed analyzing how other writers went about using STE to best apply it to their line of work. I would highly recommend this course to all technical writers. Shumin Chen takes the time to clearly explain the rules of STE. A very attentive instructor, indeed. If given the chance, I would really enjoy working along side her. Michael Palmieri, Documentation Specialist, AON3D | The Advanced Additive Manufacturing Platform

What technical writing outcomes to expect?

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

Interested in learning more?

Speak to us today or learn more about our upcoming Online STE Workshops here.

Certified STE workshops online

Browse our convenient line-up of Simplified Technical English workshops scheduled at different timezones.

 

ASD-STE100 Trainer’s qualifications

 

Ms Shumin Chen will show participants how to correctly and effectively use Simplified Technical English (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.

According to Ms Chen, the benefits of STE are manifold – audience engagement through high-quality content, improved product safety, lower life cycle cost and reduced logistics footprint

Learn more about how you can create sustainable STE content and reap substantial cost-saving benefits as a result here.

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Instructor-led Simplified Technical English (STE) training worldwide

Instructor-led Simplified Technical English (STE) training worldwide

Instructor-led training: We offer more than just a training service

  1. Are you a manager who has to constantly worry about the varying technical English proficiency levels of your staff?
  2. As an engineer, are you facing difficulties explaining your concepts to your technical writing team?
  3. In your role as a technical communicator, do you often struggle to convert complex ideas into brilliant content?

If you answered yes to any of the above, join us at the next instructor-led Simplified Technical English training workshop sessions online:

Write effective user manuals & instructions with Simplified Technical English

Length of training: 2 to 3 days

Course registration ends one week before training commences

Shufrans’ ILT STE workshop sessions are an effective means of delivering information, as they allow for real-time feedback, questions and answers, manipulation, and changeable delivery to suit the needs of learners in a conducive learning environment. ILT is also the most widely-used method for extended enterprise training, which trains customers and partners, with an 80% usage rate.

STE stands for Simplified Technical English. It offers native & non-native English speakers alike an efficient platform to improve your technical English language competency when writing for a global audience.

  1. For technical writers: simplified wording and grammar will improve readability and safety compliance of your documentation and product respectively.
  2. For engineers and programmers: Breeze through the writing of test cases, technical documents, and business emails in a highly standardised and regulated manner. STE opens up effective communication channels, hence avoiding potential miscommunication issues at work while improving the overall professional impression that you portray.
  3. For translators, translation PMs, and localisation engineers: With STE working for your team in the background, you can streamline your preparation of translation memory/terminology based on leaner documentation, lowered translation & localisation costs, and faster delivery.
  4. For LSPs and technical writing services companies: Diversify your business portfolio with an in-depth knowledge of STE as an international controlled English language standard.

Online Simplified Technical English Programme Highlights

  1. Highly efficient: We will cover all 382 pages of the ASD-STE100 Specification in two days for immediate implementation.
  2. Practicality: cross-industry cases sharing by trainers with excellent pragmatic approach.
  3. Follow-up period: 4-month post-training consultation starts immediately after the training to ensure a seamless transition to STE writing at work.
  4. Experienced trainer: Ms Shumin Chen, Co-founder & Head of ASD-STE100 training & implementation of Shufrans TechDocs.

Our Training Service Package guarantees the following:

  1. Reduces your content development time and efforts
  2. Significantly lowers post-processing (e.g. translation) cost
  3. One-stop content quality solution
  4. Overall quality improvement.

Instructor-led training (ILT) represents 66% of corporate training and development; it reaches 76% in high-performing companies and 80% in high-consequence industries: healthcare industry, pharmaceutical industry, finance, utilities, etc.

 

 

 

Europe Online STE Workshop: 2-day Training Course

Europe Online STE Workshop: 2-day Training Course

Write effective user manuals & instructions with Simplified Technical English

Europe Online STE Workshop

Dates: 16 & 17 January 2020

Plan later: 

  1. 30 & 31 January 2020
  2. 11 & 12 February 2020.

Time: 09:00 to 17:00 Central European Time [Europe]

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 of Simplified Technical English (STE)

Simplified Technical English (STE) or ASD-STE100 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.

Shumin gave us a an all-rounded presentation to Simplified Technical English. Personally, rule 1.3: To use only approved words with their approved meaning holds the key to successful controlled language implementation. Rules 3.4, 3.6, 4.1, 5.3, and 5.5 are also among my favourites. The approved verb TO MAKE SURE THAT can come in very handy for technical writers as well. The presentation of STE rules offers quite a detailed overview that includes not only language rules but good, old technical authoring principles in general. It has been very helpful for us to learn and understand the concept of STE. I have found Shumin to be very competent in STE and will definitely recommend her course! Eric, Head of Corporate Technical Documentation (CTD), Schindler Group.

STE Course Outline*

This 2-day Europe Online STE Workshop includes interactive training and exercises.

  • 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.

The presentation on rules clarified a lot of things of which I was unaware. I have a much better understanding of how to format lists with colons, when to use obey vs. comply, and the differences between notes, cautions, and warnings. Moving forward, I will be able to utilize the ASD-STE rules more effectively to write better documents. Lauren Gelli, Senior Technical Writer, Aerotech Inc.

Who should attend this technical writing workshop?

  • 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 technical writing outcomes to expect?

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

ASD-STE100 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 200 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, she 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 industrial sectors ranging from machinery to IT, automotive to medical equipment.

Simplified Technical English STE examples

 

Simplified Technical English workshop in Shanghai, China, July 2018

Simplified Technical English workshop in Shanghai, China, July 2018

Quick facts

Date: 15 & 16 July 2018

Location: Shanghai, China

Length of training: 2 days

Deadline: 2 July 2018

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 three-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 Talent of Content our preferred training partner in mainland China.

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.

TCTrainNet adds training unit on Simplified Technical English

TCTrainNet adds training unit on Simplified Technical English

First published in tcworld Magazine for international information management, April 2017

“As a technical writer, your main task is to transfer technical information to users in a clear way to help prevent user errors. In global organizations, a large amount of user information is written in English, with STE (Simplified Technical English) playing an important role as an international standard. Professional technical writers have a lot to gain by using this standard to communicate and be understood accurately worldwide.

That is why TCTrainNet has added a new training unit on STE that has been developed by our experts! In this new unit, you will get an overview of more than 60 rules that will help improve your writing skills.”

Join a certified ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English training workshop in Auckland, New Zealand

Join a certified ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English training workshop in Auckland, New Zealand

Quick facts

Dates: 19 – 20 April 2017

Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Length of training: 2 days

Fee: 1,850 NZD

Early bird registration: Before 28 March 2017

Sign up early to enjoy a 20% training discount

Deadline for registration: 10 April 2017

Summary

Simplified Technical English (STE) stresses on the use of unambiguous terminology where one word only has one meaning. This reduces the likelihood of using synonymous terms that can result in confusion. Optimum re-usability of technical terms on the word, phrase, and sentence levels is to be expected. This will greatly improve any product life-cycle management process.

Technical documentation that is written in STE becomes easier for non-native speakers of the English language to understand. The resulting text is much easier to translate which is especially relevant when machine translation is part of your localization strategy. Preparing your technical content with ASD-STE100 ensures quality at the source and prepares you for future-proof translation processes.

Said Ms Shumin Chen, principal ASD-STE100 trainer: “The benefits of implementing and writing in Simplified Technical English (STE) are manifold – audience engagement through high-quality content, improved product safety, lower life cycle cost and reduced logistics footprint!”

“The ASD-STE100 course I attended by Shumin was very intensive yet enjoyable. Besides the standard format and company templates used when creating documentation, STE rules helped me understand that there is an alternative approach to technical writing. Top Qualities: Effective, versatile, high-quality training delivery.” Manufacturing Engineer, FNSS Defence Systems

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

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
  • MRO personnel
  • Operation managers
  • Product managers
  • Project managers
  • Quality managers
  • 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 let participants 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.

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

Dozuki Workshop Series – Optimize your technical content (Part 1 of 3)

Dozuki Workshop Series – Optimize your technical content (Part 1 of 3)

Your content matters

To follow-up with the audience on the webinar session on 26 July 2016, we will share in more detail some examples of how you can prepare your content for optimum re-use, readability, and translatability.

In the three-part text analysis that follows, we will highlight areas for improvement, then provide the same information based on Simplified Technical English (STE) writing rules.

 

Replace iphone 5c power button STE

 

RULE: 1.2 Use approved words from the Dictionary only as the part of speech given.

1a) Standard English:

If your display is cracked, keep further breakage contained and prevent bodily harm during your repair by taping the glass.

1b) STE:

If there are cracks in your display glass, use tape to prevent more damage and possible injuries.

Analysis:

‘Crack’ is only approved as an STE technical noun, not a verb. For this reason, we changed the past participle form ‘cracked’ to ‘cracks’.

It is also not advisable to use fake verbs or a passive construction such as ‘by taping’ in your sentence. This is a violation of rule 1.2 where ‘tape’ is used only as a noun, and also hides the doer of the action. Instead, write ‘use tape to prevent more damage..’ to sound more direct.

We also removed unnecessary phrasings like ‘keep further breakage contained’ and ‘bodily harm’, substituting them with the simple verb ‘to prevent’, and unambiguous words such as ‘more damage’ to the equipment, and ‘possible injuries’ to the user for a more concise sentence construction.

 

RULE: 1.6 Use a Technical Name only as a noun, not as a verb.

2a) Standard English:

Lay overlapping strips of clear packing tape over the iPhone’s display until the whole face is covered.

2b) STE:

Make a cover for the full display glass area with overlapping strips of clear tape.

Analysis:

‘Cover’ is a non-approved verb in STE. Instead, use ‘cover’ as a technical noun. In this sentence pair above, we removed redundant words like ‘lay’, ‘over’, and ‘until’. The result is a concise, more direct sentence for the reader to complete his task more quickly and efficiently.

 

RULE: 1.3 Keep to the approved meaning of a word in the Dictionary. Do not use the word with any other meaning.

3a) Standard English:

This will keep glass shards contained and provide structural integrity when prying and lifting the display.

3b) STE:

This will keep glass shards together and give structural integrity when you move the display.

Analysis:

The STE verb ‘contain’ is defined as to have in something or to hold in something. The approved STE adverb ‘together’ appears simpler in meaning and more accurately describes the situation.

‘Provide’ as an unapproved STE verb is replaced with ‘give’, a shorter and more direct alternative.

‘Prying’ and ‘lifting’ can easily be described as ‘to move’. We hardly need to go into detail yet about prying and lifting as we risk confusing the reader at this point in time. Also, the –ing form or present participle verb form is not used in STE unless it is part of a technical name. For instance: lighting, missing, servicing.

 

RULE: 1.3 Keep to the approved meaning of a word in the Dictionary. Do not use the word with any other meaning.

4a) Standard English:

Wear safety glasses to protect your eyes from any glass shaken free during the repair.

4b) STE:

Use safety glasses for eye protection during the repair. 

Analysis:

‘Wear’ is defined as the action of becoming damaged as a result of friction. For other possibly valid meanings of ‘wear’, STE prefers the verbs ‘use’ or ‘put on’ safety glasses.

Further reading: Dozuki Workshop Series – Optimize your technical content (Part 2 of 3)

 

Missed this session? The on-demand presentation is now available below.

 

 


Shumin Chen

About the speaker

Since 2006, Ms Shumin Chen has been working as a consultant with customers in various industries worldwide: aerospace and defence, banking, consumer products, healthcare, IT, medical and fitness equipment. She has helped many companies with their documentation needs, based on standards where possible, and is widely regarded as a leading expert in ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English training, aviation documentation and multilingual documentation.

Ms Chen now heads the ASD-STE100 training arm of Shufrans TechDocs. In her current role, Ms Chen continues to focus on the practical implementation of international standards to facilitate the efficient creation and management of multilingual documentation.

Copyright © 2016 Shufrans TechDocs. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever without express written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. 

Sounds interesting?

For a list of STE approved and non-approved verbs, drop us a line!

Request for the STE verbs list

 

International Standards at Shufrans TechDocs

International Standards at Shufrans TechDocs

Safety starts with quality. The best product is only as good as its documentation and technical data allow the customer to make optimum use of it. Formerly known as Simplified English, Simplified Technical English (STE) is an international standard (ASD-STE100) that helps to make technical documentation easy to understand.
Simplified Technical English standardises vocabulary, grammar and style, while letting users control their specific terminology.

Although Simplified Technical English originates from the aerospace and defence industries, it can easily be customised and applied to any other industry.

Using guidelines from the ASD-STE100 specification, writers and editors can take document clarity and consistency to the next level. Text written in Simplified Technical English shows improved readability and translatability. These benefits should not be overlooked as products and their accompanying documentation are increasingly shipped to many countries worldwide where English is not the main language used. Consequently, whether the majority of your audience is made up of native or non-native speakers of the English language, getting your message across clearly becomes faster and easier.

Text based on Simplified Technical English is also cheaper and faster to translate. Users of your documentation will benefit from higher translation quality, and mistranslations become less of a concern.
Injuries, losses and costly legal liabilities can happen as a result of unclear documentation and ambiguous translations. Simplified Technical English is based on standardised terminology and simple grammar rules. Consistent terminology facilitates your task of indexing and helps users to find pertinent information faster by eliminating unnecessary synonyms and spelling variants.

 

Streamlining your documentation processes with a practical content strategy

Streamlining your documentation processes with a practical content strategy

Safety starts with quality. The best product is only as good as its documentation and technical data made available to the customer.

Case study

Our customer, the Finn-Power Group, established in 1969, is a multinational group of companies specialising in sheet metal working technology with 2 manufacturing sites in Italy, 1 in the US and 1 in Finland.

 

Industry concerns

Customer documentation is a vital and integral part of Finn-Power’s comprehensive range of machinery. Most crucially, the documentation needs to do its part to ensure the safe and correct use of the product by providing complete, accurate and effective information.

Additionally, with the EU machinery directive in place and the EU now comprising of 28 countries, there is a regulatory need for clear and accurate translation into many different languages as well as specific, safety-related content.

 

Using Simplified Technical English ASD-STE100 to create user content 

To make content easier to understand as well as faster and cheaper to translate, Dr Frans Wijma gave training to Finn-Power’s team of technical translators, writers and documentation manager in the rules and practical application of this international standard. Course participants did a complete rewrite of selected sample documents in Simplified Technical English.

Finn-Power has successfully implemented ASD-STE100 since 2010 with the continuous support from the team at Shufra.

ASD-STE100 standardises vocabulary, grammar and style, while letting companies control their specific terminology (Technical Names). The ASD-STE100 standard is widely used in industries ranging from aerospace to IT, consumer electronicsautomotive and machinery.

 

The next step – formulating/designing a useful information structure

Taking on the other important aspect of documentation is the structural reuse of content and optimizing technical means for reuse. With all their business requirements in mind, Finn-Power was looking for a highly intuitive, low-threshold content management solution (CMS).

We tapped into our partner network and found Author-it to be the perfect fit with the customer’s requirements as it includes a translation management module that allows users to efficiently and effectively manage multilingual content. Author-it allows you to reuse content with a high level of granularity. While most CMS systems just let you reuse whole blocks of text, Author-it allows for text reuse on the sentence level, doing away with the need to define portions of text intended for reuse.

Said Ms Hanna Korpinen, Manager of R&D and Documentation:

Now that we have also taken on this other important aspect of documentation, we are better positioned to provide quality documentation to our customers on-time and within budget!

 


Copyright © 2013 Shufra Consultancy. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever without express written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. 

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