Global Talk

Here is a link to an RFP regarding an e-learning course that needs to be delivered in English/French for the UN.

http://www.unhcr.org/4c18df679.html

Tech Comm News Employment

For lively discussion and valuable information about localization, join the Localization Professional Linkedin group, http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=44105&trk=anet_ug_hm

Today’s discussion yields extensive information about the meaning of color in various cultures, to build on the chart in “Color Meanings by Culture” posted at http://www.globalization-group.com/edge/resources/color-meanings-by-culture/

Features Color in various cultures, Cross-cultural communication, Forums, Localization, Resource

The article “Avoiding Ambiguity:  Understanding the Need for a Controlled Vocabulary”  by Scott Abel reflects some of the conversations of  ITC members at the SIG business meeting in May at the 2010 STC Summit.

Link: http://www.enewsbuilder.net/techcommanager/e_article001771573.cfm?x=b11,0,w

Features Simplified English

Congratulations to Tricia Spayer, a current ITC member,  on her election to STC Director!

See more about the STC 2010 Elections!

ITC SIG News elections

Summary

Story proposals of 300 words are requested for an upcoming collection Negotiating International and Cross-Cultural Technical Communication: Stories of Technical Communicators. This collection is designed for technical communicators to tell their stories working in international and cross-cultural contexts, working for and with clients and colleagues from diverse cultural backgrounds, or writing and designing for audience from diverse cultural backgrounds. The goal is for contributors to share their experiences and lessons-learned, to inform and educate fellow practitioners, and to demonstrate their value-add to employers and clients. Submissions that meet the scope of the collection will be followed up for full-length stories.

Themes (See Writers’ Guidelines, also, below)

The editors welcome a wide range of stories from technical communicators who work within or outside the U.S. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
* Working as technical communicators outside of U.S.
* Non-U.S. technical communicators writing or designing for clients or audiences outside of the communicators’ own countries or cultures
* U.S. technical communicators working with clients, subject matter experts, writers, or editors from various nations or various cultural backgrounds within the U.S.
* U.S. technical communicators writing or designing for audiences from various nations or various cultural backgrounds within the U.S.
* Coordinating or managing technical communication projects that span national or cultural borders
* Involvement in outsourcing, translation, localization, or globalization projects
* International and cross-cultural stories from various technical communication fields such as business communication, science writing, engineering writing, medical writing, nonprofit organizations or NGOs, government writing, usability testing, technical translation, etc.

Payment for Contributors

Contributors will receive a free copy of the book and book royalty shares. Specific amount of the share will be determined when a book contract is finalized with the publisher.

What to Submit Now
* Story synopsis (300 words)
* Biographical note (150 words)

How To Submit

Email submissions to both:

• Hyu1@ksu.edu
• gjsavag@ilstu.edu

Timelines

* Submission of story synopsis and biographical note: July 31, 2010
* Notice of synopsis acceptance: August 31, 2010
* Submission of 1st draft full-length story: November 30, 2010
* Notice of draft acceptance: January 31, 2011
* Submission of final draft full-length story: June 30, 2011 Read more…

Tech Comm News Cross-cultural communication, Cross-cultural context, Technical communication

The STC office has posted all of the professionally produced photographs of the 2010 Summit.  You can view them here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stc_office/sets/72157624049035750/

If you use the photos in an STC community publication, no credit is necessary.  However, if you circulate them to outside media (such as a photo of a Fellow to a local newspaper), include the  credit “Society for Technical Communication” with the photo.

Special congratulations to the France Chapter, the TransAlpine Chapter, the Euro Chapter, and the Toronto Chapter (all close to ITC’s mission!) on their Pacesetter Awards! Other Pacesetter Awards were given to the Houston Chapter and the Technical Editing SIG.

STC News Event, STC Summit

Emotional and persuasive perception of fonts
Juni S, Gross JS.  New York University, Department of Applied Psychology, NY 10003-6674, USA. sam.juni@nyu.edu

Journal: Percept Mot Skills. 2008 Feb;106(1):35-42.
Abstract:
The aim of this study was to explore the latent affective and persuasive meaning attributed to text when appearing in two commonly used fonts. Two satirical readings were selected from the New York Times. These readings (one addressing government issues, the other education policy) were each printed in Times New Roman and Arial fonts of the same size and presented in randomized order to 102 university students, who ranked the readings on a number of adjective descriptors. Analysis showed that satirical readings in Times New Roman were perceived as more funny and angry than those in Arial, the combination of emotional perception which is congruent with the definition of satire. This apparent interaction of font type with emotional qualities of text has implications for marketing, advertising, and the persuasive literature.

Features Cross-cultural context

A Localization World conference will be held October 6-8, 2010 at the Bell Harbor Conference Center in Seattle, Washington. For details visit  http://www.localizationworld.com/

Tech Comm News Event, Internationalization, Localization

The call for papers for EuroIA 2010, Paris, France, September 23-25  is open at www.euroia.org. The deadline is May 16.

Tech Comm News Event, Information architecture

Sunday, May 2, 2010: Welcome Reception

Monday, May 3, 2010: ITC Business Meeting

• ITC’s Annual Business Meeting  will be held at lunchtime (12-1:30pm local time)  in the Cumberland “E” room. Cumberland rooms are located on the lower level, near the exhibit hall. Bryan-Beeman room is located on the Atrium level, behind the elevators. Shawnee Trail #362 is located on the third floor, overlooking the Atrium. All of the floors are accessible from the main elevators.
• If you would like to attend, please reserve a seat by emailing the ITC Manager, Traci Nathans-Kelly, at kelly@epd.engr.wisc.edu . We have ordered food for ten people, and those seats will be given to those who contact Traci first.  Those with confirmed reservations with Nathans-Kelly will be served a lunch (no charge). Menu is as follows: Chilled Serrano Roasted Chicken Breast and Three Texas Gulf Shrimp over mesclun greens and wild rice salad. Exotic fruit and tomato salsa and Dallas’ own goat cheese coin. Dessert is Triple Gooey Chocolate Cake with champagne peach sauce. Coffee, decaf, tea.

Download a PDF of these announcements and a listing of ITC-related sessions here:International Technical Communication STC 2010 Summit Activities

Monday: Community Reception, 7:30pm

• ITC will have a table at this reception. Please stop by!
• ITC will hold a drawing at the end of this event to give away several ITC-related books. To have a chance at the books, please stop by the table and put your business card in the bowl.
• ITC will have a table with buttons available. Please contact Traci Nathans-Kelly if you will be attending the conference and would like to have a button reserved for you. We have 75 available. Any buttons not reserved will be given away at this event.

Tuesday, 4 May; 7:00 AM, ITC SIG Networking Breakfast

This event requires a ticket to be purchased in advance. Tickets may be purchased onsite by noon the day before the breakfast. The cost of each breakfast is $30.50. All the breakfasts will be held in Marsalis B. This room is next to the exhibit hall and will be divided into sections. There will be signs outside each section with the names of the SIGs that will be seated in that section.

ITC SIG News Event, STC Summit

For guidelines on using English effectively worlwide, consult Kohl’s Global English Style Guide, which has been reviewed.

Features English language, Internationalization, Resource

The AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe publishes “ASD Simplified Technical English,” Specification ASD-STE100, European Community Trade Mark No. 004901195, International specification for the preparation of maintenance documentation in a controlled language.  A consulting firm has assembled resources on this standard and offers training in many locations.

Features Event, Resource, Simplified English

If you are new to localization, you may want to join SimulTrans for the “Introduction to Localization” webinar on Tuesday, April 27 or Thursday, May 19. 

This is an educational event. Details are:

SimulTrans Webinar – Introduction to Localization
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
2 p.m. EDT / 1 p.m. CDT / Noon MDT / 11 a.m. PDT
OR
Thursday, May 19, 2010
4 p.m. EDT / 3 p.m. CDT / 2 p.m. MDT / 1 p.m. PDT 
Free of charge   
Register at http://www.simultrans.com/register.cfm 
Contact: SimulTrans
education@simultrans.com
+1-512-670-8988 

Description: Introduction to Localization
This session addresses the basics:

• What is all this “-zation” language?
• How should you prepare a localization kit and request a proposal? 
• What factors should you consider in choosing a localization partner?
• How long does localization take? How much does it cost?
•  How can you ensure high linguistic quality?
• What are translation memory tools?

Presenter
Adam Jones, Chief Operating Officer, SimulTrans

Adam oversees SimulTrans’ worldwide operations, including project management, translation, engineering, testing, multilingual publishing, account management, and marketing. Adam has spent over 16 years directing the company’s customer outreach efforts, internal production groups, and other operations. He regularly gives training presentations at conferences of the Society for Technical Communications, the American Translators Association, the Software & Information Industry Association, and other groups. Adam previously worked as an International Strategic Account Specialist at Oracle Corporation and a high school English teacher.  He holds a B.A. and M.A. from Stanford University, in Public Policy and Education.  

To learn more about the company, visit SimulTrans’ website at http://www.simultrans.com.

Tech Comm News Event, Localization

If you have used your technical writing/editing, translation, or localization skills in a way that supports a community need, please let us know what that was! We would like to begin recognizing the extraordinary efforts that our members bring to the communities that they are part of. Have you volunteered for a non-profit? Translated for a local literacy group? Localized materials for communities that otherwise would not have access to information? What are your stories? How do your professional talents “translate” into community service, volunteerism, or other related activities?

If you would like to share your story, please leave a comment here (click the Comments link at the upper right), contact the SIG manager, Traci M. Nathans-Kelly, or post your story on the SIG mail list. (By submitting your story, you’re giving us permission to post your story on Global Talk. Please remember all list posts are published immediately on the public web; see http://itcglobaltalk.org/?page_id=9 .)

We want to share and inspire with ideas, tales, and suggestions for activities for our members.

ITC SIG News Member news

This is a thesis for a Masters student, Kang Sun, from Bowling Green.  The abstract reads, in part: “This thesis identifies Chinese university situations specific to the transfer of technical communication to China, especially the relationship between general socio-economic settings in China and the influences these general settings have on the university disciplinary structure changes. The objective of this research is to reveal openings in translation discipline as a shell for technical communciation to merge with. [clip]. It is concluded that the merger of technical communication with translation can both gain technical communication a pivotal status of being a discipline in Chinese universities and solve some problems of the translation field. More importantly, such a merger offers a future-oriented perspective of development for the merged discipline to ride more successfully the stablly growing Chinese economic growth.

Full text via PDF:  http://etd.ohiolink.edu/send-pdf.cgi/SUN%20KANG.pdf?bgsu1122304773

Tech Comm News China, Resource, Translation