Global Talk

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, Tech Comm News Color in various cultures, Cross-cultural communication, Forums, Localization, Resource

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 Handbook of Global User Research is described on the User Centric website at  http://www.usercentric.com/handbook-global-user-research. You can view the table of contents at http://www.globaluserresearch.com/book/table-of-contents.

Features Cross-cultural communication, Internationalization, Resource, Usability

A two-part series covers the book publishing industry in China today. Part one discusses how Chinese books are sold in the Western world and provides insight into writing in China. The second article discusses how books from the Western world fare in the Chinese market.

Features China, Cross-cultural communication, Writing and editing

If your organization does business in more than one part of the world, your web team faces the challenge of internationalization and localization of the website.

Internationalization refers to making a product ready for use throughout the world, and localization refers to making a product ready for use in a particular geographic area. For a website, internationalization requires making the code work worldwide, especially to support presenting the site in multiple languages, and developing a design and content for audiences with different cultural expectations.

Several articles are available to help meet these challenges. Four are presented here.

Several basic tips for internationalizing code are presented in Implementing Websites For Internationalization.

If you are providing a website in multiple languages, it’s desirable to avoid creating and maintaining multiple versions of the site. Internationalize JSP-based Websites presents one method.

A design blog addresses the challenge of providing a way for users to change to their preferred language. The author notes there is no standard interface for this. For details, visit Design Examples of Website Internationalization and Localization.

Creating content for readers worldwide is the focus of 7 Easy Tips to Internationalize Your Website. This is part of a larger guide with many resources, Culture Customized Content.

Features Communication, Cross-cultural communication, Design, Internationalization, Localization, Marketing, Resource

The International Technical Communication (ITC) SIG of the Society for Technical Communication  is very pleased to announce a partnership with The Localization Institute, bringing ITC members and other technical communication professionals a webinar series.  “Writing and Designing for an International Audience,” taught by Nancy Hoft, is a 4-part series that can help you hone some of your communication skills.

This partnership will allow members of the ITC SIG of the Society for Technical Communication to subscribe to the live series at a reduced rate. Anyone can attend, but ITC members alone get the benefit of the rate reduction.

For complete information, registration and more, visit:
http://www.localizationinstitute.com/index.cfm?onlinecat=techwrite

ITC SIG News Communication, Cross-cultural communication, Design, Event, Translation, Writing and editing