atw: Re: Censoring humour in translation (STIR)

Good on you, folks, great to see the lively discussion for and against, even
if it was only meant as a stir by Peter M. 

Still, I'm happy to see that many of you are well aware that humour in
techwriting for translation is a potential minefield.

If anyone wants to chat about other translation-related issues and doesn't
want to bore the entire list with it, get back to me on my blog site
www.academyxl.com/infoblog/ which is dedicated for this kind of thing.

Cheers
Robert


-----Original Message-----
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Peter Martin
Sent: Wednesday, 10 December 2008 11:08 AM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: Censoring humour in translation (STIR)

Bob Trussler:
You wrote:
> Is it only me, but this discussion is becoming as boring as batshit?
>

Yeah.  This makes a suitable end as far as I'm concerned.  Life can be light
and simple, and one exception breaks a rule.



> Many years ago in the pre-Idiot's Guide days, I wrote a training course
titled
> "Programming for the real beginner".
>
> Humour was deliberately used because we did not want to scare off people
who were
> either frightened or confused by computer programming.  We lightened it up
and
> simplified the explanation of each concept.  At the time, there was a chap
in our team
> that could draw very good cartoons and we used many in the same way you
might use a key
> phrase.
> One that comes to mind was a drawing of a person trying to jam lots of
letters into a
> bucket, to make a point about keeping things simple.
>
> I reckon that humour of that style could be used and translated, mainly
because it
> emphasises a point in a way that everyone can understand, and it is based
on a cartoon.
>
> In another course manual, I used examples of Mr Green, Ms White, Ms Black
and so on.  I
> guessed that even even people who could hardly use English could
understand that.  This
> led to a few simple jokes on Mr Light Green, and Ms Dark Blue.
>
> The diagrams of the paths to access the database were kept very simple.  A
user [smiley
> face] on one side and a database [oil drum symbol] on the other side and
various bits
> in the middle.  Some serious professional programmers didn't like the
simplistic
> diagrams, so as a humourous aside, I would display the original diagrams
from the
> manufacturer's manual but with my own commentary.  The proof of my method
was that
> people began to really understand how to access data efficiently.  I have
been told
> that my approach and my diagram have been used by other people and that
the original
> manufacturer in Germany rewrote their manuals in my style.
>
> The trainer who took over the course reckoned that she could not deliver
the
> introductory half day in my style and so rewrote the presenters notes, but
Mr Grey and
> the smiley face diagram remained.
>
>
> Bob Trussler


-Peter M 
 peterm_5@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
   
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