atw: Re: FW: Re: ASTC(NSW) conference 2007
- From: <wongword@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 6 May 2007 19:37:56 +1000
ASTC(NSW) conference 2007Donald
It was late when I whipped it off last night.
I am interested in hearing about our readers and their literacy levels and what
this means to them when they come across our documents.
Does anyone have tips for us in what is particularly difficult to understand,
what can we do to reduce the risk of being misunderstood, are their any laws
that we might be breaking, is one format better than another? What's the
difference if any btwn NESB and illiterate english speakers. So many questions
Rosie Wicket (spelling?), who ever she is wrote a lot of stuff during the year
of the illiterate a few years ago. There's also an adult English teachers
group. I forget their name but they have a website, have conferences etc. They
may have a speaker.
I think this is one of those topics where we don't know what we don't know.
Most of us have never been exposed to this issue. I just have a feeling that
some group out there may be itching to speak to people like us to spread their
message and ideas.
Irene Wong
----- Original Message -----
From: Donald Burch
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2007 6:52 PM
Subject: atw: FW: Re: ASTC(NSW) conference 2007
Very good example "here", Irene ! Ha-ha.
But seriously, are you thinking of the literacy of the writers, or the
literacy of the readers ?
There has always been a gap between those who study language, and the man in
the street - as evidenced by the pedantic nature of many threads in this list.
Personally I feel that the average person's grasp of English has dropped
markedly over the past few decades - though I certainly don't think of myself
as any sort of expert (heck I didn't even like English at school). But for
years I've been wondering what the premium costs to "insure that you press
button A before button B". I blame American, and the fact that they call it
"English".
As if things aren't bad enough now, with the TXT generation the gap seems to
be turning into a chasm. And as the TXTers rapidly become the main advertising
demographic I expect that all forms of writing (and not just advertising) will
be dumbed down ... and in a few years we will all be unemployable (except for
documents intended for other geriatrics).
Sorry, another one of those issues which 'gets my goat'.
So Irene, are you thinking of literacy standards for writers ? Or of
adapting the writing to the target reader ? Or have you something else in mind
?
Cheers,
Don Burch
D & H Business Services
www.dhbusiness.com.au
P O Box 1289, Chatswood, NSW 2057, Australia
Ph:+61-2-9410 0606 Mob:(0411) 259 278
SIP: 98883527@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
SIP:635871@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
SKYPE:donburch888
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of wongword@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Saturday, 5 May 2007 11:22 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: ASTC(NSW) conference 2007
I'd like to here about literacy and how it is relevant to us.
Irene
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