atw: Re: It's Vs It is

Hi Stuart.

That's certainly something I hadn't considered given
Peter's comments.
There will certainly be a requirement for translation.

Thanks!

Rgds
N

-----Original Message-----
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of
Stuart Burnfield
Sent: Tuesday, 29 March 2005 3:53 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: It's Vs It is






Peter Martin let slip:
> 6. Go with the flow and rhythm of the spoken language
> wherever you can.
>
> The biggest problem most people will have with "it's"
will
> be the wonder about why the apostrophe is there....

Translation is sometimes given as a reason to avoid
contractions
(few common languages have a direct equivalent; people
new to
English are confused by it). This has never made sense
to me.
A translator who is stumped by "it's" or "don't" isn't
someone I
want to let loose on my user guide. There are a
thousand things
that are likely to trouble them more.

Translators who do understand simple English
contractions should
appreciate knowing the author's intention. Even if
there's no
direct equivalent to "it's" in the target language,
there are
no doubt different (less formal and more formal) ways
to translate
the thought. The translator might not choose to follow
the less
formal path in all cases--but at least they know what
the author
felt about it.

---
Stuart Burnfield
Information Developer
Australian Programming Centre

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