March Meeting Review: Going Global or
Going Native? GILT edged, or guilty…

by Jim Korth, PR Committee member

During your visit to the Republic of Ireland, you referred to the country as one of the British Isles. When you visited the home of a Japanese client, you kept your shoes on after entering. Visitors from China seemed to oddly take notice when you left your chopsticks upright in a bowl of rice. In each instance you made a cultural blunder.

Staying aware of cultural norms of other peoples and keeping your geographic facts straight is very important in the age of globalization. When creating documentation for non-American audiences, we must be sensitive to our differences with other cultures. Mark Clifford, speaker at the LSC March 13th meeting, delivered an amusing and informative program that illustrated the importance of maintaining this sensitivity.

Mark is the incoming president of the Society for Technical Communication and has years of experience adapting documentation to several cultures at the same time. Early in his career, Mark worked for a large aerospace manufacturer. Correct writing and translation of manuals for jet aircraft maintenance professionals is of critical importance when the technicians speak a variety of languages.

Mark outlined four important elements of getting cross-border technical documentation right by using the acronym GILT, which stands for:

Mark noted that the average reading level of a population differs greatly from one country to another. Product documentation authors write for one level, but translators must then translate for many levels. Getting things right at the outset with the right translation vendor for a project’s needs is critical. The original documentation authors and the translation vendors must understand all parties’ expectations clearly from the beginning or risk a very expensive disaster.

Because of the proliferation of collaboration tools and the Internet, documentation writers no longer control content as they did previously. Every constituency within a company can find a way to get their hands on the material and wants to have their say. After documentation writers lose control of the process, it cannot be recovered. The complexities and nuances of documentation for other cultures make this problem even more difficult.

Mark recommends using a limited vocabulary when writing documentation that will be translated into other languages. He recommends using very few words and using each word in one way only. Only short words should be used, and emphasis should be on the use of simple words whose meanings are not easily confused. At the aircraft manufacturer, these practices were mandatory when documenting engine maintenance procedures.

Mark wisely advised that we all recognize that our world is changing. He urged us to learn about GILT and how these important subjects affect our work and our lives. Be part of the change. Vive la différence!