Download “Ethical Implications of Intercultural Audiences” by: Lisa

“Ethical Implications of
Intercultural Audiences”
by: Lisa Heitzman
Summarized and Presented By:
Tracy Nehus
Main Points Discussed
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Understanding why cultural awareness needs to be implemented
Understanding the myth of the universal standard
Realizing that the English language is the global standard
Striving for clarity within the English language
Knowing about the rise in globalization
Needing localization and proper translation
Expanding the field
Recognizing the dangers of localization
Cultural Awareness
• Reasons for:
– Usability: readers in other countries need to be
able to use the documents that large companies
create.
– Workplace/Employee cooperation
– Marketing techniques: technical documents may
serve as a tool to assist selling a product
– Cultural Ethics: technical writing students need
to gain an awareness of how their writing reflects
social and cultural values
The Myth of the Universal Standard
• Diversity of the international audience’s needs:
– Visual documents rather than textual
– Be aware of potential connotations of the display
theme, graphic, or color choice(s)
(Ex. Ikea’s furniture assembly direction pamphlets showed more male
assemblers than women to appease their Muslim customers but
Norwegians saw sexism reflected from doing this.)
– Creating a universal standard without any cultural
connotations, even in visuals, is nearly impossible
to accomplish because too many differences exist
between cultures.
English Language/Cultural Preferences as
the Global Standard
• English is particularly the standard in the business
and scientific realms.
– (Ex. according the British Council: English is the main language
of books, newspapers, airports and air-traffic control,
international business and academic conferences, science,
technology, and diplomacy; and Over 2/3 of the world’s scientists read in
English.)
• The overall design of documents has been suited to
Western (American) standards.
– (Ex. Spatial arrangements, & linear layouts for text.)
The Need for the Use of the
Universal Standard
• “In order to adapt, these other communities
must compromise part of their own language
and culture to become like the universal
standard.”
• The universal language becomes so appealing
because it is a necessity to become successful.
Striving for Clarity
Plain Style: guidelines for clarity such as common words,
pronouns, active voice, and short sentences.
1. Recommends replacing words such as ‘accomplish’ and
‘utilize’ (Latin) with everyday words ‘like do’ and ‘use’
(Germanic).
2. Use phrasal verbs, or two-word verbs, such as ‘fill in’ and
‘put off’, which are idiomatic in nature.
These guidelines promote simplification of English texts so
they can be more easily read by nonnative speakers.
Rise of Globalization
“Because of the global marketplace and the
decline of English as a form of
standardization, technical communicators
need to be aware of and learn how to deal
with the cultural and linguistic differences
they are bound to face instead of assuming
that the universality of English is adequate for
our diverse readers.” (Heitzman)
Localization and Translation
• “Localization works by writing towards a specific discourse
community, in this case, a certain culture instead of a
universal standard.”
• Translation is used to implement the theory of localization
and to help cope with the diversity of an international
audience.
• Translation provides a solution to the diverse audience issue
as technical communicators can write to the translator as a
standard audience by:
– Carefully selecting word choices (Ex. avoid using metaphors)
– Providing translators with contextual information
– Chunking information
Expanding the Field
• Many authors suggest encouraging students to
engage in courses outside the field of technical
communication such as anthropology and
linguistics (Hoft).
• “Establishing a cross-discipline curriculum would
help in teaching our students some of the
differences they need to be aware of both
linguistically and culturally as they write to
international audiences.”
Dangers of Localization
• Generalization: excessive generalization can
lead to myth and stereotyping.
• Expensive/Time consuming for companies
to implement
Conclusion
• “The author wants technical writing courses to raise
awareness of the implications of intercultural
communication, and specifically, how to include a
translator as the target audience.”
• Technical writers need to learn “adaptability”
• A technical writer needs to learn when to implement these
“standards” and when to adjust them to fit a specific
situation.
• “Technical documents can be more than just user manuals;
they can make political statements about the relationship
between the technical communicator’s culture and the
culture of the audience.”
The End
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