“Ethical Implications of Intercultural Audiences” by: Lisa Heitzman

Summarized and Presented By:Tracy Nehus

Main Points Discussed

1. Understanding why cultural awareness needs to be implemented2. Understanding the myth of the universal standard3. Realizing that the English language is the global standard4. Striving for clarity within the English language5. Knowing about the rise in globalization6. Needing localization and proper translation7. Expanding the field 8. 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

Any Questions???

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