|
Grammar
rules are different for each language. Therefore, the rules for
controlled languages differ from
language to language. In other words:
There can be no rules that have
optimal results for all languages. But
the following rules will reduce
ambiguities in most texts in many
languages. Texts
without ambiguities are ideal for machine
translation.
These
controlled language rules are examples
of the rules in the
|CLOUT™
rule set. |CLOUT
is an acronym for
|Controlled
|Language
|Optimized
|for
|Uniform
|Translation.
The |CLOUT™
rule set was developed by Uwe Muegge.
Controlled Language Rule 1:
Write sentences that are
shorter than 25 words.
Write:
The author
performs the following tasks:
-
Collect the
necessary information.
-
Analyze and
evaluate the information.
-
Write a
structured draft.
Do not write:
Authors will
approach any writing project by collecting the
necessary information first, and after carefully
analyzing and evaluating it, they will create a
structured draft.
Controlled Language Rule 2:
Write sentences that
express only one idea.
Write:
Authors who
optimize their texts for easy comprehension
facilitate the translation process. These texts
enable machine translation
systems to produce better translation results.
Do
not write:
By optimizing
their texts for easy comprehension, authors
facilitate the translation process, and doing so
enables machine translation
systems to create better translation results.
Controlled Language
Rule 3:
Write the
same sentence if you want to express the same
content.
Write:
Printer
Installation.
1) Remove the
printer from the carton.
2) Remove the
plastic wrapping.
...
Scanner
Installation.
1) Remove the
scanner from the carton.
2) Remove the
plastic wrapping.
Do not
write:
Instructions
for installing the printer.
After
unpacking the printer from the shipping carton, take
the printer out of the plastic bag.
...
How to
install your scanner.
1) Lift the
scanner from the shipping box.
2) Discard
all packaging material.
Controlled
language rule 4:
Write sentences that are grammatically complete.
Write:
Do you wish
to continue the installation of the software?
Do not
write:
Continue
installing software?
Controlled language rule
5:
Write
sentences that have a simple grammatical structure.
Write:
Show that you can organize your thoughts
by using a simple sentence structure in your
texts.
Do not
write:
You, in your texts, to show that you can organize
your thoughts, should use a simple sentence
structure.
Controlled
language rule 6:
Write sentences in the active form.
Write:
The program
manager will send a summary of all questions to the
responsible coworkers.
Do not write:
A summary of
questions will be sent to the responsible
individuals.
Controlled
language rule 7:
Write sentences that repeat the noun instead of
using a pronoun.
Write:
You must
check the spelling of your text before you publish
your text.
Do not write:
You must
check the spelling of your text before publishing
it.
Controlled language rule
8:
Write
sentences that use articles to identify nouns.
Write:
Test the
installation.
Do not
write:
Test
installation.
Controlled language rule
9:
Write
sentences that use words from a general dictionary.
Write:
Avoid
ambiguity.
Do not
write:
Eschew
obfuscation.
Controlled language rule
10:
Write
sentences that use only words with correct spelling.
Write:
Texts that contain spelling
errors
complicate the translation process.
Do not write:
Texts that contein speling misstakes
complicate the translation procces.
|
.
Controlled languages enable authors to write texts
that are easily comprehensible. It is an
undeniable fact: Texts that are easily
comprehensible are also easily translatable. All
translation processes have much better results if
authors write the source texts in a controlled
language.