Who doesn't write for translation?
Some technical writers resist the notion that they write for translation. The idea of being trained to write technically accurate instructions that translate readily into other languages is outside their ken. That's a mistake.
You don't have to be involved in the translation--or localization--process to be writing for translation. You may be writing for a company that outsources translation, or one that translates in-house. Even if your work isn't translated as part of your company's production and delivery process, your customers may be struggling to translate it for their use. Don't you want your brilliant prose to say the same thing in the target language? Or do you want it to read like the hilarious mistranslations we see so often in the U.S.?
Even if you write for the Web, is your work so insignificant that no one would ever translate it?
The dinner meeting presentation at STC Silicon Valley's monthly meeting--Thursday night, September 26, 2002, in Sunnvale--is "Better English for Better Translation." If you're in the vicinity, come on by and learn something useful.
5:18:14 PM 
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