Field Convergence between Technical Writers and Technical Translators: Consequences for Training Institutions

Managing Complexity: A Technical Communication Translation Case Study in Multilateral International Collaboration

“…This article brings attention to collaborative projects in which students of technical writing and translation learn to manage complexity in cross-cultural virtual teams (CCVTs), with an eye to the workplace complexity that they need to manage as professional communicators. A central issue with which organizations need to contend is cultural differences, for example, as a result of increasingly diverse and multicultural workforces (Doney, Cannon, & Mullen, 1998;Kittler, Rygl, & Mackinnon, 2011) but also work in virtual communicative environments (Gnecchi, Maylath, Mousten, Scarpa, & Vandepitte, 2011;Humbley, Maylath, Mousten, Vandepitte, & Veisblat, 2005;. In business and industry, globalization has led to mounting concern about how to manage complexity (Gottfredson & Rigby, 2009;Helbing, 2010;Lissack & Gunz, 1999; van Marrewijk & Hardjono, 2003).…”

“…They are daily challenged to organize themselves intelligently as they strive to manage the complexity of documents that must appear simultaneously in 40 or more languages, many with their own distinct varieties and cultures demanding separate localization (e.g., French for both France and Canada, Portuguese for both Portugal and Brazil). Managing complexity has grown more challenging as technical communicators and translators have increasingly taken on and merged each other's previously exclusive roles and functions (Gnecchi et al, 2011;Minacori & Veisblat, 2010).…”

Developing Strategies for Success in a Cross-Disciplinary Global Virtual Team Project: Collaboration Among Student Writers and Translators

“…Communication. In some teams, writers and translators collaborated from the very start of the project, as recommended by Gnecchi et al (2011). The following quotes describe the nature of this collaboration:…”

“…Such a distinct division between the two processes may not encourage collaboration throughout the project. Gnecchi et al (2011) recommend assimilating translation into all the stages of the writing process. We may need to consider structuring the task to encourage more interaction and minimize the possibility of students only participating during one phase.…”

Translating technical texts

“…Examples of shared competences can be seen in discussions of how controlled languages are used in technical communication and translation (O'Brien 2019; Musacchio 2019) or how usability testing (e.g., Quesenbery 2003; Alexander 2013) has been applied to technical translation (Byrne 2006). In addition, scholars (Risku 2004;Gnecchi et al 2011;Vandepitte et al 2016) address the convergence of technical communication and technical translation in professional training.…”