View from the Other Side:
Life, the Universe, and Languages

by Nancy Halverson, Feature Writer

When things move slowly, they're really slow, but when things move quickly, it's always at a blistering pace.

Work life

I'm still trying to put my XML system together at work. Product work keeps getting in the way. I asked my boss for an entire week to devote to implementing my Structured FrameMaker EDD and my XML based single-source solution—on Monday he agreed with me that it was the right time to do it and I should put all other things on hold until I get it all set up. Tuesday he tells me that he needs a particular tutorial for a product that had been in perennial beta up to full release scratch. And there went my plan for the week.

So, tomorrow, I'm still going to be fighting with either FrameMaker or Word to put this tutorial to bed, and still battling with priorities to get my time to solve all the little niggles in my Structured single-source doc.

Sorry, that sounds like it should be titled 'Ode to the Lone Writer'...

Family life

The fast pace in my life (as always) is my family life. We're still getting used to having just the one kid at home now—our oldest daughter has begun her long-term French exchange. It's been very difficult for her, she's very emotional and sensitive and all we can hear (through the tears) when we talk to her on the phone is how much she misses 'home'. We're assured from everyone who's gone through these exchanges that she'll turn it around soon. She's speaking French and learning more and more every day.

This weekend we were lucky enough to go to Stratford-on-Avon for a meeting with the group of families who arrange these exchanges. We met lots of kids who've participated in the exchanges (they can do French or German exchanges - an many do both!). They all said that it was the best thing they've ever done in their lives, and were all very enthusiastic about helping Maddie. Their parents were also very helpful—they all assured us that the kids come home more confident, more appreciative of what they've got and what they've done, and most become better students. It's a remarkable group of people, and I'm so glad that we've been able to find them and take advantage of this unique opportunity.

Oh, the languages

Of course, most other parents that we know think that we're mad to send our kids off for six months to another family, in another country, to learn another language. But the ALLEF parents (Association For Learning Languages En Famille) have seen the results. And, in true English fashion, the parents all listened enthusiastically to many of the kids playing their musical instruments for us—language seems to come easily to these children, and music is just another one of their languages. The entertainment included a violin trio (well, almost) and a few solo violin performances (including our daughter Hilary performing Three Blind Mice—almost well), to a mother-assisted piano solo/duet and an eight-year-old vocalist leading a rock-quartet on 'Hard Day's Night'. It's sometimes amazing how not-shy some kids are...

The whole idea of language acquisition and fostering has been playing on my mind lately I must admit. In my daily work, I'm writing with consistency to avoid mis-interpretation on the part of translators and non-native English speakers. Of course, my audience is not the consumer audience, but a technical audience with a high degree of computer literacy. But I still wonder how easy it is for the non-native English speakers to get the language skills required to follow any computer help. This is obviously why illustrations are so necessary—and why it takes a great deal of skill and patience to localize any computer software.

Face it, as English speakers, we have it very easy. We can pretty well go anywhere in the world and someone will know a few words of our language. How many other languages would be able to say the same thing? And to truly know a language, you actually need to spend time in the culture of that language—you can't learn most of this stuff from a book. No one can tell you the nuances and subtleties of various idioms (which is why we don't use them, right?). But, we do use idioms—we use metaphors in the design of software. How easily can these be translated ito another language?

Hallowe'en?

We've just had our 'Hallowe'en' festivities for the year (I'm writing this on the 30th of October). A few families in our neighbourhood put the kids together for a party - bobbing for apples, carving pumpkins - that kind of thing. Then they all went out for some trick-or-treating, but only to two households who had agreed in advance to provide for them. You see, Hallowe'en isn't done here much—I'm not sure exactly why, although I know that the Church of England frowns on it (or at least, the local churches do). So it means us foreigners and other 'outsiders' must band together and bring some fun to the kids. We had Korean, Burmese, Scottish (yes, they consider themselves foreign sometimes—at least 'outsiders' in England) Hungarian and an oddball English family, traipsing through the blustery wind together. They all carried their just-carved Jack-o'-lanterns (with candles?!) for light, since they had to come down a very spooky, completely unlit 'snicket' (which is just a path between streets which runs behind a bunch of houses). And then this whole troup knocked on my door and all sang a song, before I handed out the candy. It's not what we're used to, but it was a great little festivity and the kids all had a wonderful time.

The Weather

It's now getting colder, and of course the leaves are all falling—some are quite colourful, but many are just kinda dead. The days are grey on grey, with small bursts of sunshine which blind everyone and send me scurrying for my sunglasses. I'm not looking forward to the dark days of winter—the rain and the wind make me feel like I live on a big ship in the mid-Atlantic. But, we all live through it, and I'm confident that I'll make it through to the springtime again. And at least the pansies usually flower most of the winter, so there's that for colour anyway!!

Next month I'll have a review of our first major STC event of this year (which I'm organizing - with a lot of help). You can read about it on our STC UK website (www.stcuk.org).

About Nancy Halverson

Nancy grew up in Toronto, but has lived in Ottawa, Melbourne, Waterloo, and now Sheffield. She has travelled through the South Pacific, Australia and Indonesia, which is where she met her husband, Ryan Wilson (another Canadian), along the way.

A career switch introduced her to the STC in 1997. Her writing experience has included several contract positions and a position at Inscriber for several years. She has two daughters and has been living in England for over two years.