[Please customize according to your forum by replacing everything between square brackets, delete these instructions, then publish on your forum Web site] ** WRITING A MESSAGE IN VIEW OF MACHINE TRANSLATION ** ooo - Abstract: With the help of machine-translation software, we are able to translate, albeit far from perfectly, all of your messages into [...]. We edit the translation only to make sure there is no mistranslation. Use of this software requires, when you write your message, a few rather rigid writing guidelines that are worth complying with, since the idea is to also communicate with persons who do not have the same cultural and linguistic references. - ooo To facilitate communication among participants speaking different languages at least cost and time, we use machine-translation software to translate your messages. You are given the translation almost "raw", that is, as it is produced by the software. The result is edited only for mistranslation. In other words, * the translation is far from perfect *. - It will be up to you to try to understand what the message says. If there is some part of the message you are not sure you understand, you can copy the corresponding sentences that seem unintelligible or too ambiguous, and ask its author to reformulate them in a more straightforward way, or more simply. - Therefore, please write your messages in such a way as to obtain the best machine translation possible. Following is a set of guidelines to make your message as "translatable" as possible. - Check your messages for spelling and grammar. A spelling mistake will result in a mistranslation or the non translation of a word. A grammatical error will make it more difficult for the program to identify the function of all words in a given sentence. Use your spellchecker! - The translation engine is designed for texts that are correctly punctuated. Punctuation marks, such as commas and full stops, help the program to identify sentence and clause boundaries. A full stop should therefore be placed at the end of each sentence. The symbols /, *, _ and - should not be contiguous with words. Add a space to separate them. For instance, change male/female to male / female. - A sentence should always start with a capital letter; a sentence typed entirely in upper case may cause translation problems. - Divide lengthy and complex sentences into shorter sentences. In particular, avoid using parentheses and dashes to set phrases apart. Also avoid using inverted commas, if you can. - Whenever possible, avoid using passive structures, for example: (OT: Original Text PT: Preferred Text) OT: A copy of the report will be sent to all the members. PT: We will send a copy of the report to all the members. - Avoid idiomatic expressions: OT: It happens once in a blue moon. PT: It rarely happens. - Include optional words that clarify the function of other words in the sentence, such as "that" or "whom" in the examples below: OT: The book I bought was very interesting. PT: The book that I bought was very interesting. OT: The man I wanted to see was on vacation. PT: The man whom I wanted to see was on vacation. - Similarly, if the subject of a sentence refers to more than one verb and is separated from the second / third verb by a number of words, you should repeat the subject in front of each verb, like this: OT: They visited our warehouse yesterday and bought several products. PT: They visited our warehouse yesterday and they bought several products. - Finally, the machine translation program we use is produced by an American company and only recognizes words written with U.S. spelling. If it is not a problem for you to use U.S. spelling ... please do. Thank you for making such an effort to communicate. It's the first step to understanding, on this forum, among persons from different cultures using different languages! Don't forget to print this and to read it over again every once in a while. ------------------------------------------------------ [name of forum] FORUM Web site: http: [...] E-mail: [...] [Tel: 00 ...] [Fax: 00 ...] - to unsubscribe, for new subscriptions, or for additional information, send a message to that effect to []