Technical Translation: Usability Strategies for Translating Technical Documentation

Usability Objectives 
Faulkner (1998:130-131) maintains that to ensure that a system is as usable 
as possible, there are three fundamental goals which need to be achieved: 
learnability
, 
throughput
and 
user satisfaction
. 
Learnability 
Learnability refers to the time required to learn the system or to reach a 
specific skill or performance level. This objective can be quantified by ex-
amining the frequency of errors, the type of errors made etc. Dix 
(1998:162) expands this category by including the sub-headings of 
predict-
ability
, 
familiarity
, 
generalisability
and 
consistency
. Familiarity refers to the 
way information presented relates to users’ existing knowledge which they 
bring with them to the learning process. Generalisability relates to the abil-
ity of users to use the information learned in other situations. 
Throughput 
Throughput
refers to the ease and efficiency of use after an initial learning 
period. This is quantified by examining the time needed by users to per-
form tasks, their success rates when performing tasks, the time spent look-
ing for help etc. 
User satisfaction
User satisfaction
is a subjective goal but it can give an overall picture of 
how well the system performs in the eyes of users. This can be quantified 
by asking users to fill out a questionnaire rating aspects of the systems per-
formance etc., for example on a scale from (1) very bad to (5) very good. 
Schneiderman (1998:15) adds an additional goal which he terms 
retention 
over time
. This is particularly relevant to user guides in that their purpose is 
to teach users and facilitate their use of the system. Retention relates to 
how well users maintain their knowledge over time as well as the time 
needed for learning and frequency of use. 
Quesenbery (2001) provides a similar taxonomy of usability characteris-
tics which she terms the “
5 Es
”. For a system to be regarded as usable it 
must be: 
1. effective 
2. efficient 
3. engaging 
4. error tolerant 
5. easy to learn 
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Cognetics