Technical Translation: Usability Strategies for Translating Technical Documentation

Examples of Introduced Partial Iconic Linkage 
The sentences shown in Table 7 provide examples of introduced partial 
iconic linkage. These examples differ from each other in terms of certain 
material facts, e.g. in each case a different button must be pressed or a dif-
ferent system state occurs. 

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Iconic Linkage as a Cognitive Strategy
Original Instance 
Betätigen Sie die PROG-Taste. 
Second Instance 
Drücken Sie nun die ENTER-Taste. 
Translation Press 
the 
XXXX button. 
(The two sentences are a XX% surface match) 
Original Instance 
Die Maschine bleibt im PROG-Modus. 
Second Instance 
Die Maschine befindet sich im Arbeits-Modus. 
Translation 
The machine is now in XXXX Mode. 
(The two sentences are a 67% surface match) 
Table 7: Examples of Introduced Iconic Linkage – Partial 
Iconic Linkage as a Cognitive Strategy 
As discussed earlier, principles are general goals or objectives which may 
give rise to several guidelines and local rules. So for example, the principle 
which states that a user’s STM capacity of 7±2 chunks of information 
should not be overburdened might give rise to guidelines to the effect that 
sentences should be kept short and contain simple and familiar words 
(which can be grouped into larger chunks of information, thereby reducing 
the number of chunks the reader has to retain).
However, these guidelines can also prove effective in implementing 
other, perhaps completely different principles. For instance, the idea of us-
ing simple and familiar words may also be used as a way of minimising us-
ers’ memory load because people find it easier to recall the meaning of 
words which are used frequently. Similarly, while keeping sentences short 
may reduce STM load, it can also reduce the possibility of the reader be-
coming distracted by some other stimulus. This idea is related to the princi-
ples of saying only what is necessary, presenting information in a logical 
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Usability Engineering 
way, and preventing errors by limiting the number of available options or 
choices. As Kellogg puts it 
…adopting cognitive strategies that circumvent attentional overload may 
be one key to optimum writing performance (Kellogg 1988:355-6) 
If we relate Iconic Linkage to the concept of principles, guidelines and 
rules, we can say that Iconic Linkage is a guideline which states “always 
present information which is repeated throughout a text using exactly the 
same formulation of words and structures”. This guideline itself draws on 
several principles such as consistency, reducing STM load etc., but gives rise 
to manifold rules which can consist of various efforts to regulate the ways in 
which information can be formulated and presented in a text.