Technical Translation: Usability Strategies for Translating Technical Documentation

Technical documentation 
As its name suggests, technical documentation provides detailed technical 
information relating to the initiation, development and operational phases 
of the lifecycle of a software product. Such information can include func-
tional specifications, design specifications, development procedures as well 
as test plans and analyses. Technical documentation forms a written techni-
cal history of the product from its inception and provides information nec-
essary for the production of user guides, project plans and maintenance 
(Houghton-Alico 1985:6-8). 
Product documentation 
This type of documentation provides information relating to product speci-
fications, configuration and set-up details, end-user maintenance and so on 
(
ibid.
).
User documentation 
User documentation is intended to help its readers to use the software in 
question. In addition, user documentation provides information on other 
resources for users, explains procedures, defines concepts and generally fa-
miliarises the reader with the software and its use. User documentation in-
cludes among other things, user guides, online help systems, audio-visual 
training materials, materials for training courses etc. 
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Software Documentation
The Audience for Software Documentation 
The preceding paragraphs provide only a general overview of the types of 
software documentation. In fact there are numerous types of texts which 
are produced, each of which has its own particular readership. While we 
can roughly categorise the readers of technical publications according to the 
types of documentation listed above, it would be wise to provide an ex-
panded examination of the readership for technical publications. 
In general it is usually possible to divide readers of technical publications 
into “specialists” and “non-specialists”. While this may serve as a useful dis-
tinction (particularly in light of the document categories above) it is rather 
too simplified for practical use. The reason for this is that there are many 
different types of specialist and indeed non-specialist. A specialist may be a 
programmer who is intimately acquainted with the intricacies and internal 
workings of the software and how it was programmed. Conversely, a spe-
cialist may also be a person who does not know any programming lan-
guages but is nonetheless an advanced user of the software. Similarly, one 
person who is regarded as a non-specialist may have basic knowledge of 
computers and be fairly comfortable with the general operation of a PC 
while another non-specialist may have absolutely no understanding of 
computers and may not have even seen a PC before. 
Rather than invent a whole new nomenclature for the various people 
who read technical publications, it may be useful to look at the practical 
roles of users and their relationships with the software. White (1996:26) dis-
tinguishes between types of reader on such a basis. He proposes the follow-
ing categories: