Technical Translation: Usability Strategies for Translating Technical Documentation

Lensear Score =
No. of monosyllabic words + (3 x no. of sentences) 
Total Words 
x 100 
Fog Index = (Average Sentence Length + Percentage of Hard Words) x 0.4 
93
Like the Fog Index, Fry s Readability Graph expresses readability in 
,

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Technical Communication 
Usability 
Another approach to determining the effectiveness of a user guide is to es-
tablish how effective it is in achieving its purpose and how easy it is to use. 
In contrast to readability assessment methods which examine linguistic and 
technical features from the point of view of the text, usability introduces a 
new element into the equation, i.e. users. Usability assessment evaluates lin-
guistic and technical features such as those described in previous sections 
and assesses the sum total of all of their contributions from the point of 
view of the user. Instead of considering only the readability of text or 
whether the style is appropriate, usability is concerned with the ease with 
which users (readers) can access and assimilate information and then use it 
to complete their intended tasks, i.e. use the software. 
A simple way of testing the usability of a user guide is to gather a group 
of people who reflect the actual audience for the user guide and have this 
group use the software on the basis of the user guide. The purpose here is 
to see where the readers succeed and where they go wrong, where they 
have difficulties and where they need more help. Usability testing of this 
type (as defined in technical writing literature) tests the user guide for logic 
gaps and inadequate clarity. It determines whether readers can actually use 
the user guide effectively and efficiently and whether users actually learn 
from it.
Usability is a central element of what is known as Human-Computer
Interaction (HCI). This area is concerned with examining the interactions 
between humans and computer systems (e.g. software). The description of 
us ability provided in the preceding paragraphs is admittedly rather simplified 
and rudimentary. In order to fully understand usability, it is necessary to 
understand the primary component of these interactions, i.e. humans. In 
the following chapter we will examine usability from the point of view of 
users and discover the mechanisms that must be understood and accommo-
dated to ensure usability.