Connecting to the audience: strategies for teaching students to write for translation

Technical communicators need to be prepared for the challenges of international communication. This article focuses on the need for technical communication faculty to prepare students to be skilled intercultural communicators and to play a role on the translation team. The article begins with a discussion of the importance of writing for translation in the international workplace and then presents specific assignments designed to instruct students in intercultural communication and give them experience writing for translation. In addition to introducing students to the cultural issues that impact the creation of documentation for international audiences, these assignments also serve to reinforce core skills recognized as vital to professional success in the field of technical communication. Taken together these assignments can be used as the basis for a course in international technical communication.