Translating Computer Jargon
Roy Osherove makes some good points about computing
with people who don’t speak English. This seems to be the same situation
when giving computer presentations to audiences in China. I’ve only ever
presented in English, but I know a number of native speakers who have presented in
Chinese and ended up having their terminology periodically corrected by people in
the audience, even after exhaustive research and practice. And like Roy says,
the terms change from year to year and city to city, and rarely have an obvious translation
back to English. This is one of the reasons that Indian software companies have
an easier time outsourcing to the U.S.; English is the universal language of education
India, while few in China have much experience with English.