Cisco Networking Academy - Fundamentals of Web Design















7.2
Localization
and Translation



7.2.12
Avoiding
ambiguity




By its nature, the English
language can cause confusion for a global audience. Consider the
following guidelines to avoid ambiguity.
Disambiguate Strings of Modifiers 
Modifier strings are phrases with
two or more nouns or adjectives strung together. In such strings, it
is sometimes difficult to determine which word is modified by which
adjective and which nouns form a stand alone phrase. For example:


Cisco's new virtual private dialup network session counting
software...

A translator could interpret this sentence in at least two ways.

Cisco's new virtual private dialup counting software for network
sessions...
or
Cisco's software for a new virtual private dialup network session
counting...

Avoid modifier strings by breaking them into several smaller
phrases, limiting the number of adjectives to no more than three, or
by adding hyphens to clarify compounds. Hyphens indicate what words
form a combination, as in "user-friendly project-management
software."
A good fix for the above example is:

Cisco's new software for counting sessions of virtual private
dialup networks...

Avoid Words with Multiple Meanings 
Many words have multiple meanings. Eliminate ambiguities
whenever possible. The key linguistic principle is "one word =
one meaning." An example of a word with a multiple meaning is
"run." A person can run down the street. A software program
can be run from a remote location. A print run can consist of 500
copies of a book.
Beware of Words Ending in ING 
Verb forms ending in "ing"
that are used as nouns and verb forms ending in "ing" that
are used as adjectives are often difficult to distinguish. Consider
the following phrase:

Searching the database

This phrase could mean either "How to search the
database" or "A database search is in progress."
When using a gerund or participle, ensure that your meaning is
unambiguous. Look for possible misunderstandings and rewrite to avoid
them.
Avoid Ambiguous Conjunctions 
The conjunctions "and" and "or" can cause
confusion when it is unclear how much of the preceding text is being
joined together. See the examples below:

Ambiguous: No translation attempted between frame header bits and
ATM layer EFCI bits and DE bits.
Clear: No translation is attempted between the bits of the frame
header and the EFCI bits and DE bits in the ATM layer.

To avoid confusion, use parallel construction and break up long or
very complex sentences into simpler sentences.