If you’re referring to Shakespeare then yes, I didn’t care for Olde Englishe either. Plus, plays aren’t meant for reading, they’re meant to be seen as performances. It’s like reading sheet music for fun.
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Beowulf comes to mind as a nightmare and Canterbury Tales not far behind. I know they are important works but I’d rather read a repair manual instead.
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As long as we are so off course, thank goodness the auto manuals are not written in cursive and old english! Putteth thine key appropriately into the receptacle and turneth forward to ressusiitate the the motor, then engageth thy clutch moveth the shift and slowly releasith thy clutch pedal until forward motion is achieved. If thou desire faster speeds thou mus depress the clutch petal and moveth the gear shifter to the next desirable position, then slowly let thy foot off the pedal to the left of the brake.
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@Barkydog. Well, your version certainly is more understandable than most instruction manuals I’ve come across whether for some product I’ve bought or a work manual! Of course, it helps if whoever writes the instructions actually knows how to do what is being documented and that whoever is translating into a different language has reasonable fluency in both the original language and the translated into language.
At every job I’ve had I have built my own set of procedural documentation for reference just to have clear, accurate, sensible instructions to have on hand. Several times management had me turn it into a training manual.
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I think you should change careers and become a technical writer. Just remember, lots of pictures.
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In the 60’s, a lot of Japanese motorcycle owner’s manuals were obviously written by people who’s first language wasn’t English.
One classic gem was “avoid riding in the grease mud in the center of the lane for there lies the skid demon”.
The Japanese language has around a hundred different synonyms for “honorable” and not a single word for privacy or so I hear. I’m surprised they didn’t write “honorable skid demon”.