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Cross-cultural considerations in instructional documentation: contrasting Chinese and U.S. home heater manuals

Published: 22 October 2007 Publication History

Abstract

Technical communicators need to develop certain skills to succeed in intercultural interactions. Drawing on the literature of intercultural and professional communication, this article presents a case study that examines the design features and analyzes the differences of home heater manuals from China and the U.S. By discussing the possible cultural influences, the article exemplifies a cross-cultural approach in teaching international technical communication and in creating instructional documentation across cultures.

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Cited By

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  • (2019)Chinese Technical Communicators' Opinions on Cultural Differences between Chinese and Western User Manuals2019 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference (ProComm)10.1109/ProComm.2019.00011(30-36)Online publication date: Jul-2019
  • (2019)Subversive LocalizationUser Localization Strategies in the Face of Technological Breakdown10.1007/978-3-030-26399-7_7(145-184)Online publication date: 21-Aug-2019
  • (2018)Entertaining or Functional: An Analysis of Visuals in Chinese and Western Household Appliance Manuals2018 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference (ProComm)10.1109/ProComm.2018.00029(90-97)Online publication date: Jul-2018
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    cover image ACM Conferences
    SIGDOC '07: Proceedings of the 25th annual ACM international conference on Design of communication
    October 2007
    286 pages
    ISBN:9781595935885
    DOI:10.1145/1297144
    • General Chair:
    • David Novick,
    • Program Chair:
    • Clay Spinuzzi
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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    Publication History

    Published: 22 October 2007

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    Author Tags

    1. awareness approach
    2. cultural values
    3. instructions and procedures
    4. intercultural technical communication

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    View all
    • (2019)Chinese Technical Communicators' Opinions on Cultural Differences between Chinese and Western User Manuals2019 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference (ProComm)10.1109/ProComm.2019.00011(30-36)Online publication date: Jul-2019
    • (2019)Subversive LocalizationUser Localization Strategies in the Face of Technological Breakdown10.1007/978-3-030-26399-7_7(145-184)Online publication date: 21-Aug-2019
    • (2018)Entertaining or Functional: An Analysis of Visuals in Chinese and Western Household Appliance Manuals2018 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference (ProComm)10.1109/ProComm.2018.00029(90-97)Online publication date: Jul-2018
    • (2012)Teaching Intercultural Rhetoric and Professional CommunicationIntercultural Rhetoric and Professional Communication10.4018/978-1-61350-450-5.ch012(343-378)Online publication date: 2012
    • (2012)Writing Instructions and How-to-do Manuals across CulturesIntercultural Rhetoric and Professional Communication10.4018/978-1-61350-450-5.ch010(283-317)Online publication date: 2012
    • (2010)Pragmatic analysis of progress reports: Through a case study of communications between local and head offices of a UK university2010 2nd International Conference on Future Computer and Communication10.1109/ICFCC.2010.5497666(V3-20-V3-25)Online publication date: May-2010

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