Simplified Technical English Checker

Simplified Technical English (STE) is a controlled language. The vocabulary and sentence structures are restricted.

The STE dictionary allows only about 800 English words. Additionally, there is a negative list of words that are not allowed.

More than 50 writing rules specify how sentences should be formulated. The permissible grammatical structures are restricted by the writing rules, reducing the variety of sentence structures. STE also requires that texts be written in American English (sub-language EN-US).

Target Audience

STE aims to ensure that texts are understood by as many people as possible. The target audience includes non-native speakers or people who do not speak English very well.

Checking Simplified Technical English with Congree

The Congree Language Check covers the rules from the ASD-STE100 specification. Forbidden words, known as unapproved words, are flagged. Approved variants, known as approved words, are suggested.

The list of allowed words can be expanded with built-in tools. In the so-called terminology database, your company’s specific technical vocabulary is stored. These company-specific words, known as technical nouns, are automatically considered by the Language Check. Additional entries for inflected forms are not required for regular English words.

The Congree STE Checker Replaces Proofreading and Training

Continuous feedback from software helps editors apply the STE standard confidently. If the software has told you for the third time that “to take off the cover” is better written as “to remove the cover,” you have learned it.

The STE check can be applied while writing or afterward as proofreading. The check profiles are configurable. Thus, stricter checks can be applied in a subsequent proofreading.

Through the configuration interface, application administrators centrally control which technical nouns are allowed or forbidden. They can also decide which rules of the STE standard they want to check. Multiple rule configurations are possible, even depending on the editor and user groups.

The STE check rules are part of the English Language Check. You can combine STE rules with other standard check rules.

• Define technical nouns
• Select STE standards
• Combine check rules
• Adapt depending on the editor
• Organize based on user groups

Simplified Technical English is often used in structured documents. Congree integrates directly into XML editors, such as PTC Arbortext or XMetaL Author. The way the DTD is interpreted can be customized using the so-called paragraph recognition. Thus, it does not matter whether S1000D, DITA, or a customer-specific DTD or XML schema is used.

But even in cases where writing is done simply in Word or other unstructured document formats, the Congree STE check can be used in all available editor integrations.