As advisor to her ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English on-the job-training, Shumin adopts a very structured approach to learning. She observes, absorbs and analyses to come up with relevant and insightful questions as well as ideas regarding the subject matter and improved ASD-STE100 training methods. Shumin is a very driven and highly intelligent professional who works very well either independently or as part of a team. She has strong analytical skills and expresses herself very well both verbally and in writing. Her sense of responsibility and passion about achieving the set objectives while meeting and exceeding clients' expectations is very inspiring and is a great asset to the company and its customers alike.

The introduction provided a well-rounded history of ASD-STE, the types of industries that use it, and how they use it. I now have a better understanding of what ASD-STE is and how our company should be using it. My favorite writing rule is Rule 1.3 (Use approved words only with their approved meanings.) This rule is the heart of STE. It makes consistency, clarity, and comprehension ubiquitous across all documents regardless of who writes them. It is the main rule that unifies writers with one voice. My favorite STE verbs are Apply, Attach, Make Sure, and Show. The verb Apply has multiple use cases for our documents. The verb Attach is a great utility verb because common alternatives like “mount” are not approved. The verb “make sure” is extremely helpful in cautions and warnings, also in some procedural steps. Finally, the verb “show” is extremely helpful when I write about background processes and how things work in general. The presentation on rules clarified a lot of things of which I was unaware. I have a much better understanding of how to format lists with colons, when to use obey vs. comply, and the differences between notes, cautions, and warnings. Moving forward, I will be able to utilize the ASD-STE rules more effectively to write better documents. I appreciated the exercises because they helped me immediately practice and enforce the ASD-STE rules. I like the fact that they were timed. Writing under time-constraints forced me to think quickly and fully concentrate on my writing. I will definitely recommend this training to writers of many fields, especially technical fields. The material, presentation, and instructor are fantastic. I learned a lot about ASD-STE. Even though I’ve been using this writing convention for almost eight years, formal training brought much clarity and comprehension that I had not previously realized. I now know that an aptitude for writing and a copy of the STE rules is a good start, but not enough. This course takes your understanding to a professional level.

The presentation on rules clarified a lot of things of which I was unaware. I have a much better understanding of how to format lists with colons, when to use obey vs. comply, and the differences between notes, cautions, and warnings. Moving forward, I will be able to utilize the ASD-STE rules more effectively to write better documents. I appreciated the exercises completed in this workshop because they helped me immediately practice and enforce the ASD-STE rules. I like the fact that they were timed. Writing under time-constraints forced me to think quickly and fully concentrate on my writing. I will definitely recommend this training to writers of many fields, especially technical fields. The material, presentation, and instructor are fantastic. I learned a lot about ASD-STE. Even though I’ve been using this writing convention for almost eight years, formal training brought much clarity and comprehension that I had not previously realized. I now know that an aptitude for writing and a copy of the STE rules is a good start, but not enough. This course takes your understanding to a professional level!

The course intro was helpful. Shumin used examples, videos, and asked us questions to introduce the material. Knowing that the subject matter could be dry, she tried to counteract that by varying the presentation. The information itself was useful for what we did later in the course. My favourite rules are the word count rules. That sounds lame, but I tend to write too long of sentences that don’t get to the point. The exercises were really helpful in demonstrating the rules that we had talked about / gone over. I got the most out of doing the exercises and working on the examples that we submitted. I would definitely recommend the course to someone considering or currently using STE. Shumin catered the course to our needs and familiarity level. She was very knowledgeable and was happy to help us through trouble spots and answer our questions.

Shumin gave a two-day ASD-STE100 training to standardize and improve the language used by technical authoring personnel. I learnt a great deal in terms of advantageous STE writing rules for the authoring of technical manuals. Thank you once again for the excellent training!

The ASD-STE100 workshop conducted by Shufrans TechDocs made for a very good introduction to STE for new as well as intermediate users of the STE writing standard. The presentation on rules was very clear and I liked the emphasis on the fact that the rules are weighted and how one can use them flexibly. The exercises completed during this training were good and provided real world examples in technical writing in a practical way. I'd very likely recommend this course to someone else. This course is a must for any new technical writers or technical publication employees.

The introduction was a good and concise way to familiarize yourself with STE basics. I’ve a background in plain language, so for example the rule on noun clusters makes perfect sense. I’m all about simplification, so substituting verbs like “eliminate” for verbs like “remove” or “stop” will be my new quest. The STE exercises were helpful in getting to grasp with STE during the training workshop. I'd very likely recommend this course to anyone planning to introduce STE as it’s got a great practical angle.

The information presented was clear and succinct. Exercises provided helped me understand and grasp the concept of Simplified English from the very beginning of the training. A 10/10 rating from me. When it comes to rules about Simplified English writing, I very much like the use of active voice, having a list of approved verbs as a useful resource, and the encouraged use of pronouns (you, we, it, them). To me, clear rules are the bedrock of consistent text and document creation. I've found the STE exercises very useful since the examples in them are well focussed and cover issues we encounter in our daily work.  Overall, I have found this training workshop to be well-structured, Shumin came well prepared, was well organised, clear & an easy speaker to follow. Thank you for the great training!

I have worked with Frans for a number of years now, first as a collaborator and later, alas, as a competitor. I have no hesitation in recommending him for his abilities as a linguist, polyglot, and technical innovator. In addition, he is an accomplished speaker, and a great salesman for his products. As someone who works closely with the ASD Simplified Technical English writing standard, I have been impressed with the breadth and depth of his knowledge of that subject. He is a world leader in the implementation of Controlled Language processes. So I am very happy to endorse him.