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.
Kelly Walsh, Technical Writer Aerotech Inc.
Shumin is personable and easy to work with, so it was great to work together on aviation management related events during her tenure. She is a good communicator, and a consultative manager who would often involve others in problem solving, team building, and focuses her time on more important activities while providing proper recognition, which I am appreciative of.
Joyce Tay Senior Executive, Programme & Event Management at Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore
I am giving this training a 10/10. There was a good introductory and explanation to describe the 2-day training seminar. Rule 1.1 0 lets me use words that are: approved in the dictionary / technical names / technical verbs and is one rule I like very much because of its flexibility.
I think rule 1.1 is the most critical and important for STE dictionary. Sometimes I have to use non-approved words as an exception, but I will try to keep this rule 1.1 in my documents for good measure.
Although some of the exercises were tricky, they remind me of each rule application at that time. So they were practical for my role as a technical writer.
I want to recommend this course to current technical writers in Korea or engineers who are interested in writing their own documents effectively.
Seung Eun Lee, Technical Writer DB HiTek
Shumin gave us a an all-rounded presentation to Simplified Technical English. Personally, rule 1.3: To use only approved words with their approved meaning holds the key to successful controlled language implementation. Rules 3.4, 3.6, 4.1, 5.3, and 5.5 are also among my favourites. The approved verb TO MAKE SURE THAT can come in very handy for technical writers as well. The presentation of STE rules offers quite a detailed overview that includes not only language rules but good, old technical authoring principles in general. It has been very helpful for us to learn and understand the concept of STE. I have found Shumin to be very competent in STE and will defnitely recommend her course!
Eric, Head of Corporate Technical Documentation (CTD) Schindler
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.
Rick Wojcik Associate Technical Fellow, Boeing
Lufthansa Systems FlightNav Inc. Zürich recommends the professional and qualified ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English training provided by Dr. Frans Wijma from Shufra Consultancy
Juergen Kuhnhenn Head of Lido/RouteManual Standards bei Lufthansa Systems
The introduction to ASD-STE100 seemed very relaxed at first, but there is a lot of information. Also I had some knowledge of STE, so it was quite interesting to see the responses of other participants. When it come to writing short sentences in STE and verbs like "MAKE SURE", "OBEY", "SHOW" are STE preferences that I lean towards. I've appreciated the the exercises demonstrated flexibility and offered us an opportunity to discuss alternative solutions during this training. For someone who will be confronted with STE, I highly recommend Shumin and the services of Shufrans TechDocs.
LeAnne Platt Principal Technical Author, Schindler Management
A very important and highlighted point during the introduction is that STE is an English language specification that is not only applicable for companies in the aerospace & defence industry. Rule 5.2 where you only have one instruction per sentence is important to us. Not being able to use the verb "CHECK' that is only used as an approved STE noun poses a challenge to me all the time. I really appreciate the STE writing rules that give us the possibility to improve the consistency of our documents.
The workshop exercises were of high interest value and drive home the point that it is important to learn by doing. Although a time-consuming process, the writing workshop impressed on me that the need to prioritise the analysis of our internal documents.
Shumin is a competent trainer who does not only focus on explaining and enforcing the "writing rules", but is always available to understand and empathise with the training needs of the class.
Marco Valtangoli Corporate Technical Author, Schindler Management
This ASD-STE100 training course helped me better appreciate the objectives of Simplified Technical English from a technical writer's perspective. I like the fact that STE promotes the use of less complex sentence structures and does away with unnecessary words like: would, should, and might. The exercises in this course are certainly helped overcome my learning curve. STE should be the standard for any technical content written. Shumin comes across as a highly experienced STE trainer. I will recommend this STE training workshop to my colleagues!
Bert Riemens, Technical Author/ Document Management Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding
Shumin possesses an in-depth knowledge of the English language and of Simplified Technical English (STE). We covered a lot of ground in the area of STE within a short time!
Berry Jansen Senior Technical Author, Triview
