1. international technical
co
m
municat
ion
Technical com-
municators work
in every part of
the globe, from
the Arctic to the
tropics to the Antarctic. What is
the industry like in different
countries? What are the unique
challenges and opportunities of
doing business in a partic-
ular nation or
region?
The following
three articles pro-
vide peeks into the
work of technical
communication in
two European coun-
tries and the state of
technical communica-
tion education in Asia.
Kirk R. St. Amant looks
at Ukraine from the
point of view of an out-
sider, while Birgitta
Möller and Xiaoli Li write
about Sweden and Asia as
natives.
Is there a country you’d
like to read about in Inter-
com—perhaps a market your
company would like to
explore? Please let us know at
intercom@stc.org.
Looking
AbroadSPECIAL SECTION
May 2002 13
3. What’s it like to
work as a techni-
cal communica-
tor in Sweden?
Well, the condi-
tions are great! Swedes are a scientifical-
ly curious people with a strong talent for
invention. In fact, Sweden invests more
in research and development than any
other country (4 percent of its gross
national product) and is ranked third in
the world in terms of the number of
patents in force per capita. Our profes-
sion has a long tradition here—the
Swedish Society on Technical Commun-
ication (www.fti.org.se) was founded in
1964, which makes it the fourth oldest
society of its kind in the world. And
Swedish companies have been focused
on international markets for over fifty
years, so globalization is nothing new to
us.
That said, things aren’t quite as good
in Sweden as they were two years ago.
Naturally this affects our profession as
well. In the fall of 2000 the “IT bubble”
burst in Sweden, just as it did in the rest
of the world. Companies are now cutting
costs and looking for ways of picking up
speed.
Perhaps learning about the work of
technical communicators in Sweden will
give you ideas that you can use at your
job. Or perhaps you’ll just find it inter-
esting to read about peers in our nation.
Swedes and Technology
Swedes have a long tradition of being
at the forefront of high tech. Despite
Sweden’s small population, the country
has long produced world-famous high-
tech products, from the STDMA data-link
navigation system all the way up to fighter
aircraft.
Sweden has always been open to new
influences and is often used as a test mar-
ket for new products and technologies.
After Finland, Sweden has more mobile
phones per capita than any other coun-
try, and the nation was quick to adopt
other personal digital appliances.
Infrastructure
Sweden is a large and elongated coun-
try. (It is 10 percent larger than Califor-
nia.) The small population and widely
dispersed natural resources have always
required heavy investment in efficient
infrastructure: railways, roads, shipping,
harbors, telecommunication, power dis-
tribution, air transport, and most
recently, broadband. Early on, Sweden’s
logistical infrastructure was highly
sophisticated and reliable. The small
home market forced its industry to look
abroad for expansion. The major
exports (iron ore, copper, steel, lumber)
all required efficient heavy transport,
which in turn led to the creation of
global shipping companies, shipbuild-
ing, and local production of trucks by
the companies Volvo and Scania. World-
wide operations also demanded modern
telecommunication.
Swedish governments have tradition-
ally made major infrastructure invest-
ments with a long-term view. For
example, a major new government pro-
ject will bring broadband to most parts of
the nation.
Politics and Income Distribution
For the past sixty years, the Swedish
Social Democratic Party has dominated
the political scene in Sweden. Its long
tenures in government have deeply
affected Swedish society. Most notable is
its view that the country’s wealth should
be equally distributed among its citizens.
Examples of benefits are improved state
pensions, child benefits, and general
health insurance. When great numbers
of people moved to the cities in the 1950s
and 1960s and many women joined the
labor force, the government launched
local government daycare.
In recent years, initiatives have
included development projects, tax
incentives to ensure that Sweden’s citi-
zens have access to a PC at home, and
broadband.
The High-Tech Industry
Sweden has long been a world leader
in the number of telephone lines per
capita. In the early 1900s, Stockholm, a
relatively small capital city, had more tele-
phones than any city in the world, includ-
ing New York, London, Berlin, and Paris.
In the 1940s, Televerket—the state-owned
telecommunications company now
known as Telia—adopted as its mission
“A telephone in every home—on equal
conditions for all.” Because it invests a
greater share of its GNP in IT and tele-
com than any other nation, Sweden has
remained at the cutting edge of telecom-
munication developments. The first inter-
national wireless telephone system, NMT,
was created through Scandinavian coop-
eration. The UMTS technology (third-
May 2002 19
special section
Technical Communication in
SwedenBY BIRGITTA MÖLLER, Nordic Chapter
4. generation mobile telephony) was devel-
oped by Ericsson, which also invented
DECT and Bluetooth.
Another, perhaps less known fact is
that Sweden was the first and largest mar-
ket in Europe for Apple Macintosh com-
puters. Microsoft Windows was also
adopted faster here than in any other
country outside the United States, and
data security and encryption software are
Swedish specialties.
Swedish banks have always been pio-
neers in using information technology.
They were the first to offer nationwide
online customer services such as auto-
matic teller machines. Swedish banks are
considered to be among the best Internet
banks in the world.
The Silicon Valley of Europe
More than a century ago, Sweden laid
the foundation for its current position as
one of the world’s dominant information
economies by providing a large number
of telephone lines per capita and export-
ing its telephone systems.
Europe’s own Silicon Valley is in a sub-
urb of Stockholm, with the city’s Royal
Institute of Technology a major provider
of labor. Foresight in the choice of tech-
nology is a principal reason behind Swe-
den’s advanced use of the Internet in
education. Early on, Swedish universities
and government authorities adopted what
were to become the international stan-
dard Internet communication protocol,
TCP/IP and the Unix operating system.
Home PC
Many consider the phenomenon of
“home PC” to be key to Sweden’s promi-
nent position in high tech. Employees can
rent a PC (or a Mac) from their employ-
ers, and the cost is tax-deductible for both
parties. Even the unemployed can rent a
home PC through their trade unions.
The Swedish government’s policy for
2002 is that every student, at every level of
schooling, should have his or her own
computer.
The Status of Technical Communicators
Technical writing has long been a part
of the Swedish high-tech industry, but,
just as in many other countries, it was
originally carried out primarily by engi-
neers and programmers.
Technical communicators in Sweden
say that for the past three to five years
they have sensed a changed attitude
among their bosses as well as among
designers/programmers. People don’t
want to buy devices that are difficult to
use, so by making these devices easier to
use, we’re demonstrating our value. Fur-
thermore, modern product legislation
makes it possible to hold the manufac-
turer liable for errors made by users.
We’re helping decrease those errors.
Money talks, and it’s talking in our favor.
Many engineers write end-user docu-
mentation, but this situation is slowly
changing as companies realize what a dif-
ference it makes to have professional
technical communicators do the job.
A Country, a Language
The Language Environment
Swedish is spoken by close to nine mil-
20 May 2002
special section
My Job
I work at a medium-sized Swedish logistics software company, PipeChain AB, which
in many ways is typical of the Swedish tradition. It is still owned by the entrepreneur
and innovator who founded it. It has subsidiaries in Europe and the U.S., and it
invests in the latest technology.
Two years ago I was one of two people hired to make the company’s existing doc-
umentation more user friendly. My employer had realized that having engineers
write the documentation did neither the engineers nor the documentation much
good. Having earned my B.A. in English and human-computer interaction has
served me well these past two years. I write manuals and training material in
American English, design software graphics, and am actively involved in the
humanware of our product. These different tasks have combined to make me a
“technical communication specialist,” still a little-known job description in Sweden.
—Birgitta Möller
The Swedish government’s policy for 2002 is that every student,
at every level of schooling, should have his or her own computer.
5. lion people in Sweden and a few hun-
dred thousand in Finland.
The other Nordic countries have their
own languages. Danes and Norwegians
can understand Swedish without much
difficulty, particularly if they live where
they can watch Swedish television.
All Nordic school children are taught
English. Most start in third grade, some
even in first grade. But the children
come into contact with English earlier,
via computer games and music. The fact
that foreign films and TV in all Nordic
countries are subtitled instead of being
dubbed also encourages learning lan-
guages. In sixth or seventh grade, chil-
dren learn a third language, usually
German or French. When the students
go to secondary school, they can learn a
fourth language: e.g. German, French,
Spanish, Russian, or Latin.
Despite this, Swedish end-users often
prefer documents to be in Swedish rather
than English. This is especially true of
users with no university education. Sev-
eral large Swedish companies have pro-
claimed English the corporate language
and use it for all documentation, regard-
less of the task. Of course, not everybody
is happy about these decisions.
English is also the number one lan-
guage in importing and exporting. But
users in many European countries often
want documents in their own language. It
is not unheard of for Swedish export
companies to translate their instructions
into more than forty languages!
The European Union Effect
Before 1995, when Sweden joined the
European Union, companies that wanted
to sell products in Sweden needed only
to provide manuals in English. This pro-
cedure is no longer acceptable. Euro-
pean Union directives state that
consumer products that must be CE
approved must also be accompanied by
manuals in the native language of the
intended market. (CE stands for Com-
munauté Européenne, the French term
for European Community.) These direc-
tives also state how the information
should be structured. CE marking on a
product is a manufacturer’s declaration
that the product complies with the essen-
tial requirements of the relevant Euro-
pean health, safety and environmental
protection legislations.
A Working Environment
The Swedish Way of Working
Sweden has a tradition of non-hierar-
chical company organization with decen-
tralized responsibilities. Sweden has its
share of “bosses,” but the relationship of
manager and employee is based on
respect. The “boss” is therefore seen as a
teammate.
Swedish management is characterized
by equality, informal relations between
managers and co-workers, and straight-
forward communication. Individual sta-
tus or titles are of little importance in
Sweden. Swedish managers at all levels
do not hesitate to make their own cups of
coffee.
In Sweden there is traditionally an
emphasis on organization to achieve
common goals. A high percentage of
Swedes belong to trade unions. Most
companies are members of employer
organizations that negotiate contracts
with unions centrally. This is one reason
why Sweden has such a low rate of lost
time due to strikes or lockouts.
Swedish trade unions are known to be
receptive to new technologies, automa-
tion, and laborsaving investments.
Unions see change as an opportunity, not
a threat. A Swedish union official once
said, “We in trade unions are not afraid
of new technologies—we are afraid of the
old ones.”
Swedes as an Audience
A technical communicator from
another country who wants to do busi-
ness in Sweden should have no problems
writing for a Swedish audience. However,
there are a few things to bear in mind.
Technical communicators in English-
speaking countries tend to rely heavily on
words when explaining a product. The
reason, it is said, is that in these countries
it was believed for many years that if the
users did not understand the product, the
remedy was more words. The Swedish
habit is to use far more pictures to illus-
trate what they want to communicate. Not
only do illustrations get the user’s atten-
tion easily, they also greatly reduce the
cost of translating the material.
The Swedish Business World
Some Drawbacks
Although company taxes are com-
paratively low, personal taxes are very
high in Sweden (as in the other Nordic
countries), a fact that may discourage
some from working here. However,
specialists who come to live and work
in Sweden for a fixed number of years
are allowed to pay reduced income
taxes.
Swedes are generally not “hard-selling”
individuals. Whether this is a disadvan-
tage probably depends on the country
with which a Swedish company is doing
business.
The long, dark and often quite cold
winters may discourage some from mov-
ing to Sweden with the intent of doing
business or seeking employment.
Advantages
Swedes are curious people and very
keen on new technology—industrial
equipment as well as consumer products.
Swedes like to come up with ways to
improve a product, high-tech or not, and
they are not afraid to try methods sug-
gested by others.
Swedes take an agreement very seri-
ously. This goes hand in hand with their
strong sense of loyalty. Swedes in general
are very quality-conscious: Producers of
quality products often find that Swedes
are loyal customers.
Conclusion
Technical communication does not
have the same reputation in Sweden as it
does in the U.S. But Swedish companies
are slowly realizing what a difference it
makes to have specialists write end-user
documentation—be it print documenta-
tion or online help.
The Swedish curiosity and willingness
to try new ideas will work in our favor
when it comes to producing user-friendly
documents of high quality. We still have a
way to go in nurturing this profession,
but we are well on our way.
Birgitta Möller holds a B.A. in English from
Lund University, Sweden. When not work-
ing as a technical communicator, she enjoys
travel and cooking.
May 2002 21
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