What is Simplified Technical English?
Simplified Technical English (STE) is a controlled language specification published by the European Association of Aerospace and Defense Industries (ASD). The ASD-STE100 specification describes how to write vehicle maintenance manuals in a simplified language that decreases the chance for human error. The STE specification applies to Air, Land, Sea, Space and eVTOL vehicles.
Simplified Technical English is required for Component Maintenance Manuals (CMM) at Airbus, Textron Aviation, Safran, Boeing, Pilatus, Bombardier, BAE Systems, NATO, Honeywell, Northrop Grumman and other aerospace companies.
The MAXit Checker analyzes texts against the latest STE specification (Issue 8, July. 2020). The computer analysis reports compliance to the STE writing rules and the core 988-word dictionary. Send us an email for information about how to get a copy of the 300-page STE specification.
Simplified Technical English is mandated by the US Coast Guard and Navy. Clients include Raytheon and BAE Systems.
Simplified Technical English is mandated by the US Army for tanks, recovery and other land vehicles.
Smart Aerospace Clients
For 22+ years, consultants from SMART Communications, Inc., have provided the MAXit Checker software, custom dictionaries and writer training to aerospace and defense companies.
Example of ASD-STE100
Click the Demo button to see a text rewritten in Simplified Technical English for the Airbus airliner. The objective is to write clear, concise and unambiguous English for aircraft maintainers.
The demo shows the translation of STE into Modern Standard Arabic.
SMART offers a single license Starter Kit which is ideal for proof-of-concept and is easy to expand.
Terminology Management
The Lexicon Manager is an easy-to-use software tool that manages terminology for Simplified Technical English.
For small projects, SMART offers a Dictionary Service Pack (DSP) to add new terms. The updated dictionaries are returned by email within 24 hours.
ASD-STE100 - Writer Training
Our STE instructors have 20+ years of experience. We teach STE with the MAXit Checker in a 2-3 day course, on-site or by Internet. Request our 2022 STE Class Schedule. Each participant receives a Certificate of Completion for Educational Credits.
Conversion Services to S1000D
SMART offers services to convert older format manuals, including MIL 38784, ATA2200 and S1000D. The books are reformatted in XML, rewritten in STE and output to Microosft Word, PTC Arbortext Editor or FrameMaker XML.
(See Controlled English for other industries.)