Simplicity - the key to global content
With more than a billion people speaking English as a second language (ESL) – and increasing access to the internet across the globe – Australian content authors can reach more people by adopting simple English as their default content writing style.
Even advanced students of English language courses can become easily confused by overly colloquial business content.
Common sources of confusion include:
Contact details / Numbers
/ Abstract nouns / Double
negatives / Sentence length / Idioms
and clichés
Contact details
A surprising number of sites don’t include international phone
and fax details. Web pages and documents with an international audience
should include the full international and local area codes.
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Numbers
Dates and time
People in the United States write month, day, year (for example, 9/11). Australians write day, month, year, while other countries prefer to write year, month, day.
There are also countries that use a completely different calendar! Readers
cannot easily guess what convention you commonly use, so spell out the
date in full; for example, 4 May 2007.
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Money
At least 24 countries besides Australia have their own dollar, while many others have francs, pesos and pounds. If you’re selling from Australia ensure you state AUD $100 rather than just $100.
Some countries include commas in numbers and others may simply leave
a space (10 000 or 10,000). If you’re going to use commas to denote
thousands ensure you do it consistently.
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Abstract nouns
Abstract nouns refer to qualities such as peace, serenity or sensitivity. Abstractions typically don’t translate well as they can not be seen, heard, or touched.
They also tend to be culturally determined, for example, what is considered ‘serene’ in one culture may be passive or even boring to another.
Sentences with two or three abstract nouns are highly confusing to international readers who often lose the entire meaning. I recommend converting abstract nouns to verbs, or shortening the sentence to make it simpler.
For example:
The identification of national issues and the generation of workable solutions
are required.
Becomes:
We must identify the issues and find solutions.
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Double negatives
The use of double negatives - where two negatives make a positive – is common among Australian professionals in sectors such as law, finance, or government. It is highly confusing to almost everyone else.
For example, ‘The upward trend in mineral stocks this quarter is
not displeasing,’ is most likely to result in confusion about why
the upward movement of stocks is undesirable.
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Sentence length
Long sentences tend to lose people on the web, but ESL readers are especially vulnerable. Native speakers learn whole English phrases as word pictures, but ESL learners translate single words and sometimes characters in order to decipher your meaning.
Short sentences of 15-20 words give international readers confidence
and minimise the risk of cross-cultural misunderstandings.
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Idioms and clichés
As a general rule, avoid using local idioms in business writing as the ESL reader will interpret them literally.
Depending on your purpose, you could however, consider using local idioms as part of your site features.
Could you include local sporting clichés on your adventure travel site to give it more flavour? Would an ‘Aussie dictionary’ make your university's website stand out among prospective international students? Why not let your readers in on the joke?
The more, the merrier - which means ‘welcome, join us’ ;)
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