"How to Write Effective Business English"

Today's book is “How to Write Effective Business English” by Fiona Talbot. It made me consider something I hadn't thought about, which is the problem of regional differences and non-native English speakers. The main lesson I took from it is to be extremely careful when you are writing for an overseas audience. As the many websites on amusing mistranslations prove, not saying what you mean can be extremely embarrassing.

International Audiences

The first thing you need to do is agree with your client on which region's English you will use to write, if it's not already obvious. There are differences in both vocabulary and spelling from place to place, and word processing programs will even mark some of your words misspelled if you don't pick the appropriate region.

More importantly, you have to make sure that one mistranslation will not obscure your message. It's not always obvious which words will be mistranslated. For example, in Chinese, there is no exact translation for all the nuances of the word 'exotic.' The best Google Translate can do is 'foreign country sentiment.' Since even translation programs won't tell you about such subtleties, you have to carefully restrict your vocabulary. Mistakes will still happen unless you also know the target language, and if you have any doubts make sure your message is still clear after a bad translation or two.

You also cannot make too many assumptions. Whenever you use an acronym, abbreviation, jargon, or other similar word, you have to think “will my audience understand this?” and react accordingly. Writing to a child is one example that the book used. You automatically adjust your vocabulary in that situation, and writing for overseas viewers will require significant changes as well.

Consequences

The author of the book seems to think that some of its readers won't understand what can go wrong if you write badly. On the surface, you might have to rewrite some messages that recipients couldn't understand and waste their time as well as your own. But bad writing can cost a huge amount of time and money as well as undermining the company's credibility. The author submitted a database entry to a company that would list her business Europe-wide. They then edited it so that it contained at least one major error in every paragraph.

“What ultimately was the cost of this regrettable incident? The answer is that there was a cost to pay on a number of different levels. I refused to pay the invoice because the entry was incorrect, so the company suffered the loss of that income. That company then had to redraft a correct entry, and replace the incorrect entry at their own cost. The cost to my company was in terms of undermined professional credibility (both in the short and long term).”

Sometimes a book that isn't at all what you expected can pleasantly surprise you. Now I'm much more confident in writing for people in different regions, which might have caused me a lot of trouble before this book.