Writing for an International Audience, part II

In the last column, I discussed some ways in which cultures affects how well your audience will understand what you say or write. This column will look at a few writing communication strategies that will improve the comprehension of non-native speakers of English. Also, if what you write is going to be translated in to different languages, these strategies will make translation easier. This can actually decrease the costs of translation and make the translations more accurate.

Idiomatic expressions-- English is full of idiomatic expressions; in fact, many non-native speakers say that that's the hardest part of English to learn. These expressions are so common that we often don't realize we're using them. It's fairly easy to look at our writing and edit out idioms based on, for example, American football, so that we might choose NOT to say "It's time to drop back and punt" or refer to critiquing a decision as "Monday morning quarter-backing." What's harder to spot are those idiomatic expressions that are built into the language. One very difficult group of expressions is the set of verbs known as "phrasal" or "two-word" verbs. Think for a minute about this set of verbs: pull up, pull over, pull out, pull on, and pull in. The many meanings of those expressions cannot be arrived at by looking up the verb "pull" in the dictionary, and each of the prepositions. The meanings are idiomatic; that is, they are not contained in the simple definitions of the words. Because of this, these phrasal verbs are not easily learned or understood by non-native speakers of English.

One very dramatic example of this occurred in airplane accident. The pilot and co-pilot were both non-native speakers of English. After the plane crashed into a mountainside, investigators retrieved the "black box." The last words recorded in the cockpit were "What does 'pull up' mean?" The standard usage for air traffic controllers and pilots is "Climb, climb." In this case, however, either the air traffic controller, in panic, forgot and used the idiom, or (and I think this is more likely) the warning system built into the plane (probably American made) used the expression "pull up." I believe this because I have heard that phrase coming from the warning system in documentaries about crashes. This prompted me to do some research on these phrasal verbs. I tested students who had come to the U.S. to student in an International MBA program. These students had very high scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language -- their English was very advanced. Yet they only averaged 14 out of 27 correct answers on a test of everyday phrasal verbs, such as put on, look out, turn in, etc. Tests of intermediate students in other countries showed even worse results -- 7 out of 27 on average. These verbs are often the last aspect of English acquired by learners. Considering that many of them also have different meanings in British vs. American English, and that many of your readers around the world will have studied British English, and you can see why use of phrasal verbs can cause major problems!

Tricky words-- Many words in English have multiple meanings. Some of these cause particular problems in comprehension and translation. A few of these are:

While-- this can be a time connector -- "We can improve quality while still maintaining our profit margin"-- or a contrastive connector-- "While the new product will cost more to manufacture, it will bring new customers to our brand." In some sentences, if the meaning is not made clear by the context, the wrong interpretation of the word "while" can significantly harm comprehension. since-- this also has two meanings. "Since we started the new advertising strategy, our sales have increased 15%" uses :since as a time connector, with a clause that tells when something started. In "Since we started the new advertising strategy, we no longer use the old logo" uses "since" as a synonym for "because." Again, major confusion can result, depending on the context..

Consistent vocabulary- English also uses many words to refer to the same thing. In fact, you may have learned to use synonyms to improve your writing style. However, using different terms can be confusing to someone who doesn't have a complete grasp of English vocabulary. For example, a writer might use the terms "guidelines", "blueprints", "recipe for action" and "specifications" all to refer to the same set of directions. If the reader or translator is only familiar with two of these terms, and has a vague understanding of the others, that person might miss the fact these terms are referring to the same thing. Confusion can be reduced by using one term consistently throughout the document. What you may have to ask yourself is whether demonstrating that you have a sophisticated writing style is more or less important than communicating clearly with your audience. The answer to that question will change depending on the circumstances. What I often tell my students is that if they are writing a report on a completed project, and that report will only be read by their supervisor and used for evaluating their work, they should go for the sophisticated writing style. But if they are writing direction for a technician to operate a nuclear power plant, they'd better be more concerned with being clear than with sounding intelligent!

With the growth in diversity in our workplace and the increase in international business for so many companies, attention to the specific problems of communicating with non-native speakers of English demands attention from anyone wanting to be successful in the current marketplace.