Global English is a way of writing English so that non-native speakers can understand it easily and translators can translate it without losing meaning. To write it, avoid slang and idioms, use pronouns only where they are clear, choose simple words, and proofread everything.
English is spoken all over the world, and most of the people who use it learned it as a second or foreign language. That is why it is so important to learn how to write in Global English.
What is Global English?
Global English is a writing style that makes written English easier to understand for non-native speakers. Content written in Global English is also easy to translate without any loss of meaning.
Who should learn Global English?
Anyone, person or company, who writes for an audience outside English-speaking countries should learn how to write in Global English. It helps them get information across to clients, customers, and partners all around the world.
Tips for writing in Global English
When you edit your content, keep these tips in mind, so that your writing reaches your audience the way you intended.
1. Stay away from slang and idioms
Many native English writers use idioms and slang to make their writing more interesting. Avoid them when you write for a global audience, because they may not translate well into other languages.
Take the idiom go down in flames as an example. It means that something fails suddenly and completely. Non-native speakers, however, may not even know that it is an idiom. They could take it literally and think that something really burned to the ground. Depending on the context, the result can be a disaster.
2. Be careful with pronouns
Here is an example:
The mother was yelling at her daughter because she was drunk.
Who is drunk? It's quite confusing, isn't it? The sentence is much clearer if you write it like this:
- The mother was yelling at her daughter because the mother was drunk.
- The mother was yelling at her daughter because the daughter was drunk.
Whenever a pronoun could refer to more than one person or thing, as in the example above, replace it with the noun or noun phrase it stands for.
3. Use simple words
Big words may make your writing look sophisticated. For a global audience, however, they only add a new layer of confusion. Why use the word cynosure when you want to describe someone who is the center of attention? Even native speakers may not know that word, and non-native speakers are even less likely to.
Don't be afraid of dumbing down your writing. If you use simple words throughout, your global audience won't have to keep opening their dictionaries. Nobody has the time or the patience for that.
4. Proofread everything
When you write for a global audience, proofread everything to make sure that your writing is free from misspellings and grammar mistakes. Misspellings can make a passage confusing, and bad grammar makes it hard to translate.
If you need help with this, the Spell Checker helps you weed out misspellings and grammar mistakes quickly.