Readers from the US, Pakistan, India, Australia, Georgia and Norway have visited this blog today. I assume many of them are not native speakers of English.
How do I (and you) write for an international audience so that our writing is clear?
- Eliminate idioms. Idioms don’t easily shift from one culture to another. They might be taken as literal by people who have learned English as a second or third language.
- Use a simplified vocabulary. Even if you know many synonyms, stick to common words, not rare ones.
- Stick to standard English. Eliminate dialects or colloquiums.
- Eliminate texting shortcuts. GTG is far from universal.
- Keep your grammar simple. If you use complex sentences, limit yourself to one dependent clause per sentence. Make sure pronoun antecedents are easy to figure out. If they aren’t, repeat the nouns.
- Use short sentences. Give yourself an upper word limit per sentence of 15 to 20 words.
- Use American spelling. It is the most common spelling of English words used on the web.
- Assume your readers might not be fluent in English. Assume they might be ignorant of nuances of language that you take for granted. Their English vocabularies might be rudimentary or restricted to one field of study. Write accordingly.
- Eliminate cultural bias. Pay attention to the connotations or double meanings of words.
- Eliminate allusions. So many references which well educated Americans use in writing are to the Bible, to Shakespeare or to pop songs. Many readers will not understand them.
- Use emojis. Emojis can say in one picture what takes many words.
English Writing Teacher 