Notes from 52nd International STC Conference
Seattle, Washington, May 8-12, 2005

Developing Global English Writing Skills

Sue Kocher
SAS Institute, Inc.

Session Description: This workshop helped participants strengthen their "global English radar" to become more effective writers for both English and non-English speakers and to work more effectively for audiences that include people from different cultures.

• Need for global English skills depends upon what percentage of your target audience does not share your native language and culture.
• Global English radar refers to ability to recognize text that will be problematic for non-native speakers, translators, and translation software.
• Localization awareness skills are important to communicate effectively with different cultures.
• Cross-cultural awareness is useful and interesting, to avoid cultural and linguistic imperialism. Beyond that, there is a strong business case for cross-cultural awareness because of the growing global marketplace. Accordingly, global language awareness is a valuable, and therefore marketable, skill.
• Example of the costs of not controlling terminology and usage. Uncontrolled English costs $645 per field definition x 1,000 definitions = $645K. Controlled, single-sourced English costs $260 per field definition x 1,000 definitions = $260K. Multiplying that times 17 variations of 100 field definitions @ .23 per word, into 7 languages = $13M for uncontrolled English vs. $770K for controlled, single-sourced English.
• World population = 6.5B. U.S. population = 300M. Native English speakers = 375M. ESL speakers = 375M. EFL speakers = 750M. Thus, 20-25% of the world (1.3-1.6B) have some competence with English and 75-80% have little or no English.
• And most of the world has little or no knowledge of middle-class American culture, idioms, slang, symbols, customs, etc.
• To gain globalization awareness skills, one needs (1) an interest in cross-cultural communication and linguistics principles and (2) an objectivity (to recognize and avoid ethnocentrism).
• Localization reviews: look for:
   
• Terminology: one word, one meaning
• Usage: no slang, no jargon
• Grammar: keep it simple
• UI design: industry standard
• "Nouning verbs weirds language. Verbing nouns weirds language too."
• All lists need to have a complete sentence leading up to them, because many language can't handle a dangling S-V pattern (need S-V-O). For example, not "The window contains" followed by a list, but "The window contains the following items:"
• Global English: Top Ten Guidelines. The guidelines do the following:
   
• Address serious impediments to translation
• Are easy to understand and follow
• Require only minimal knowledge of grammar
• Are widely applicable
• The Top Ten:
   
1. Use short sentences.
2. Use complete sentences.
3. Untangle long noun phrases.
4. Expand –ed verbs whenever possible.
5. Always revise –ing verbs that follow nouns.
6. Use "that" liberally.
7. Choose simple, precise words that have a limited range of meanings.
8. Standardize your terminology and phrasing.
9. Don't use slang, idioms (including idiomatic two- and three-word verbs), colloquialisms, or figurative language.
10. Clarify which parts of a sentence are being joined by "and" or by "or" by repeating prepositions that would normally be dropped after the first part in native English.
• Note that expanding –ed verbs, revising –ing verbs, repeating prepositions in series constructions, and using "that" liberally actually ADDS words, but it significantly reduces the likelihood of errors in translation (e.g., "A socket opened by one task..." becomes "a socket that is opened by one task" and "the capabilities being defined" becomes "the capabilities that are being defined").
• Sometimes idioms are the only way to convey a concept (e.g., "real time" or "on the fly") – in which case the source document editor must provide the translator with the idiomatic term and an operational definition to aid the translator in coming up with a suitable equivalent within the language into which the document is being translated.
• Exercises tested the ability to recognize the following:
   
• Culture-bound terms and usage
• Culture-bound images
• "Developerese"
• Excess words
• Grammar difficulties.