Writing for an international, global audience

[Marcia]

I saw a remark someone made recently about the language (English) used on a website being what amounted to being "too sophisticated" for them to understand. Obviously, the person was from a country where English would be a second language, and it got me started to thinking.

There are a lot of sites that have a broader reach than just their local area, and I recall reading a while back some articles on how to write for a global audience.

What I can think off-hand of are:

1) Use plain English wording, using the shortest words possible, instead of complicated wording and phrases. For example, instead of saying "aesthetically pleasing," say "nice to look at." Instead of saying "in geographical proximity to," say "nearby" or "close to."

2) Avoid long, compound sentences with a lot of commas and subordinate clauses. Keep sentences short and to the point.

Is there anything else you can think of, to make web copy readable and easy to understand for an international audience?

[tangor]

Hemmingway. Four letter words in sentences of 8 words or less. Or just write it straight. I run a large TEXT heavy site---articles, research, stories, novels. In English. And the readership is world wide. I would suggest that the CONTENT is key, the grammar secondary.

[Quadrille]

Avoid pronouns where possible; they lead to misunderstandings if people's first language has different syntax.

Always have copy either written or proofread by a native English speaker (or both). Print media have largely dropped proofreading for cost reasons, but for the WWW, it's often a sound investment.

Never use machine translation (even for one word).

Know your markets: consider setting up a page - or a section - for markets where extra information may be helpful - this will allow you to keep your main message uncluttered and uncomplicated.

Know your markets: consider using local affiliates who may be able to offer a local language service and avoid all these problems!