Download English Writing for Global Communication

English Writing for Global
Communication
John Scafidi
Senior English Fellow Fellow
Saint Petersburg
Role of English in Global
Communication
There are 1.5 billion people in world using
English
 375 million people in the world whose native language is
English.
 375 million people who speak it as a second language.
 750 million people who speak it as foreign language
Role of English in Global
Communication
English remains the most
widely spoken foreign
language throughout Europe.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Role of English in Global
Communication
"English is the main language of books,
newspapers, airports and air-traffic
control, international business and
academic conferences, science,
technology, diplomacy, sport,
international competitions, pop music
and advertising…
Role of English in Global
Communication
“Over two-thirds of the world's scientists
read in English. Three quarters of the
world's mail is written in English…
Role of English in Global
Communication
“English is the defacto international
language of much of the business
communication in the world…
Role of English in Global
Communication
“Over eighty percent of the material on
the World Wide Web is in English…
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Role of English in Global
Communication
English is the language of choice by more
people, to learn as a second language, than
any other language in the world.
Role of English in Global
Communication
Most parents when asked which language
they would prefer their children learn as a
second language reply, "English".
(All above statistics obtained by British Council)
David Crystal- English as a global language
Cambridge University Press, 1997
Spoken vs. Written English
The worst part about it was I had a friend sitting up here and
she’s saying “ha ha”… And I was saying “Go get the police.. Go,
Get someone”. ..I later learned that there are some people who
do that in the face of disaster…I mean they just start cracking up
as opposed to crying.
Spoken vs. Written English
My helpful friend, perhaps not realizing that I was serious,
began laughing. Sue roared all the harder as my situation
became more difficult. She claimed I looked funny, clinging
there screaming. I realized that she was laughing because she
was incapable of acting: the situation must have been greatly
disturbing to her, and so she treated it as if it were another
situation.
.
Spoken vs. Written English
Face-to-face communication provides individuals an
opportunity to express themselves in ways designed to
elicit physical and verbal reactions from an audience,
which help the communicator determine whether or not
specific communication techniques are successful in
reaching diverse audiences.
Spoken vs. Written English
Written documents do not provide this kind of exposure
or assurance that what is being conveyed in printed
form is understood by a particular audience. Furthermore,
when faced with the prospect of communicating to a
Global audience, writers and communicators must
negotiate the challenge of communicating information
across cultural and societal barriers associated with both
people and industry.
.
How to Write Globally
1. Avoid words with multiple meanings
1. present (SOMETHING GIVEN) noun
something which you are given, without
asking for it, on a special occasion,
especially to show friendship, or to say
thank you: ex. They gave me theatre
tickets as a present.
2. present (NOW) noun the present,
the period of time which is happening
now, not the past or the future; now
ex. The play is set in the present.
3. present (PLACE) adjective [after
verb] in a particular place:
ex. The whole family was present.
4. present (GIVE) verb to give, provide
or make known:
ex. The winners were presented with
medals
5. present (INTRODUCE) verb
ex. She presents the late-night news.
1. gift (PRESENT) noun a present or
something which is given:
ex. The guests all arrived bearing gifts.
2. gift noun INFORMAL something which
is surprisingly easy or cheap:
ex. $100 for a good leather coat? It's a
gift!
How to Write Globally
1. Avoid words with multiple meanings
Other ambiguous words:
fix, get, go, put, run
Use difficult instead of hard
Ex. It was very difficult to understand what he meant.
Use repair instead of fix
The IT technician repaired the computer malfunction.
Use after instead of once
After they arrived, the meeting began.
Use context or extra words to make meaning clear
How to Write Globally
2. Use lots of subheadings
Easier for readers to find most relevant sections.
A heading can summarize contents below.
Use a heading that is a whole sentence.
How to Write Globally
3. Write concisely
Don’t waste words.
Avoid using too many adjectives or adverbs,
unless the meaning of the words you are using are too
ambiguous.
How to Write Globally
4. Avoid metaphors
The teacher got to the bottom (source) of the problem.
My dad was boiling (very angry) mad.
His idea was difficult to swallow (accept).
The homework was a breeze (easy to do).
My memory of the event is foggy (unclear).
If I were you, I would steer (stay away) clear of that topic.
After graduating from college, William decided to market (present)
himself as a computer specialist.
Alice was thrilled when her idea began to bear fruit (produced
results.)
How to Write Globally
5. Avoid slang
Do you know where the action(excitement) is in this town?
I really need some antifreeze (liquor) in me on cold days like this.
After working all day I am really beat (exhausted).
That was a hairy (dangerous) plane trip. I am glad the storm is over.
Can you give me a gentle prod (reminder) next week so I won't
forget?
Your idea is really red hot (important).
If you screw up (make a mistake) one more time, I will fire you.
'll give the puzzle another shot (try).
I am glad you got yourself out of that jam (trouble).
How to Write Globally
6. Repeat important points using different
words.
"This lifeboat is designed to hold no more than 20
passengers”.
“The maximum number of people in this boat is 20”.
How to Write Globally
7. Keep sentences short
Don't try to express more than a few ideas in one
sentence.
25 words is about the limit, and an average of 10 to
15 words is good.
If you want to vary your writing, one can vary the
length of sentences within a paragraph.
Ex. short/medium/medium/short/long
How to Write Globally
7. Keep sentences short
Ex. The Fixed Securities Fund portfolio has
reduced the term of its investments to match the
average length to maturity of the government bond
market as a whole.
The Fixed Securities Fund portfolio has reduced
the term of its investments. The term now matches
the average length to maturity of the whole
government bond market.
How to Write Globally
8. Avoid variation of synonyms
Unwritten rule in English that you must not use the
same word twice in a paragraph.
This practice often confuses readers whose native
language is not English
Other languages, without so many synonyms, don't
vary words in this way.
If you are to use synonyms, use a simple one if it
captures your meaning just as well.
Ex. “ameliorated the situation”
“improved the situation”
How to Write Globally
9. Use bullet points - but they should be
full sentences
•Bullet points are often only a few words, which is
not enough to convey meaning without being
ambiguous.
•Therefore a bullet point should be a whole
sentence.
How to Write Globally
10. Use plenty of punctuation
Some sentences are hard to understand, because
you can't work out where the punctuation should
go. To make long sentences easier to understand,
insert commas and dashes between parts of the
sentence.
An alternative to punctuation symbols is to use
"punctuation words" - which act as punctuation, but
add meaning at the same time. These are linking
words, such as subordinate (because, since,
although, etc.) and coordinate conjunctions (or, for
but yet, etc. and transitions words (for example,
however, therefore,, furthermore, in fact, that is
etc.)
How to Write Globally
11. Use words that are common - but not
too common
Your writing will be clearer if you replace words that
are very common (but ambiguous) with words that
are less common (but have only one meaning). For
example, "difficult" instead of "hard.
But if the replacement word is too uncommon, the
readers won't know it.
How to Write Globally
12. If you use a rare word, either explain it
or provide clues
Place the word in a context that helps to make the
meaning clear.
How to Write Globally
13. Make sure that "it" is unambiguous
Some languages don't have this concept - and people
who speak those languages have trouble with "it"
in English.
So when you write "it" make sure there's only one noun
it can refer to.
Ex.
The cat ate the mouse and it died shortly thereafter.
How to Write Globally
14. Avoid using nouns as adjectives,
specially several in a row
Many nouns in English can also be used as adjectives.
When a noun is preceded by several adjectives, and
some of those adjectives are normally nouns,
confusion can arise.
low income tax offset
adj + n/adj + n/adj + n
low income-tax offset (offset for low income-tax)
or
low-income tax offset (tax offset for people with low
incomes)
How to Write Globally
15. Try to avoid the passive voice
Use active language and avoid the passive voice.
Avoid to be verbs and try to replace helping verbs such as
have, had, has, do, does, did and other vague verbs
like get and got.
Ex. I had opportunities to develop my skills.
I sought opportunities to develop my skills.
I got the promotion.
I earned the promotion.
She did well in the competitive environment.
She thrived in the competitive environment.
The salesman told the audience about his products.
The salesman promoted his products to the audience.
How to Write Globally
15. Avoid new words that aren't in
dictionaries - unless they are very
common
Dictionaries take years to add new words, and many
people in developing countries use old dictionaries. So
if you use a fairly new word, and your readers don't
have fairly new dictionaries, they won't be able to look
it up.
How to Write Globally
16. Abbreviations: avoid them or explain
them
A high proportion of abbreviations can make a
document almost unintelligible.
Write obscure abbreviations out in full.
Another way of increasing readability is to mark
abbreviations clearly - either writing them all in capital
letters, or ending them with full stops - unless those full
stops could be confused with the end of a sentence.
How to Write Globally
17. Avoid using contractions
Don’t .. I mean do not use contractions. At times they
are a challenge for people who read English as a
foreign language.
How to Write Globally
18. Avoid phrasal and modal auxiliary
verbs
Phrasal verbs: call up (draft) , pull in (attract),
drop down (decline)
Modal auxiliary verbs: should, could, can, would, might,
may
ex. A representative should contact you within 48
hours.
How to Write Globally
18. Avoid phrasal and modal auxiliary
verbs
Ex.
We are looking at all possibilities.
We are considering all possibilities
I suggest we wrap up the project by July.
I suggest we complete the project by July.
How to Write Globally
19. Avoid sentences that start with a
‘false subject’.
‘It is’ ‘There are’
Ex. It is extraordinary how warm the weather
is for July.
The weather is extraordinarily warm for
July.
It has been observed that a certain
ambivalence prevails.
We have noticed that most people are
ambivalent.
How to Write Globally
20. Avoid Negative questions
Ex.
You don't have the courage to acknowledge
that your allegations have no factual basis whatsoever,
do you?
Do you admit that you made false allegations?
How to Write Globally
21. Avoid Double Negatives
Ex.
The 1995/96 turnover is not displeasing.
The 1995/96 turnover is pleasing.
How to Write Globally
23. Avoid Negative Words
1. Negative words: No, not, nobody
2. Words with negative implications: only, unless, without,
excluding, despite, default, etc.
3. Words with negative feeling: cancel, reject
Ex. The shipment will not arrive until late January.
The shipment will arrive in late January.
Hate saving time and money? Don't click here.
Want to save time and money? Click here.
How to Write Globally
24. Avoid Ambiguous dates
February 3, 2008
USA 2/3/08
Europe/Russia etc 3/2/08
Others 08/2/3
3 February 2008
How to Write Globally
25. Sums of Money
US$100
CAN $100
AUD$100
HK$100
NZ$100
S$100
NT$100
CHF
CFA
CFP
Summary
Avoid: words with multiple meanings
metaphors
slang
variation of synonyms
nouns used as adjectives
ambiguous “it”
abbreviations
new uncommon words
passive voice
contractions
phrasal & modal auxiliary verbs
sentences with ‘false subjects’
negative questions
double negatives
negative words
ambiguous dates
Summary
Use:
repetition of important words
short sentences
full sentence bullet points
punctuation
linking & transition words
Большое спасибо
John Scafidi [email protected]
REFERENCES
Scholes, Robert and Comley, Nancy R., The Practice of Writing,
St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1985
Samuels, Marilyn Schauer The Technical Writing
Process, Oxford University Press, New York, 1989
Coward, Nancy Caswell, Cross-Cultural
Communication: Is It Greek To You? Technical
Communication 39, Society for Technical Communication,Arlington,
Virginia, 1992
www.audiencedialogue.net/english2.html
www.stc.org/confproceed/2001/PDFs/STC48-000022.PDF