Chapter 10. WRITING FOR A GLOBAL AUDIENCE

Writing for a global audience demands a global writing style—a style that is clear, concise, culture-neutral, and easy to translate. Too often, companies translate their source-language web sites without giving much thought to the text. Just because text is effective in the source-language site is no guarantee it will be effective in the target-language site, no matter how well it’s translated. Given the cost and complexities of translation, you can save a lot of time and money by investing resources into your source text before it becomes target text. This chapter will help you fine-tune your writing for the world and show you some of the systems companies rely on to create “globally friendly” text.