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Brian Flack (brian@flack.be) is a freelance provider of English language services (voice, copywriting and translations) based in Waterloo, Belgium. Here he suggests that international writers should endeavour to recognise and avoid English words that have parallels in other languages - the so-called 'false friends'. For more than 40 years, I have been involved in communicating with business associates in territories as diverse as the former USSR, Scandinavia, the US, most of Europe, northern and southern Africa. Despite all those years of experience, the perceptions and misconceptions of the English language and the 'Anglo-Saxon' peoples still fascinate me to this day. Working as a freelance writer/translator in Belgium provides me with day-to-day exposure to two very different cultures - Flemish and Walloon - where English is often used as a neutral medium - particularly in business - to avoid the argument over which of the national languages is dominant. Even so, it would be quite wrong to assume that English is widely spoken or understood in the general community. It is mostly spoken only by people who are involved in international business or the tourist trade. My work is primarily concerned with the creation of original English language material for international house journals, press releases, marketing documents or web sites. However, I also translate texts from French and Dutch into English. The bulk of my output is intended for a readership of which English is not the mother-tongue. Consequently, I have to pay a good deal of attention to clarity and the avoidance of idiomatic expressions. Last month's ezine linked to an American article that gave some very sound advice on that topic. It may seem like common sense but it is certainly important to avoid 'loose' language, such as saying that an accurate statement was 'right on the mark' or that 'we are bending over backwards to help our clients'. However, I would go even further and propose that the international writer should endeavour to recognise and avoid English words that have parallels in other languages - the so-called 'false friends'. I shall always remember the look of horror on the face of a French colleague when I explained that I preferred home-made jam because the commercial variety contained preservatives. (In French, a 'préservatif' is a condom.) Another of my pleasures is that of receiving articles that have already been written or translated into English. We all know that not every English mother-tongue speaker is capable of writing in English but that fact is multiplied enormously when it comes to those for whom English is not their natural language. I have a Flemish friend/business associate who is a language graduate and a former English teacher but his written English is still structured in the Dutch style and often uses expressions such as 'informations'. Dutch also uses an apostrophe as a possessive and that frequently gets translated into English in such phrases as 'The shoe's of the man'. We have a local hypermarket known as Bigg's, which is an entirely fictitious name designed to emphasise the fact that the store is big - there never was an owner called Mr Bigg. There was even another footwear store called Shoe's Shop. Adaptation is, therefore, more important than translation. It is vital to ensure that English written for non-English readers is concise and devoid of jargon that is likely to confuse or be mis-interpreted. International house journals are particularly susceptible to that risk because there is the intrinsic desire in the mind of the corporate communications staff to convey the 'big happy family' message. The responsibility of the writer/editor is to ensure that it does not become a 'big confused family'. For the writer/editor, first hand experience of overseas living conditions and the local use and perceptions of the English language are highly desirable. Given that this is not always practical, detailed readership surveys can provide useful feedback on the way your literary style is accepted or understood in the various countries. My strongest recommendation is to try very hard to put yourself in the position of the target reader and to imagine them reading your material with their limited knowledge of English. Get your message across to them in the simplest possible fashion, without talking down to them. It's quite a challenge but it can be done! Brian Flack (brian@flack.be) is a freelance provider of English language services (voice, copywriting and translations) based in Waterloo, Belgium. He has many years of experience writing in English for non-English readers. Brian also contributes to several house journals originating in Belgium, provides voice-overs for corporate videos and translates from Dutch and French. |
