Beyond Borders: Web Globalization Strategies

WRITING FOR TRANSLATION

Writing for the world requires writing for translators. They are an important audience, and often overlooked. If they don’t clearly understand what you’re trying to say, neither will the rest of the world. Spend the time preparing the text so that they understand it and can easily translate it. The following guidelines will help you create translation-ready, globally friendly text:

• Keep it short. The ideal sentence length is between 5 and 25 words. A word limit forces writers to communicate in shorter sentences, generally resulting in clearer sentences.

• Avoid Americanisms, clichés, puns, word play, and slang. Words and phrases such as “home run,” “phat,” and “on the wagon” don’t travel well, sometimes not even within ...