How to Write for an International Audience
Web Writing for the World Cultures
Writing for the Web means writing for an international audience. It's important to remember that the statistics many people use are likely relegated to one country and the common themes in writing in one part of the world may not be so common in another. But to communicate effectively with the entire audience, it’s necessary to take steps to include every reader.
Part of the problem with writing to include people of different nationalities is that many people are used to reading print sources of information. Print magazines, newspapers and the like are tailored for one specific country's audience. Even those are sometimes broken up into regional versions, such as the various regional editions of the New York Times.
There are several common problems with writing with a regional audience in mind. Keeping each in mind can help any piece of Web writing to become accessible to a larger market.
Writing With Numbers
If you write with any frequency, numbers will eventually come up. These include measurements, prices, etc. All of these should be adapted for an international audience by providing at least one alternative.
If you are writing in US dollars, place a second and perhaps third alternative in parenthesis. Using Euros, pounds and U.S. dollars will cover much of the likely audience for most sites. Measurements should be done in both American measurements and metric ones.
Remembering Foreign Language Readers
Article writing for the promotion of a product or website makes getting the maximum possible audience particularly important. Effective Web content writing should also keep in mind readers who live in non-English speaking countries. Some of these readers will have trouble with obscure words or non-traditional sentence structure. Keep it simple as much as possible by using common words and in their simplest forms.
Remember that slang is largely regional and certainly varies by country. There are so many differences between English that is spoken by different English-speaking countries that it’s wise to have a working knowledge of which words may be unfamiliar to other audiences.
Writing Dates
Different countries use different date formats, making it possible to mislead an audience about the date if the date is written in number format. For clearer Web writing, spell out all months and use a four-digit year.
Inclusive Creative Writing
In creative writing, there are a number of things to remember about the common themes in writing. There are some themes that are inappropriate in some cultures while perfectly acceptable in others. If you expect a large readership in a specific culture, make sure your theme is not offensive. Social mores may dictate how a culture feels about the portrayal of romantic relationships or some other aspect of culture.
Expect Readers From Around the World
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