How Weak International Business Writing Can Destroy Your Brand

Posted by GlobalReach under Global
From http://www.useglobalreach.com 1077 days ago
Made Hot by: tuckerleroy on June 10, 2010 11:45 am

Highly visible translation mistakes can devastate an international marketing campaign. What you don’t often hear about are the less visible writing mistakes that can slowly bleed your company dry. The ones that aren’t plastered all over billboards and magazine ads, but handed directly to individual clients in letters, proposals, emails, etc. Although not as visible as public marketing messages, writing mistakes in your international business communication are just as toxic to your brand. Here's why ...

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Written by yoni67
1077 days ago

Congrats GlobalReach on your Hot-Topic! Well-deserved!

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Written by GlobalReach
1077 days ago

Thanks, Yoni! Honored.

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Written by ShawnHessinger
1077 days ago

There is, in fact, an entire breed of mangled Chinese translated to English and English translated back to Chinese which is a product of increased US/Chinese trade. It is so hilarious and unusual, it has developed fans who study, record and chronicle it. This is probably an inevitable product of global community but I think that there may also be a growing uniformity in global communications brought on by the social Web similar to the standardization of American dialects brought on by national broadcasting in the last century. However, in this case there are not mere dialects but whole language differences to overcome. Time will tell. Great post and thanks for contributing!

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Written by GlobalReach
1077 days ago

Thanks for your comment, Shawn! Those Chinese/English translation goofs ARE hilarious. And I agree: there's a very real global language morph going on. Of course, as language blends across borders, it's important to remember differences in perspective. For example, Swedish business mentality is different in many ways from American. There are even big differences between southern US and northern US, east coast and west coast. Words may be the same, but mentality isn't.

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Written by yoni67
1077 days ago

Great article GlobalReach:

As I have found out, it can be as simple as forgetting that in Britain it's a "lorry" and a "lift", not a "truck" and an "elevator." And it can go as far as Chevy's Nova, which translated into Spanish means "doesn't go!"

As international writers by default, we must do some hefty amounts of research to get it right!

Yoni

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Written by GlobalReach
1077 days ago

Yes! Exactly right, Yoni. Great examples! Since the world has gone social, I think we're all becoming more aware of language differences. It's not always easy to tailor our messages on broadcast media like Twitter. But with business communication to individuals and targeted groups, it's so vital to use familiar language and to write with their perspective in mind.

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