Adapting your English to an international audience

The UOC is an online university with an international community. As such, its institutional texts are intended for a global audience. Although for consistency's sake, we recommend the use of British English spelling conventions, we also recommend taking other varieties of English into account, to make these texts accessible to the largest possible readership. For example, you should avoid terms and constructions that are so highly localized or specific to a given culture, place or country (for instance, the UK) that they pose challenges for speakers of other varieties of English.

This section offers advice on how to tailor your writing to communicate effectively with an international audience. Applying such advice too mechanically or forcefully could make your writing repetitive or ineffective; remember that your main goal should be to engage readers and facilitate their reading experience!

That said, here are a few tips to make your writing more transparent:

Keep it short

Who hasn't reached the end of a very long sentence and had to go back to the beginning to remember who or what the subject was? Lengthy, complex sentences can be particularly problematic when you are writing for an international audience, which will often include non-native English speakers. Wherever possible, use short, straightforward sentences with clear subjects, verbs and objects. This will help ensure that readers understand who is doing what, and to whom, resulting in a more fluid reading experience and helping to make sure that no key information gets lost along the way.

Avoid opaque idioms and colloquial turns of phrase

Most native British English speakers would have no trouble grasping the meaning of the colloquial expression chuffed to bits. Likewise, most English speakers native to the US wouldn't blink at the sentence It's always easy to be a Monday morning quarterback. But language that is so specific to a place or culture can be a mystery to speakers of other varieties of English, and even more so to non-native speakers. When writing for an international audience, more neutral phrasings such as very pleased or It's always easier to know what to do with hindsight may thus be preferable to the aforementioned native expressions.

Do not abuse unnecessary jargon, buzzwords, or slang

To avoid the ambiguity that these types of potentially novel, opaque or fleeting expressions can cause outside of specific contexts, when writing for a global or non-specialized audience, try using more traditional or conventional wording instead. Thus, rather than pushing the envelope, you might try something bold and new; rather than putting a pin in something to circle back to, you can move on for now and come back to the topic later. This will have the added advantage of being more intelligible to people who may not yet be familiar with the latest slang.

Be careful with phrasal verbs

English is full of phrasal verbs; avoiding them entirely would result in stilted, unidiomatic prose. Nevertheless, when presented with an obvious choice between two natural ways to say something in English, one with a phrasal verb and the other without, when writing for an international audience, it may be helpful to choose the latter. Thus, rather than calling off a meeting, you could cancel it; rather than setting [one] up, you can schedule or arrange it; etc. In this case, considerations such as the exact target audience for your text and how common a given phrasal verb is across multiple varieties of English may inform your choice. Bear in mind that phrasal verbs are a vital component of the English language, and are often the best (or the only) way to say something (for example, to log in).

Omit unnecessary or unusual non-technical words

Just as unnecessary jargon can cause speed bumps for readers (native speakers and otherwise), so can uncommon non-technical words, such as henceforth or heretofore. Such words are largely archaic and rarely used outside of very specific contexts. Consequently, rather than making a text sound more refined, they can cause readers to stumble or pull back, disrupting their reading experience. Flowery abstract phrases such as for all intents and purposes or as it were are likewise most often empty filler. So, you can (and should!) safely omit them, particularly in texts for an international audience.