Page 83 - How to write effective business English your guide to excellent professional communication by Fiona Talbot

72 How to Write Effective Business English

Sometimes this can lead to out-and-out mistranslations. Although
users may understand what they mean, these can be unintentionally
funny or unintelligible to the foreign reader, as the following real-life
mistranslated signs show. I deliberately don’t highlight the countries
concerned as it would be unfair to single any out. These mistakes
occur across the board!

● ● Sign over an information booth: Question Authority

● ● Sign in a maternity ward: No children allowed
● ● Sign in a restaurant: Customers who find our waitresses rude
ought to see our manager

● ● In an airline ticket office: We take your bags and send them in
all directions

● ● In a hotel lift/elevator: Please leave your values at the front desk
The point is: do address the problem (even get professional help if
needed), and check that your messages say what you intend them
to say, especially in a global context, to people at differing levels of
proficiency in English.
Let’s now look at a sample of anglicized words used in Western
Europe. Expressions such as ‘a parking’ (UK English: a car park;
US English: a parking lot) or ‘presentation charts’ (UK English and
US English: presentation slides) are used predominantly in Germany
as well as words such as ‘handy’ in continental Europe (UK English:
mobile phone; US English: cell phone) or ‘beamer’ in France and
elsewhere (UK English: projector). But if we are writing globally,
by definition, we’re not just writing for readers in one country.
If the vast majority of English speakers have no idea what these
sorts of ‘pseudo-anglicisms’ mean, this can lead to unintended
problems.

Define business English within your

company

It’s clearly in your interests to evaluate whether the terms you use re-
ally are understood by your target audience. Terms that are understood