COPYEDITING FOR AN INTERNATIONAL TARGET AUDIENCE

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INTRODUCTION
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At the end of the twentieth century, English has become the most widely studied language in the

world (Smith 1983c, p. v). With nearly 25 percent of the world’s population either fluent or

competent in English, more people now use this language than any other (Crystal 1997, p. 5). It

has become the common tongue of international aid, academia, diplomacy, media and tourism. It

is the official language—or among the official languages—of 85 percent of international bodies

(Crystal 1997, p. 79). English is the language of computers, technology and the Internet.

A result of the language’s spread to so many cultures and areas of human activity is that

today English can no longer be seen as the property of English-speaking countries. It has

become a lingua franca used between native and non-native speakers, as well as among non-

native English speakers.

Against this backdrop, there is now increasing pressure on international organisations and

companies to reduce the number of languages they work in so as to minimise the expense of

translation and reduce unwieldy amounts of clerical work. As Crystal (1997, p. 10) points out,

half or even more of the budgets of international bodies can be taken up by translation costs.

English inevitably figures among the languages retained by such groups.

To communicate their message effectively, texts intended for this extended family of English

users require special treatment. By its nature, an international target audience must be seen to

include people who are native and non-native speakers of English whose cultural backgrounds,

and political and religious views differ widely or are even conflicting. I therefore believe that

editors working on such texts should not only have an awareness of this group’s diverse

linguistic backgrounds, but also of its diverse cultural make-up. For these texts to be effective,

editors must identify their own cultural and linguistic biases and apply different criteria from
those used when the target audience may be culturally and linguistically a more-or-less known

quantity.

In this essay I will attempt to describe what some of these criteria might be. I will begin by

identifying some general features of English as it is used as an international language and how it

differs from the varieties spoken in countries where it is a native language. This will serve to

provide a framework for the rest of my discussion. I will then examine some of the factors that

come into play when non-native speakers are confronted with English texts. In this regard, I will

attempt to demonstrate how cultural and linguistic background will to a significant degree

determine a non-native reader’s understanding of a text. Throughout the discussion I will

suggest ways in which the points raised can be used to formulate criteria for the editing of texts

for an international audience. I will illustrate my points where appropriate through examples

from the literature and my own experience as a translator and copyeditor for European

companies.

ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE

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As mentioned above, English can no longer be seen to be the property of nations where it is a

native language. It is used by different countries to communicate with other countries (such as at

the United Nations), as well as for internal communication within nations (the Philippines and

Singapore, for example).

Irrespective of the context, however, when people from non-English speaking countries meet

and use English as a common tongue, it is not necessary for them to have any knowledge of the

culture, history or lifestyle of Britain, the United States or any other English-speaking country.

English becomes a medium for them to express their own identities, politics, views and cultures.

Since language is an expression of culture, its transfer from one culture to another will see it

develop in ways that are quite ‘foreign’ to the original culture. While the adoption of a new
language may enrich the adopting culture by exposing its members to a greater variety of

cultural influences, the language itself will do little to alter the systems of logic and culture-

influenced perceptions of the world already rooted in its new setting. Smith (1983b, p. 11)

points out that ‘The spread of English is not a homogenizing factor which causes cultural

differences to disappear, but the use of English offers a medium to express and explain these

differences.’

It has been argued that the varieties of English that have resulted from the spread of the

language are just as valid as those used in countries where English is the native language.

According to Smith (1983a, p. 2):

We in ELE [English Language Education] need to find redundant ways to point out that English
belongs to the world and every nation which uses it does so with different tone, colour, and
quality. English is an international auxiliary language. It is yours (no matter who you are) as
much as it is mine (no matter who I am). We may use it for different purposes and for different
lengths of time on different occasions, but nonetheless it belongs to all of us.

I therefore believe that to effectively tailor information for an international audience, editors

need to be aware that these other varieties of English do exist and that texts aimed at their users

should be edited with this cultural diversity in mind. Editors working on such texts cannot afford

to make any cultural assumptions about their target audience.

HOW NON-NATIVE SPEAKERS APPROACH ENGLISH TEXTS

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While profiling the target audience of a manuscript to be read in one’s own country is never

foolproof—particularly in a multicultural society such as Australia—in practical terms, there

comes a point where one must assume that exposure to common media, and physical and

immaterial ‘landmarks’ will mean that most readers will recognise certain symbols and attach

common meanings to them. In view of the above discussion, however, attempting a similar

profile for an international audience is futile. The fact that the target audience has the potential

for being truly culturally diverse and may have acquired their English skills in the most disparate
environments means that elements such as register, vocabulary, parochialisms, sentence structure

and so on must all be seen in a different light.

I believe it can only be beneficial for editors working on such texts to have a good knowledge

of at least one other culture and its language. A knowledge of foreign cultures is useful since it

promotes a heightened sensitivity to the issues and cultural assumptions that come into play

when people from different cultures interact—in this case with a text. Experience with languages

other than English is likewise useful since it provides a first-hand insight into how linguistic—

and cultural—background influences the way in which one reads and interprets foreign-language

texts.

In view of the above, I have divided the following discussion into factors stemming from

readers’ linguistic background and factors stemming from their cultural background. Note,

however, that since language is an expression of culture and—as discussed below—systems of

logic within cultures are influenced by language, there is some degree of overlap between the

two divisions.

Linguistic background
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The available ‘categories’ for thought in different languages are not the same. Welsh and

Japanese, for example, share a common trait in that neither language obliges its users to

differentiate between blue and green. Italian has single words for one’s son’s or daughter’s

mother- and father-in-law—consuocera and consuocero respectively. Japanese has no translation

of decision-making. In fact, ‘modern linguists struggle with the issue of what, if any, are

common basic categories of thought across all languages’ (Hofstede 1987, p. 27).

Likewise, as Smith (1983, p. v) observes, ‘Information and argument are structured

differently in different cultures.’ The Italians and French, for example, interpret the English

fortnight as fifteen days, since they include the current day in their reckoning. The Eskimos of
Greenland do not say ‘I see a person,’ but ‘a person appears to me.’ The Chinese, Japanese and

Korean languages do not require speakers to constantly draw a distinction between plural and

singular nouns—although ways do exist for expressing these concepts.

While such pieces of linguistic miscellany are of no real direct application to editing English

copy for an international audience, they do demonstrate how basic concepts can be approached

in very different ways, depending on the cultural and linguistic perspective of the speaker.

Since it would be pointless to make English resemble a language it is not, it would appear

that the best way to avoid any potential for misunderstanding stemming from such differences is

to ensure that information and argument are structured in as straightforward a manner as

possible. From the point of view of written expression, this means clear sentence structures and

clear paragraph development.

Fundamental to achieving clear sentence structure is to limit the number of ideas expressed in

each sentence. (I have found that a handy technique for assessing how clear a sentence will be to

a non-native reader is to mentally translate it into a non-English language.) Care needs to be

taken, however, that a text is not simplified to the point of becoming stilted or uninteresting to

both native and non-native readers. If, however, an editor suspects that even after working on

sentence structure and paragraphing the concepts expressed in a text may be foreign or difficult

for a non-native reader to grasp, it may be advisable to refer the text back to the author to

provide simple examples to demonstrate these points.

I would suggest that clear sentence structure is even more important than what editors may

consider to be difficult vocabulary. With the exception of jargon, slang, colloquialisms, idiomatic

expressions and the vocabulary of a particular discipline (see below), any assumptions as to

which words an international audience will or will not understand can only be subjective. English

words such as quotidian and tenebrous, for example, may be unknown to many native speakers.

In Italy, however, quotidiano and tenebroso are extremely commonplace. Similarly, one cannot

make assumptions as to the nature of the texts readers have already been exposed to. As Lado
(1972, p. 283) points out in reference to sample vocabularies used for teaching English as a

foreign language:

In spite of the care and experience that has gone into the preparation of such lists, they cannot
give us a vocabulary sample graded as to difficulty because by their very nature they fail to take
into account the most powerful factor in acquiring the vocabulary of a foreign language, namely,
the vocabulary of the native language.

If editors feel that a word jars with the register of a text purely from the point of view of English

usage, they should, of course, look for an alternative. Editing out a word for the benefit of non-

native readers on the basis that it is difficult or unusual in English, however, may be making a

false assumption.

Because they are often culturally or even regionally specific, slang, jargon, colloquialisms,

buzzwords and idiomatic expressions are another matter entirely. Texts aimed at practitioners of

a particular discipline or trade that contains the jargon of that field, however, are an exception.

Largely because of the preponderance of international exhibitions, conferences, academic

journals and trade magazines that use English, even non-English-speaking people often have an

excellent knowledge of English terminology in their own particular field. I have found, for

example, that button manufacturers in Switzerland and Italy are quite aware of what a narrow

rim flat centre combo is!

Because of the influence of the English language, its terminology has also been widely

adopted into various fields within different languages. The first ten documents returned from a

World Wide Web search using the Alta Vista search engine for the keyword franchising, for

example, included five from the United States, four from Italy (in Italian) and one from Spain (in

Spanish). Similar results can be achieved with terms from numerous disciplines.

Turning to matters of spelling, punctuation and style, since an editor’s aim is to ensure that

the author’s message is communicated as clearly as possible, I believe that rather than following

just one set of guidelines—as recommended in a particular manual of style, for example—

common sense should be the guide. Where alternatives exist, the alternative that the editor feels

is the most logical and least likely to cause confusion should be chosen.
 In the case of spelling, the American style is probably preferable since it is more phonetic.

There is also the consideration that ‘The USA has nearly 70 per cent of all English mother-

tongue speakers in the world . . . Such dominance, with its political and economic

underpinnings, currently gives the Americans a controlling interest in the way the language is

likely to develop’ (Crystal 1997, p. 53). Such considerations, combined with the spread of the

Internet, American trade journals and other media, would suggest that the average non-native

reader is probably more likely to be familiar with this spelling style.

The choice of American or British spelling is a minor point in the overall comprehensibility of

a text, however. Consistency of style is the key issue here, since inconsistencies may create

confusion. Nevertheless, I would suggest that if British spellings are used, the use of the -ise

suffix in texts for an international audience is difficult to defend since the -ize version is

acceptable in both American and British English.

As regards matters of punctuation and style, the best approach is simply to avoid the

alternative that, by the editor’s judgement, is the most likely to distract rather than help the non-

native reader. Knowledge of the punctuation styles of other languages is useful in developing

sensitivity in this regard.

Cultural background
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In the preface to Readings in English as an International Language (1983c, p. v) Smith

observes that:

It is important to realize that although a good command of English grammar, lexis, and
phonology is necessary to facilitate international communication, it is not sufficient . . . Levels of
politeness, irony, and understatement are frequently misinterpreted when the speakers come from
different cultures.

In the same way as learning another language can heighten an editor’s sensitivity to their own

linguistic biases, gaining a knowledge of other cultures can bring about an awareness of cultural

bias. While travel and an interest in other countries are obviously beneficial to this end, Hoft
(1997) suggests that the study of ‘popular cultural models’ of the type developed by Edward T.

Hall, Fons Trompenaars, Geerte Hofstede, John Mole, David Victor and other authors can also

be useful.

In Mind Your Manners: Managers Guide to Working in the Single European Market (Mole

1991), the author profiles the nationals of the European Union Member States, briefly describing

their attitudes, behaviour and sense of humour. Although such stereotypes are inevitably prone

to oversimplification, they may be useful in developing a sense of one’s own cultural biases and

what to look for when editing for an international audience.

The most obvious manifestation of cultural bias is the parochialism. While parochialisms can

be a problem even in manuscripts that will only be read in one country, the issue becomes

fundamental in texts for an international audience. There are surprisingly few places, people,

books, films, symbols and so on that can be referred to with any degree of certainty that readers

in every country will be familiar with them.

A reference to the Taj Mahal, for example, once created a problem in an English–Italian

translation I was involved in since my Italian client had not heard of it. In this case, my own

general knowledge as a national of a Commonwealth country proved to be different from that of

my Italian client, the links existing between India and the Commonwealth being very different

from those between Italy and India. Even where reference is made to a person or thing that is

universally known, the connotations that this person or thing will have in different cultures will

be vastly different. Where meaning hinges on the connotations of such references, an alternative

way of expressing this meaning must be found.

Parochialisms can also take the form of political or religious assumptions that in some

countries may be offensive. Care should be taken to avoid bias stemming from exposure to the

‘good guys/bad guys’ approach of much of the news-reporting media. One cannot assume that

the group portrayed as the villain in a particular situation by one’s local media will be seen in the

same light in another country with a different political system and social values.
 Religious parochialisms can likewise cause offence. I once worked on a text in which the

author claimed that Bethlehem was ‘seen by all humanity as the birthplace of civilisation.’ While

under any circumstances such a comment would be seen as subjective and debatable, in the

context of a manuscript intended for an international audience it was also highly inappropriate.

In his cultural profiles of individual countries, Mole (1980) devotes a section in each to

humour. In his discussion he demonstrates not only how humour varies from country to country

but also that it can play very different roles in different cultures in terms of when and where it is

considered appropriate. Smith (1983b, p. 8) mentions the following example:

Robert Strauss, formerly chief foreign trade negotiator [for the United States], is known for his
down-home, friendly style. While working on the deficit trade negotiations with Japan, Time
magazine reports that as the talks were on the verge of breaking down, Strauss slapped the
Japanese Minister on the back and laughing said, ‘You know what? You’re crazy as hell!’ That
the negotiations did not collapse on the stop [sic] is probably due more to the Japanese Minister’s
sophistication than to Strauss’ rich humour.

Humour—irony and sarcasm in particular—is always prone to misinterpretation even in

‘mono-cultural’ settings. Its use in texts intended for an international audience should be very

carefully considered.

Finally, in his discussion of units of measurement, Croft (1972, p. 424) notes that ‘these

categories provide a set of “grooves” for thinking about distance, weight, etc.—quite different

from our set of “grooves”.’ An awareness, therefore, of different currency, date, time and

measurement systems is also important when editing texts for an international audience.

As regards currency, the United States dollar and the yen would appear to be the most

commonly used units in the international press. It has also been my experience that most

Europeans are more aware of the value of their currency against the US dollar than any other

currency. I would therefore suggest that currencies in texts for an international audience are

generally best presented with a US-dollar equivalent or converted into US dollars.

As far as dates are concerned, since different abbreviated date formats exist, the safest way to

present them is with the month spelt out. Similar confusion can occur with times, which should

always be given as either AM/PM or on the 24-hour clock.

CONCLUSION
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Recurring themes in my discussion of the cultural and the linguistic aspects of English as it is

used as an international language have been knowledge and sensitivity. The cultural and

linguistic knowledge that a copyeditor brings with them to a job will obviously determine the

quality of the final product. However, like language and culture themselves, this knowledge

must be ever evolving. As I have demonstrated above, sensitivity is essential for effective cross-

cultural communication. I believe that an understanding and respect for other people’s language

and culture can heighten such sensitivity, which can therefore be said to also have its roots in

knowledge. The principles of knowledge and sensitivity are consequently paramount in the

approach taken by copyeditors when working for an international audience.

While this discussion has centred on the needs of non-native users of English, an international

audience also includes native speakers. Editing a manuscript for an international audience should

therefore not be confused with simplifying a text for students of English. Although the English

abilities of an international audience may vary widely, texts aimed at this audience may deal with

any subject imaginable and contain highly complex concepts. It is not the job of the editor to

simplify these concepts but to ensure they are expressed in the clearest way possible in terms of

the linguistic and cultural diversity of the audience.

Implicit to the concept of English for an international audience is that texts may be produced

in any country to be read in any country. In light of the above discussion regarding the

relationship between culture and language, a certain amount of flexibility is therefore necessary

on all sides. Rules of grammar and syntax aside—which in any case must be maintained so that

the language does not become incomprehensible—a reader should not expect that an English

text written by a native of Italy, for example, will follow the same logic as one written by an

English native speaker. In the context of international English, the Italian’s English text is just as
valid as the English native speaker’s. If the Italian were expected to adapt their logic to the

Anglo-Saxon model—and therefore attempt to assimilate something of the Anglo-Saxon culture

—the language would no longer be functioning as a true lingua franca.

REFERENCES
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Croft, K. 1972, ‘Language and categories: some notes for foreign language teachers,’ in
Readings on English as a Second Language: for Teachers and Teacher-Trainees, ed. K.
Croft, Winftop Publishers, Inc., Cambridge, Mass.

Crystal, D. 1997, English as a Global Language, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

Hofstede, G. 1984, ‘Values and culture,’ in Culture’s Consequences, International Differences

in Work-Related Values (abridged edition), ed. G. Hofstede, SAGE Publications, Inc.,
Beverly Hills, California

Hoft, N. 1997, ‘Profiling users from around the world,’ URL: http://www.world-
ready.coni/tprofile.htm

Kaplan, R. B. 1972, ‘Cultural thought patterns in inter-cultural education,’ in Readings on

English as a Second Language: for Teachers and Teacher-Trainees, ed. K. Croft, Winthrop
Publishers, Inc., Cambridge, Mass.

Lado, R. 1972, ‘Patterns of difficulty in vocabulary,’ in Readings on English as a Second

Language: for Teachers and Teacher-Trainees, ed. K. Croft, Winthrop Publishers, Inc.,
Cambridge, Mass.

Mole, J. 1990, Mind your Manners: Managers Guide to Working in the Single European
Market, The Industrial Society, London

Smith, L. E. 1983a, ‘English as an international auxiliary language,’ in Readings in English as

an International Language, ed. L. E. Smith, Pergamon Press Ltd., Oxford

—— 1983b, ‘English as an international language: no room for linguistic chauvinism,’ in

Readings in English as an International Language, ed. L. E. Smith, Pergamon Press Ltd.,
Oxford

—— 1983c, preface to Readings in English as an International Language, ed. L. E. Smith,

Pergamon Press Ltd., Oxford