Here are four basic principles to follow if your company or agency is serious about creating an effective English website for Westerners.
*Professional mother tongue English writers
*Direct translations never work -- rewrite, re-focus and reflect
*Understand Western concepts of public relations style writing
*Focus on the client, customer or investor not on company history
Mother tongue English: It is immediately obvious to Westerners when
a corporate website has been written by someone whose mother tongue is Chinese. The writing is often not understandable. It also lacks proper style and substance and
can contain unintended meaning which Westerners find laughable. Chinese writers simply do
not have the necessary command of English. They not only lack the vocabulary but also the
cultural background to produce clear, concise and informative promotional
documents in English. It is also very unfair
to expect a Chinese writer to write well in their second language. Writing well in English is very difficult
even for native speakers of English who are not professional writers.
Direct translations almost never work: The basic concepts of the two languages are very different, so writers should never try to exactly match the Chinese and English
versions of the same article. Of course similar
information must be present in both the English and Chinese versions but the
English version requires a different approach and writing style. Oftentimes English articles also require more
background or a different focus than the Chinese version. This is especially
true when your website is targeting Westerners who likely lack cultural understanding
of Chinaand its history. One last key point: Chinese slogans and poetry seldom translate well in English.
Western concepts of corporate English: Westerners have a
very different expectation when they read information produced by a
company. The writing must be clear,
concise, confident and provide concrete information. Most
Western readers are cynical and won’t readily believe a company’s statement that is too
boastful when it is not backed up by facts.
Readers will be ‘turned off’ by exaggerated, self-promoting company statements.
Focus on the consumer not the company: Western research
shows that consumers want three things from a corporate website. 1. How do the services or products of a company improve their quality of life. 2. Company news that directly affects consumers; not internal corporate news. 3. How will the website inform, engage and
entertain the reader. This same research shows
that consumers are least interested in the internal affairs of a company and its
history.
Too many Chinese websites
start with the least interesting information such as, “The Company was founded
in 19….”. In Western culture this is not interesting and not important to the reader. The focus should be on how the website will
improve people's lives!
We hope the above four points
help you understand the need for special skills and awareness of Western
cultural standards.
