Write Right

As the owner/CEO of one of the world’s leading Corporate Communications and Translation & Localization firms, Small World Language Services, I often see e-mails in English that make me think, “Uh-oh. This person is in trouble!” I often wonder if they realize how their writing abilities portray them as a business professional and expose their corporate and personal images openly to others.


Typos and words that are similar from one language to another are what we call “false friends”. They appear to be one thing in one language, but they have other connotation in a foreign language.


I will use a real example from one of my clients, when I asked about a payment that hadn’t been paid, and this is the reply I received from my client:

Dear Kim,

I am sorry for the incontinence you had. I am in Italy and just got your message and took care of it right away. For some reason your invoice did not reach the accounting, so I have made sure you will be paid.

Best regards,

If you don’t know what “incontinence” means, I’ll tell you now. It means the inability to retain your own body liquids – a condition that is frequent among elderly people, but certainly not people my age (I’m in my early 40s now).


When you write in a language that is not your own native tongue, you tend to rely on your own abilities to do it well. But let’s face it – we are prone to make mistakes, especially since we may not realize we’re making those mistakes. It’s alright to make those mistakes while with friends and family, but it’s not OK to make them in business.


And since English is the language we currently use in business throughout the world, your writing skills are constantly put to the test. Make sure you proofread/review your written text and if you can, have it read by a native of the language you’re writing in. As a minimum, run the spellchecker in that language. You may be surprised how many mistakes you’ve made.


Until your writing skills get up to par, rely on a good native speaker to help you out. There are professionals who can provide you with professional services like e-mail writing and revision, document creation and translation, with the aim of helping you communicate better. It’s time to write right!


Kimberlee Thorne-Waintraub is an experienced translator, proofreader, content writer and project manager from the USA.