By Jonathan Kantor
According to Wikipedia, language localization is defined as: “the process of translating a product into different languages or adapting a language for a specific country or region.”
While both the United States and the United Kingdom share a common language, there are subtle differences between the two versions of English. Writers might wonder if they should take these differences into consideration when producing white papers for those markets.
Here are some examples of words that are different for U.K. English as compared to U.S. English, courtesy of EnglishPlus.com:
U.K.: colour, honour, favourite vs. U.S.: color, honor, favorite
U.K.: centre, theatre vs. U.S.: center, theater
U.K.: realise, theorise, socialise, analyse vs. U.S.: realize, theorize, socialize, analyze
U.K.: cosy, rase, practise vs. U.S.: cozy, raze, practice (both noun and verb)
U.K.: defence, licence (noun; verb is license) vs. U.S.: defense, license (noun and verb)
Should you localize English in your white papers? Actually, the answer is no. When you write a white paper for another English-speaking market, such as the U.K., South Africa or Australia, you should always use American English.
According to EnglishPlus:
“Documents written with American standards of English in mind, works for virtually all English including that of the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the former and present British Commonwealth. American English is considered a universally accepted form of English, especially for business communications.”
While a U.K. businessperson can fully understand a white paper written in American English, an American businessperson reading a white paper written in U.K. English (such as the examples above) will view the localized words as typographical errors. This decreases the credibility of the white paper for the U.S. audience.
So if you plan on writing a white paper for an English-speaking market outside the United States, don’t attempt to localize your English. Write it in American English. Your non-U.S. audience will have no trouble understanding it; and if the paper ends up being downloaded and read by an American decision-maker at some point, the U.K. spellings could minimize opportunities in your biggest business sector - namely the U.S.
About the author: Jonathan Kantor is a 23-year tech industry veteran, and principal of The Appum Group, a firm that specializes in the creation of professional business and technical white papers. Be sure to check out his blog.
