In my work, I sometimes receive emails from people for whom English is a secondary language. Although they write using words I know, they often string them together in confusing ways.
Sometimes I end up on their website, trying to gain perspective. Confusing emails are bad enough, but I’m decidedly less tolerant of websites spouting nonsensical English; I expect businesses to have a professional and comprehensible online presence.
This actual example still confuses me:
“(Company name) is a baby of consultants from all over the world from various fields to add value to any business from their hands-on experience under the leadership of (CEO name), who is a project consultant for over 2 decades across many business verticals.
A lot of thought process is planned to be shared across many headings in the coming days, each one is a huge opportunity to create a great business, it could be (long list of technical jargon and industries) so on so forth.
“The whole thought process is thought out keeping the world as one piece of opportunity. Let’s see how we can make use of it and create better opportunities for the globally employable ones and enterprising ones without disturbing the right political and natural environments.”
Say what?
What’s the lesson for writers seeking publication and publishers desiring to produce a quality product?
Quite simply, we often tap others to help with a project—proofreading, copyediting, transcription, reformatting, fact-checking, and so forth. Although it’s tempting to select these folks based on price, it’s more important to make sure they truly have a firm mastery of English. Though low rates may be appealing, we get what we pay for—and sometimes much less.
Learn more about writing and publishing in Peter’s book: Successful Author FAQs: Discover the Art of Writing, the Business of Publishing, and the Joy of Wielding Words. Get your copy today.
Peter Lyle DeHaan is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book Successful Author FAQs for insider tips and insights.