Cheap as chips at the chop shop

Our graffiti is inspired by a conversation I had with two French men about the impossibility of learning English. "How can you learn a language", one asked, "when all the words sound the same"? Cheap sheep chip ship chop shop heat hit harm arm ...

To the ear of the native speaker, these words are not so alike, but we often rely on the context to determine which word to slot in. Unlike many other languages, English is very forgiving and grammatical accuracy is often overlooked.

English is not homogenous, with enormous variety in style and sound in different regions. Imagine to yourself a conversation between a Glaswegian, a New Yorker, an Australian, a Cockney and an Indian, each speaking in a dialect that should be largely incomprehensible to the others. But the "muddle-through" attitude that prevails in English enables rudimentary comprehension and conversation across continents and cultures.

The forgiving nature of English is, possibly, the main reason for its supremacy as an international language; flexible to local nuance but general enough to support global communication. But, within the global context of the web, English speakers are often guilty of forgetting that a majority of the audience are not native-speakers of English and lack the familiarity to be forgiving.

To communicate to a global audience, it is essential to use clear and unambiguous language, a form of the language that has come to be known as "Simple English". When writing web content, ask yourself, "Will this make sense to a person in Russia or in Shanghai?" and "What will an auto-translator make of this content?". If your content does not translate easily, you risk alienating a lot of potential readers.