Resources for Journalists Who Are Non-Native English Speakers
Working in English is an attractive incentive to journalists worldwide. English publications tend to have larger budgets and reach wider audiences due to the freedoms the press enjoys in countries like the United States and the United Kingdom. The problem is that English is a nightmare of a language to learn for a non-native speaker.
Languages contain more than just vocabulary and grammar: language contains experience. Therefore, in writing across languages, some concepts that may be second nature to a native English speaker may not come as easily to a non-native speaker. Being in tune with how native speakers write and address their readers is also cultural. For a bilingual person, having access to two rosters of language can actually be very powerful if the skill is developed.
So in order to provide non-native speakers with the resources they need to communicate properly in a new language, we need to reflect on our tools as writers and communicators. How can we optimize those tools?
WORDS
Words are the building blocks of a journalist’s work. Words vary greatly across languages and concepts contained within words are just as varied and usually extremely complex. Bilingual or polyglot journalists will usually have access to one of these languages more readily than the others, and so going to English may not be their first choice for communication. So what tools are available to optimize word use?
Thesaurus. A thesaurus is a great tool for a writer who has a basic knowledge of the language and needs to find some new words to fill out larger concepts. For example, looking up the word “scary” on thesaurus.com will yield 15 new synonyms for the word, all of which have slightly different connotations.
WordReference. WordReference is a search engine/crowdfunded database style translator. It enables writers to ask questions in their native languages and receive plenty of results in their requested languages. It also has a message board specifically for the purpose of educating its community, which is invaluable, as it fills in the gaps that the search engine/AI cannot.
Grammarly. Spelling and phonetics in English are an absolute nightmare, and making mistakes or mixing up homonyms is an easy and common trap to fall into. Most programs have basic spell check, but Grammarly is very thorough with spelling and punctuation traps. This is still an AI, so it will be unable to catch every single mistake, but it’s a useful proofreading tool.
ARTICLES
The words are the building blocks, but without context there isn’t much of a story or a reason for the journalist to be communicating. Journalism’s objective of clear and concise communication must also be kept in mind, and adherence to brevity is not always the most clear or intuitive when working in a second language. There are several tools journalists can use to help keep their work clear and concise.
Hemingway App. Named for Ernest Hemingway, who infamously wrote very brief and simple lines of text in fiction, the Hemingway app proofreads your piece for you and suggests edits to overly long and complicated sentences to make them more concise. It also seeks out less complex language for writers and points out the use of passive voice, a massive grammar trap for anybody new to a Germanic language.
Quick And Dirty Tips. Quick And Dirty Tips™ is a free-to-access online publication that contains literal articles about when it is appropriate to use certain kinds of words and phrases, as well as about how speech and language affect the brain. Grammar Girl’s articles, podcast, and related works are especially helpful.
Wordtune. Wordtune offers alternative methods for writing single sentences by replacing words. It’s one of the more effective shortcuts to learning new words and how they work in context, and then immediately applying a new context to fix the flow of the story as a whole. Wordtune will also offer you several different solutions, and it will be up to you to choose which to go with–meaning you can begin to develop your own unique style.
As Earth globalizes just a bit more every day, it’s important that we keep our resources available for communication across languages. In a world that grows more and more connected every single day, communication is our most powerful tool.
