"Adjusting" your English when contacting a company (to avoid misunderstandings)?

When I went on an exchange to Japan, I adjusted how I spoke to my classmates, even though it was a school that specialized in English, and they had to take three different English classes a day. It still just made it so much easier to communicate for me to drop words that weren't completely necessary for me to get my meaning across.
I do the same when communicating with anyone online, if I can tell by how they type that they're not a native or fluent speaker.

 

I prefer a basic sentence structure. Especially when talking or emailing anyone who may not speak or use English often. I usually find myself working/living in culturally diverse jobs/areas. So short and sweet works best. I am always polite, and speak clearly. I am the type of person that 'speaks with my hands', and I am always patient when it comes to language barriers.
It's much harder with email, since you can't express yourself as easily. I tend to use a link or a reference number to the item I am curious about.

Personally, I find that emoticons can be confusing, or an obstruction to what is being said via email messages. I do include them, just in case, but not often.

 

As being German, I always tend to use complicated sentences. At our language school, we had an old-school gentleman from Southern England, and he taught us business letters in a nowadays overcorrect, very complicated and outright old-fashioned style. Nice to read, if you speak English well enough, but difficult to understand.

As I used that during my apprenticeship in an importing-exporting company dealing most of the time with Southern Asia, my boss asked me to strongly simplify my style. He said this makes dealing with each other not only easier, but also safer.

However, I still have difficulties with this style. But I will try to use it for the first company contact when I have saved enough money to get my dream doll.

 

^^" I guess that's not much of a problem for me...since my English foundation is not that strong too...
So my words in the mail are usually very direct,straight to the point ^^"....

 

This is a little off subject but does anyone know of a good free translator tool?

 

I usually simplify my English with BJD companies just to be certain there's no misunderstanding. Even with American companies I'll simplify terms, trying to keep it to one-to-two syllables, both so that there is no room for error and because, even though English is my first language and I speak it excedingly well, my spelling really sucks!

 

First of all, I am very polite and respectful because I have noticed that Asian doll companies are also, and I try to be very clear and direct with my question. Unless it's Dollmore, Iplehouse, or another company that has high volume sales to foreign markets, I also send a photo of what I am talking about because if they are using a translator, it may not be very accurate. I once requested a doll with a blonde wig from a small company and got a brown one instead, so the next time I ordered, I was careful to include a photo of the one I wanted. I am sure they thought they were sending me what I ordered the first time because when I questioned them about it right before shipping, they assured me that they were sending "blonde". I just think the translator was wrong.

 

Oh yes - first grader English and short sentances. No convoluted explanations - how, why, when, if, maybe this and that.... Just simple questions, simple requests.

And it usually works!

 

...I wonder if companies with really good English-speaking reps are of the opinion that most BJD peope are simple-minded?

 

I never have, but then again I've only contacted Fairyland twice. However, both times the person who spoke with me spoke pretty good English, if not as good as my own. If in the reply I sensed a struggle, I may adjust when I reply or contact next time, but again the messages I've gotten back have always been good enough to speak normally with them.

 

That crossed my mind reading this thread. I'm always careful to use simple language when dealing with companies but maybe that's just being patronising. It's so difficult to know what to do for the best. I don't want to be misunderstood but nor do I want to come across as an idiot!

 

Its so good to know I'm not alone on this one! ^^;
When trading and sending inquiries with Japanese dealers (through their blogs) I do this. Its just to make sure that we're on the same page. Like most of my responses are structured like how their answers are structured. Usually very direct and straight to the point. So I keep verbs to a minimal and use more adjectives.

 

Because a very large portion of my customers speak English as a secondary language, I'm just used to making my sentences much shorter and as simple as possible. I don't really like to use the emoticons when I type to companies, but at times I use them if I think there's a possibility that they could think I'm impatient or upset when I'm really not. The thing that gets me is when someone asks for something, doesn't understand the person's reply and asks them to explain, so the person speaks louder and slower than normal instead of using simpler terminology to get their point across.

 

I'm guilty of doing this.

With English as my first language, contacting companies that are in non-speaking countries instantly makes me want to simplify my words just in case. I don't know if the guy on the other end of my message is fluent in English, or knows enough. So, I do try to not use words that may not be understood. I don't know how complex English classes can get, so better safe than sorry.

But, one time, I did ask a question in simple English, and the response was weird. So, it's also just a bit of a toss-up.

 

I work with a Korean company to get wigs made to my designs. I would never, EVER criticise a foreign country for their English as I am generally unable to speak any of their language, so I am extremely grateful to be able to communicate with Asian companies at all. I think it is too easy to forget that it is not just a different language but often a different alphabet too.

To make things easier I draw most of my ideas up with lots of arrows and marked points, and I don't use slang terms, only terms that can be checked. I would never personally dumb down a business email over using emoticons or over-simplifying my English, as I think it's bordering on demeaning... the only thing I do is double check my spellings. If I'm commenting on a doll directly to a company it might be different though, especially if it's a compliment about a doll!

 

I choose my words carefully as well. Most importantly, I avoid using idioms since those usually don't translate very well. It seems like most companies have someone who understands English on a decent level, so I haven't really noticed a need to use excessively simple sentences.

 

I simplify a lot, and not only because I know that my usual English is both archaic and overly florid.

Classic example - In the lab where I used to work, I made up solutions for a class of ninety. Being short on genuine hazard stickers, we would often just get yellow electrician's tape and write hazards on them - "Toxic", "Irritant", "Carcinogen", and conversely "Non-toxic", "May stain", "Harmless on contact" and such. On the first practical of the 2009-2010 academic year, we were doing a nice, simple insect identification, which involved a lot of grubs preserved in methanol, labelled "Mixed larvae, methanol, inflammable", and a quick-and-dirty crash course in paperweighting (sticking insects inside blocks of clear leucite).

In a big, draughty room, it's difficult to guess the purity of alcohols by smell alone, especially when they're unfamiliar ones.

A student, a native English speaker didn't realise that "inflammable" was the correct British English word meaning "Warning, this will set on fire" (He was expecting it to be "The opposite of flammable" which is, of course, the correct American English term). He managed to dip his elbow into a petri full of the stuff, then immediately tried to dry it out over the bunsen his neighbour was using to sterilise her instruments for the preservation task. His sleeve went up like a bonfire. There was screaming, soot, chaos and second degree burns. He didn't return for four weeks.

That was all thanks to a single word on the side of a bottle, where it was seemingly obvious (in context) what it meant. It's much, much harder in an email.

 

Awwww haha yaaay someone else does this too.
Yeah I think for the sake of having the clearest understanding between us and companies/artists we buy from its best to speak more simply and to the point. ^^;

 

Always. But actually, I talk to all companies in a simplified way, so it's not like I am singling BJD companies out.

This is from experience, not only as a customer, but from a time when I did IT support. It's very very boring, mostly since 90% of the emails suffer from one or more of the following:

1. written by someone who expects you to read his mind
2. "written" in name only (one rambling mega sentence is sooooo easy to read)
3. is needlessly aggressive
4. has taken no effort to answer his own question

Add a language barrier and every communication issue just gets worse.

Now, I'm not saying that offending emails do not deserve a polite and professional answer; they all do. But hopefully you can see that a bit of effort on the writer's part can play a role in getting a quick and meaningful answer. (Especially #1. That just gets a "Can I have this information?" reply which wastes your time too.)

So when writing a letter, I try to use lists whenever possible. Lists shine because it is efficient and can address multiple issues all at once. Proper paragraphs may be "more correct", but trust me when I say a list tells me what you want much faster.

I can't speak for anyone except myself, but it made my job easier when customers did this:

• spell out what you need
• provide relevant data (an order number perhaps?)
• leave out small talk (I don't need your life story)
• end with a thank you

The benefit is to the customer too: I'm less likely to miss a question and (personally) I favored answering quick problems over time-consuming ones so I could help more people in total.