So my mother tongue is not English

[Tedel]

Hi there,

I have been hired by an Internet marketing company, and they need some texts here and there. I tried to do some, but I am in front of a language barrier. Being Spanish my mother tongue, and despite the fact I do some gigs as a translator, my English might be too academically correct (so to speak) to make effective ads.

Can you give me any tips to solve it?

[Mark Andrews]

Your written English is very good indeed, there's no doubting this.

Simply put yourself in your prospects shoes. Ask yourself...

What is their #1 frustration or pain right now?

What is keeping them up at night?

What emotions are they experiencing?

And then give them exactly what they want to hear.

Keep your language very simple and use a mixture of longer and shorter sentences to keep their attention.

The purpose of the preheader (if writing long form sales copy) is to get the reader to read the main headline.

And the purpose of the main headline as well as containing an irresistible benefit (hook) to grab their attention... is to get the reader to read the first sentence.

And the purpose of the first very short sentence is to get the reader to read the second sentence. Etc etc...

Every word you write, every sentence constructed will affect your readers emotions. Try not to jar on those emotions.

In a nutshell create a slippery sales funnel so the reader slides all the way down to your direct call to action. And make it very easy for the prospect to take your or your clients desired call to action.

[sanjaypande]

Here is a tip.

Editors and grammarians are available very inexpensively and you can get some really good folks to work for very little money.

If you have the chops for writing strong copy that gets results, you will easily be able to outsource some tasks.

Ted Nicholas writes on yellow pad with a pen even today and uses very simple language

Joe Sugarman was so horrible at grammar that he went back to hire his English teacher to fix it on his copy.

You can't argue with the success they've had.

Take Care,

Sanjay

ps: North Americans have very poor to average linguistic skills so you may actually have an advantage. In fact the quality of English spoken is deplorable in US and Canada (They can't even use the simple words "bring" and "take" correctly)

[Mark Andrews]

Grammar doesn't actually play a very important role in copywriting.

And I'd be careful if I were you, how you go about labeling all North Americans and their linguistic skills.

[Cam Connor]

Originally Posted by sanjaypande

ps: North Americans have very poor to average linguistic skills so you may actually have an advantage. In fact the quality of English spoken is deplorable in US and Canada (They can't even use the simple words "bring" and "take" correctly)

As far as writing copy is concerned for someone who's hiring FROM North America, you want to SOUND as much like that as possible. For North Americans, American English > Proper English, because you want to speak the same way as your audience, this builds familiarity...

I don't know what the OP means by writing "texts", do you mean copy or content? If you're referring to content, just have it proof-read and edited by someone who does speak English as their native language...

If you're referring to copy, I would do the same thing, but the reality is that you'll never be able to write copy for North Americans as good as a North America can, I would try to stick with writing copy to Hispanics. No one can write copy for another country/culture/2nd language as well as the person who grew up in that country/culture/language... that's just a fact of life. The copy doesn't translate well, unless you know every little nuance of your audiences cultural beliefs, and behaviors, as well as their words, including slang.

[sanjaypande]

"And I'd be careful if I were you, how you go about labeling all North Americans and their linguistic skills. "

Apologies Pete.

It was meant more for encouraging the OP than to knock anyone.

My personal experience with the average American and Canadian has been negative from a grammar perspective especially since it is their first language.

The word "momentarily" has been used incorrectly by a large majority of the US and Canada too. It is aggravating to see dictionaries being changed to accomodate incorrect usage.

Nevertheless, I should have been more careful. Perhaps I'll pay for it. We'll see.

Warm Regards,

Sanjay

[Ken_Caudill]

Originally Posted by sanjaypande

Here is a tip.

Editors and grammarians are available very inexpensively and you can get some really good folks to work for very little money.

If you have the chops for writing strong copy that gets results, you will easily be able to outsource some tasks.

Ted Nicholas writes on yellow pad with a pen even today and uses very simple language

Joe Sugarman was so horrible at grammar that he went back to hire his English teacher to fix it on his copy.

You can't argue with the success they've had.

Take Care,

Sanjay

ps: North Americans have very poor to average linguistic skills so you may actually have an advantage. In fact the quality of English spoken is deplorable in US and Canada (They can't even use the simple words "bring" and "take" correctly)

Your last paragraph should read:

North Americans have very poor to average language skills. So you might actually have an advantage. In fact, the quality of English spoken is deplorable in the US and Canada. They can't even use the simple words bring and take correctly.

I will ignore the fact that it is pompous bull****.

[crabfoot]

I wrote some copy for an MTurk requester - he paid out, but didn't like it, and sent me the comments of his reviewers.

One assessor questioned whether I am a native speaker of English (the only subject in which I came top of the class in my Premier League English public school). Another had elementary spelling errors in his comments. The third had some valid comments about the "number of facts" in my submission, but was clearly unable to distinguish between qualitative facts and quantitative facts. Dang Yankees.

If you have already put the stuff into English, you should be able to find someone on Fiverr to "straighten it out" fairly cheaply. If the man you're working for rejects it, try running it past a different "native" next time.

Hey, you must be pretty close, or you wouldn't have got the job in the first place.

Ken - that's the first time I've seen anyone insist on Oxford punctuation in Illinois. Are you originally from Boston?

[Mark Andrews]

Originally Posted by Cam Connor

Yes but they are. This should be a perfect example of what I was saying above... momentarily, you might find that all English dictionaries are changed to more "Americanized" English. We'll see.

I doubt it very much indeed.

Home : Oxford English Dictionary

Oxford English Dictionary Youtube channel:

‪OUPAcademic's Channel‬‏ - YouTube

Free online dictionary definitions for learners of English | Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

Cambridge Dictionary Online: Free English Dictionary and Thesaurus - Cambridge University Press

About us - Cambridge University Press

[Ken_Caudill]

Originally Posted by Pete Walker

I doubt it very much indeed.

Home : Oxford English Dictionary

Oxford English Dictionary Youtube channel:

‪OUPAcademic's Channel‬‏ - YouTube

Free online dictionary definitions for learners of English | Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

Cambridge Dictionary Online: Free English Dictionary and Thesaurus - Cambridge University Press

About us - Cambridge University Press

The OED is the final word on English. Few people use it because it's too cumbersome. I hate to break it to you, but even it is becoming Americanized. Take a look at the latest additions and where they originate.

The American standards are the AP Stylebook and Webster's New World College Dictionary. Some companies use the Chicago Manual of Style.
.

[Ken_Caudill]

Originally Posted by Pete Walker

Bahhhhh humbug and balderdash!

Yup, you can always tell a Brit, but you can't tell him much.

Apologies to Dorothy Parker.

[Dannyboy12]

ps: North Americans have very poor to average linguistic skills so you may actually have an advantage. In fact the quality of English spoken is deplorable in US and Canada (They can't even use the simple words "bring" and "take" correctly)

I'm struggling to comprehend what just happened..
It would seem that a representative from Asia, the worlds leader in crap article production has laid the challenge.

[FreedomGonzo]

The biggest problem with us non-native English speakers trying to write copy is wordiness (especially if you pride yourself as having good English skills). Second biggest problem is the inability to get into the head of the prospect and speak the way they think.

A good way around this is to make your character foreign and play off the stereotype. This way you're allowed to make grammatical mistakes, to not be exact with your language and even use your own voice with an accent in video and audio.

Here is a very crappy example just of the top of my head:

"Hi, My name is Amit, I'm originally from India, and everybody knows that we indians are very good programmers. Well let me tell you a secret beyond secrets. We're not really better at programming, than all the other nation, we're just very good at selling our programming services to Americans. And now, I'm going to show you exactly how you can make millions selling programming skills to small and big businesses in America and worldwide..."

As for which English is correct or not - English that sells is correct as far as copy is concerned, English that doesn't sell isn't. Everything else is just pomp.

[schttrj]

Originally Posted by sanjaypande

"And I'd be careful if I were you, how you go about labeling all North Americans and their linguistic skills. "

Apologies Pete.

It was meant more for encouraging the OP than to knock anyone.

My personal experience with the average American and Canadian has been negative from a grammar perspective especially since it is their first language.

The word "momentarily" has been used incorrectly by a large majority of the US and Canada too. It is aggravating to see dictionaries being changed to accomodate incorrect usage.

Nevertheless, I should have been more careful. Perhaps I'll pay for it. We'll see.

Warm Regards,

Sanjay

Just to let you know, one of my British clients actually thought that Americans speak horrible English. But as they say, when in Rome, do as Romans do.

Originally Posted by Pete Walker

Your written English is very good indeed, there's no doubting this.

Simply put yourself in your prospects shoes. Ask yourself...

What is their #1 frustration or pain right now?

What is keeping them up at night?

What emotions are they experiencing?

And then give them exactly what they want to hear.

Keep your language very simple and use a mixture of longer and shorter sentences to keep their attention.

The purpose of the preheader (if writing long form sales copy) is to get the reader to read the main headline.

And the purpose of the main headline as well as containing an irresistible benefit (hook) to grab their attention... is to get the reader to read the first sentence.

And the purpose of the first very short sentence is to get the reader to read the second sentence. Etc etc...

Every word you write, every sentence constructed will affect your readers emotions. Try not to jar on those emotions.

In a nutshell create a slippery sales funnel so the reader slides all the way down to your direct call to action. And make it very easy for the prospect to take your or your clients desired call to action.

I don't agree with you. Emotions are important! But credibility is yet another factor in a sales copy.

If I were to tell you that I will teach you English and I write a sales copy full of grammatical errors, it can backfire!

Likewise, if the prospects come to know that the author of the sales copy ain't one of them, then it's gonna backfire!

Message to the OP: High Value sells...You must be relatively better in the eyes of the prospects.

[schttrj]

Originally Posted by FreedomGonzo

The biggest problem with us non-native English speakers trying to write copy is wordiness (especially if you pride yourself as having good English skills). Second biggest problem is the inability to get into the head of the prospect and speak the way they think.

A good way around this is to make your character foreign and play off the stereotype. This way you're allowed to make grammatical mistakes, to not be exact with your language and even use your own voice with an accent in video and audio.

Here is a very crappy example just of the top of my head:

"Hi, My name is Amit, I'm originally from India, and everybody knows that we indians are very good programmers. Well let me tell you a secret beyond secrets. We're not really better at programming, than all the other nation, we're just very good at selling our programming services to Americans. And now, I'm going to show you exactly how you can make millions selling programming skills to small and big businesses in America and worldwide..."

As for which English is correct or not - English that sells is correct as far as copy is concerned, English that doesn't sell isn't. Everything else is just pomp.

I am an Indian, and I agree to what you said. Very few non-native speakers actually do know how to write.

[schttrj]

Originally Posted by Cam Connor

You've already damaged your client's credibility by mentioning the fact that he hired an Indian to write copy for an English-speaking audience... I doubt your friend here is the final authority on who to hire as a Copywriter.

Then again, you can just say...he deemed the writer fit for the job, ain't it? By the way, just to help you increase your knowledge, check this article out. You will learn a lot, buddy!

P.S. Add me up in your Skype. I have sent a request.

[FreedomGonzo]

Here is what John Carlton answered to a very similiar question in one of the comments to his blog post:

Yes, I know several writers for whom English was a distant second language… and who had trouble expressing themselves well in it… nevertheless succeed at selling with copy. However, they mostly worked for themselves — and what they did (and what I advised them to do, if they weren’t already) was to just “own” their not-great English… and become The Crazy Hungarian, or the Ninja Marketer, or the Russian Fool… whatever handle they felt comfortable with. Most English-speaking consumers go easy on folks who don’t speak English so well… especially if there is some humor added to the attempt, or some mild self-deprecation. The main thing: It’s just an obstacle… and obstacles are just impediments to fast progress that you must overcome. You figure out how to position yourself either with the obstacle in tow, or find a way around it… and keep moving.

[FreedomGonzo]

Originally Posted by schttrj

I am an Indian, and I agree to what you said. Very few non-native speakers actually do know how to write.

And I'm Russian and it has nothing to do with my opinions on anything, fortunately.

Looking at the headline and the copy, that you have on your website, I have to agree that very few non-native speakers actually do know how to write, and neither you and I are members of this small group.

To be honest, your website needs a complete rewrite, especially the headline on the first page, which is plain hideous:

"It doesn't take a genius to know that Copywriting is THAT Secret to Online Marketing Success, and who makes it possible? Your Beloved Copywriter!"

You offer proofreading, copywriting and editing services after this? It seems, that you need those services more than your presumed clients do.

[Tedel]

Originally Posted by sanjaypande

It is aggravating to see dictionaries being changed to accomodate incorrect usage.

It's happening in Spanish too.

[Tedel]

OK, this is one of those threads I have read in full and slow pace. Thank you for your comments. I guess it's just a matter of practising.

Pete Walker's first comment was great.

[Mel White]

Originally Posted by Tedel

Hi there,

I have been hired by an Internet marketing company, and they need some texts here and there. I tried to do some, but I am in front of a language barrier. Being Spanish my mother tongue, and despite the fact I do some gigs as a translator, my English might be too academically correct (so to speak) to make effective ads.

Can you give me any tips to solve it?

Pay someone to copyedit your translations.

For instance, in this case, "need some texts here and there" is an awkward construction and wouldn't be used in standard American English. "I am in front of a language barrier" also is a phrasing that wouldn't be used in English... and so is "Being (name of language) my mother tongue."

You've got a comma where you don't need a comma (etc.)

I don't mean to sound dismissive, here, but you really do need to hire a good editor for your copy. Your English isn't "academically correct." (I have sold articles to textbook publishers, so I'm pretty sure I know what "academically correct English" looks like.)

[pronetwriter]

Hello Tedel,
I totally understand your frustrations especially if your schooling wasn't done in English.However, i also believe that you can overcome the language barrier.All it takes is practice and more practice.Btw,getting an English text on grammar is a good place to start.Reading a lot of "native English" writing is also not a bad idea to get a feel of different styles and contexts.
My two cents.

[Mark Andrews]

Originally Posted by Pete Walker

Your written English is very good indeed, there's no doubting this.

Simply put yourself in your prospects shoes. Ask yourself...

What is their #1 frustration or pain right now?

What is keeping them up at night?

What emotions are they experiencing?

And then give them exactly what they want to hear.

Keep your language very simple and use a mixture of longer and shorter sentences to keep their attention.

The purpose of the preheader (if writing long form sales copy) is to get the reader to read the main headline.

And the purpose of the main headline as well as containing an irresistible benefit (hook) to grab their attention... is to get the reader to read the first sentence.

And the purpose of the first very short sentence is to get the reader to read the second sentence. Etc etc...

Every word you write, every sentence constructed will affect your readers emotions. Try not to jar on those emotions.

In a nutshell create a slippery sales funnel so the reader slides all the way down to your direct call to action. And make it very easy for the prospect to take your or your clients desired call to action.

Originally Posted by schttrj

I don't agree with you. Emotions are important! But credibility is yet another factor in a sales copy.

What exactly don't you agree with as per my comments above?

This should be interesting.

Would you like a shovel?

Originally Posted by Mel White

Your English isn't "academically correct." (I have sold articles to textbook publishers, so I'm pretty sure I know what "academically correct English" looks like.)

Hello Mel

Would you like to put it to me please and the rest of the professional copywriters here the importance of writing all sales copy in academically correct English?

I look forward to reading your thoughts on this...

[Tedel]

Originally Posted by Mel White

I don't mean to sound dismissive, here, but you really do need to hire a good editor for your copy. Your English isn't "academically correct." (I have sold articles to textbook publishers, so I'm pretty sure I know what "academically correct English" looks like.)

Don't worry, I didn't find it dismissive.