Bad English in SA business

This problem is not limited to the man on the street; many copywriters, advertisers and journalists – whose proficiency in English is a prerequisite for their jobs – still haven’t come to grips with basic principles of writing and spelling.

One of the most frequent mistakes in writing is the use of the apostrophe “s”. Ubiquitously, national retailers advertise or display “CD’s”, “photo’s”, “Plasma’s and LCD’s” – the list goes on. It is hard to imagine that these big retailers don’t know how to spell the names of the various products they sell every day.

While these words may appear to be spelled correctly, the apostrophe (‘) is never used to form a plural. When one has more than one car, it is spelled “cars”, with no apostrophe. The same rule applies to words such as CD, photo and SMS. So, on any given day one might receive six SMSs. Or your company may have a number of HODs. And if you sell music to the general public, you sell CDs and DVDs.

Another common mistake is the difference between “borrow” and “lend”. One so often hears someone ask: “Can you borrow me your pen?” Borrowing is the act of taking or receiving, while lending is the act of giving. The giver is the lender and the taker is the borrower. So, if you want to borrow something, you ask: “Could you lend me your calculator” or “Could I borrow your pen.” It’s that simple.

The problem with these and many other mistakes is that it affects our credibility as communicators. While these little errors seem insignificant in a cosmic sense, there are many other problems South Africans experience when communicating in English.

Often, second language speakers of English are not sure of certain structures, tenses or the spelling of words, and consequently come up with a shortcut or choose not to communicate at all. Others find it difficult to express themselves properly or battle with written communications. These problems can always be related back to a gap in understanding and applying the basic rules of English.

There are many training options for professionals which address gaps left by inadequate and over-academic school education. Once a person is made aware of his mistakes and how to express himself better, it becomes easier to communicate correctly and with confidence. The issue of using correct and efficient English should be addressed before companies spend money on generic communication or writing courses. Moreover, retailers and advertisers should run a spell-check before paying millions for incorrect posters, advertisements and display shelves.