1. Do not rely on Google Translate. Google Translate often produces gibberish. Visitors to your site may be able to get the general idea of what your company produces, but will not be impressed by the lack of effort you’ve taken to communicate with an international audience of potential customers. Enter a simple, widely used term such as “Vi har lukket” in Google translate, and it offers “We have closed”, which is an incorrect direct translation, unless you include “om søndagen”. The correct term is “We are closed”. If you want to be seen as a professional business, don’t rely on a tool that will only offer translations based on probability.
2. Use online translation dictionaries such as ordbogen.com. A basic subscription is 19kr. a month. Use free websites like Thesaurus.com for a wide variety of English-language synonyms and antonyms.
3. Don’t fall into the Danish compound word trap! Many words used in Danish that are “borrowed” from the English language and put together as a compound word - such as “boardmember”, “rockband”, and my least favorite, “coinoffer”(!) - are completely incorrect in English. The correct English terms are “board member”, “rock band”, and there’s just no such thing as a “coin offer”. Check spellings by using an English language spell checker on your computer, or on websites such as dictionary.com.
4. Don’t be afraid of contractions like “don’t”, “aren’t”, and “shouldn’t”. A colleague once told me that her folkeskole English teacher forbid the use of contractions, citing them as improper English. Contractions were once looked down upon in English as “unscholarly”, but that was during the 18th century. Today, not using contractions, even in formal, business English, can appear stiff and awkward. However, contractions such as “would’ve” and “should’ve” should be avoided in business English if you’re not 100% certain of their usage, and “ain’t” is strictly forbidden.
5. Check your apostrophes. Apostrophes are used to show possession, in words such as “teacher’s desk”, and “Mary’s pancreas”, and in contractions, such as “it’s” (it is). They are not used to show possession in pronouns such as “its” and “yours”. When words end in “-s”, apostrophes are placed differently for singular and plural nouns to show possession, such as “the business’s website” (singular) and “the businesses’ team leaders” (plural).
6. The Oxford comma is your English language friend. The Oxford comma, also known as the serial comma, is an optional comma used before a coordinating conjunction, such as “and”, in a list of three or more items in a sentence: “Today, we’ll discuss finances, marketing, and expenses”. In Danish, a comma is generally not used before “og” in a sentence list, but in English, it’s used for clarity, and to separate items that may not belong together. Otherwise, you can have sentences like “I’ll stop at the grocery store for some things for lunch, like onions, herring and white bread”. Imagine the shock and horror, not knowing if you would be expected to eat herring on white bread! A comma after “herring” would suggest that there was already some rugbrød at home.
7. Avoid full names in business letter salutations, but use commas. If you don’t know the addressee, the proper format would be to use Mr./Ms. and the person’s last name; “Dear Ms. Liebowitz,”. If you do know the person, use their first name only: “Dear Mary,”, always adding a comma after the name. “Mrs.” is generally avoided in American business English, as marital status is usually professionally irrelevant, unless it’s the addressee’s stated preference. Addressing a letter in English as “Dear Mary Liebowitz,” sounds robotic and impersonal, and just plain weird.
8. Avoid colloquialisms in business English, such as “gonna” and “wanna”, or outdated slang terms like “wannabe”. Their usage does not suggest a strong familiarity with the English language; to the contrary, they appear unprofessional and juvenile.
9. Be careful of common translation misspellings, like “of cause”. I frequently see this example in text written in English by Danes. When writing “selvfølgelig”, the English term would be “of course”. (“Of cause” would translate to “af årsag”).
10. Be polite. Always remember to use “please” and “thank you” in business English. While it may seem superfluous in Danish, and text that does not include polite terms will still be grammatically correct in English, you can appear brash and commanding to native English speakers, and sometimes, even arrogant. “If you have questions, contact us” is not open and welcoming to unsure customers, but “Please contact us with any questions” is much warmer.
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