
Establishing Electronic Writing Style Policies for Employees 227
does not mean that every reader, intended and hidden, will have a
trouble-free experience with messages that are written in English.
Determine who your reader is and what your reader’s language needs
are before you start writing. If necessary, have your message translated.
• International correspondence calls for more detailed and specific
information than domestic e-mail. For example, a message that reads,
‘‘The teleconference to review employment policies will begin at 6:00
p.m. on 6/5/09,’’ could have disastrous results. Americans would read
that date as June 5, 2009. Europeans would ...