Writing across cultures: Basic principles for novice intercultural writers

This paper begins by distilling the complexities of intercultural writing into two basic concepts: writer responsibility and reader responsibility. Writer responsibility is characterized by its clear, concise, and analytical prose. A prime characteristic of writer responsibility is a tight overlap between sentences. This may expressed symbolically as AB to BC. When miscommunication arises, the responsibility rests with the writer. On the other end of the spectrum is reader responsibility. Reader responsibility is characterized by its flowery, ornate, and even holistic prose. In this instance, the responsibility for miscommunication is usually aimed at the reader. Unlike writer responsibility, reader responsibility avoids moving a topic from one sentence onto the next. This may be expressed symbolically as AB to CD. While no writer is fully writer responsible or reader responsible, this difference provides a valuable tool for people who need to write for another culture.