Universal English
September 14, 2015 1:32 AM   Subscribe

Is there any sort of dictionary or text corpora that outline which of a number of synonyms are the most universally understood by other language speakers or the least colloquial?

The question comes to me as I work with a translation and am choosing between, about, around, approximately, circa, and a few other similar words. Surely one of them is more likely than the others to be the word taught, or the word most similar to other languages. I am thinking like how orange is a very "international" word. Other interesting phrases would include many vs. a lot, etc.
I am aware of Euro-English as used in EU and CoE etc. settings, but that is not what I am looking for.
posted by Iteki to Writing & Language (6 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: You might want to look into websites about "simplified English" . There is a word list in this pdf file. I'm not sure how research-based their selection of words is, though.
posted by lollusc at 2:51 AM on September 14, 2015


Do you want the least ambiguous one? ("About" can be misunderstood as meaning "on the topic of." "Approximately" has no other possible meanings besides the one you're trying to express, and so in a sense it is easier to interpret.)

Or do you want the one that's in widest use with the meaning you have in mind? (Despite the ambiguity, I'd bet money that "about" is more widely used to express this meaning than "approximately", and thus familiar to more speakers, and so in a sense it is easier to interpret.)
posted by nebulawindphone at 5:00 AM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]


Choose the most specific word in English, that had the least alternate meanings, even if it is more obscure, in order to more precisely translate text. Running your text through an automatic translator into a different language and back again, can help identify problem areas which you want to make sure are very precisely explained in English. Colloquialisms, slogans, pop cultural references in particular tend to translate really badly, and jump out of the page to remind you to strip them out.
posted by Elysum at 5:21 AM on September 14, 2015


Depending on context, I'd lean towards using "circa". It's a Latin word, is also used in German, I imagine it's also understood by speakers of other European languages.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 9:48 AM on September 14, 2015


You want to take register into consideration- British English has a higher register than American English, for instance, so words that would be perfectly fine in a British text would sound funny/affected to Americans.
posted by Tamanna at 11:25 AM on September 14, 2015


Best answer: Maybe look into Globish, just as a concept. It is a trademarked thing, but I've come across it a few times as being a sort of common-ground version of English.
posted by Samarium at 3:52 PM on September 14, 2015


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