Why Western Copywriters Shouldn’t Fear India

May 3, 2007

I often read complaints by US and UK copywriters on the swamping of freelance work bidding websites by Indian writers. Many blame the low prices on the foreign competition, prepared to work for fees sometimes lower than the minimum wage.

For a while, webmasters loved it. They had a huge online pool of intelligent, university educated Indian graduates prepared to work for bargain basement prices. However, the tide might be slowly turning back in favour of the natives as webmasters realise that they might not be getting quite what they had wanted.

J. Watanabe discusses in his Beyond Konspiracy blog about an occasion when he tried to find an Indian copywriter for a UK client. Despite finding numerous copywriters he thought were acceptable (including a leading Indian writer with a Masters degree and who read English publications daily) none were taken on because the UK client found that, though a fair number of Indian copywriters write well, their writing looks funny.’

Indian copywriters use the same vocabulary and grammar as Western writers, but there are inherent differences between the two versions. I often find Indian writing a bit disjointed and cumbersome to read. Many a time have I retraced a paragraph on an Indian news site because I felt I had lost the meaning halfway through.

To an Indian their English writing structure is correct, and flows according to their conventions. The nuances and differences in how the language is applied, however, means that it never quite reads as if it were written by a native English speaker.

Even if you were to train an Indian copywriter on some of the distinctions of Western English I think they would still struggle to write like a native because they are not fully immersed in the language.

Writing is like sculpting a block of ice. You start by pouring out all your garbled points and thoughts into your first draft to create your block, ugly and unrefined. Then the real work begins of chipping, chiseling and fashioning the ice to try and create a beautiful sculpture, with every word and sentence shaped to reflect your desired impression.

Indians approach their block of ice with different shaped tools and a different plan in mind. Their sculpture isn’t necessarily any less attractive. It’s just designed to be appreciated by a different audience.

Brian Clark wrote a post this week about using metaphors to improve the impact of your copy. When you consider how our language has evolved, with the subtle use of such devices, it makes it virtually impossible for a foreign writer to be able to compete in the same ball park.

There will always be webmasters who just want cheap copy to fill up space. However, if a business really cares about ensuring they communicate their message then there are just some corners that can’t be cut.


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Posted by Matt Ambrose | Filed Under Copywriting 

Comments

15 Responses to “Why Western Copywriters Shouldn’t Fear India”

  1. Harry on May 3rd, 2007 7:37 pm

    I agree with the article. It has been my experience that Indian people don’t know how to write worth nothing. You can’t understand what they say. And when you try to communicate with them, they are very arrogant and think they are better than anyone else because they went to a prestigous college and think their English is superior.

    I would prefer to work with anyone other than Indians.

  2. Walter Burek on May 3rd, 2007 9:18 pm

    Matt,

    Great analysis! Thank you.

    wgb

  3. sandeep on May 3rd, 2007 10:39 pm

    Hi,

    I completely agree with the article. What I comprehended from the article, writer is trying to persuade that Indians are from different culture and can’t connect western readers mind as their western counterparts can because of inherent likes. At the end of the day, quality is with everybody but meaning of quality is different for different set of people. This phenomenon must be prevailing among the westeren countries also. Different set of people connect to same words differently.
    It is like that I would have written “I would prefer to work with anyone but Indians”. My counterparts would have enjoyed it more reading the same sentence in this fashion.

    Thanks for the lovely article!

  4. Should western copywriters worry about Indian competition? at Blogbharti on May 4th, 2007 9:42 am

    [...] Matt feels that western copywriters need not worry about competition from the Indian side. He is of the opinion that the inherent difference in styles will nullify any advantage due to wages. Indian copywriters use the same vocabulary and grammar as Western writers, but there are inherent differences between the two versions. I often find Indian writing a bit disjointed and cumbersome to read. Many a time have I retraced a paragraph on an Indian news site because I felt I had lost the meaning halfway through. Linked by Krish [...]

  5. Martin on May 6th, 2007 7:42 pm

    Surely it’s all about getting the right writer for the audience and tone you want? Sure, it’s slightly more difficult if you’re not raised in the country, but by no means impossible.

    A writer’s default, uninflected tone might be different depending on the linguistic environment they were raised in, but it’s part of the job to adjust your tone to the job in hand.

    As for “even if you were to train an Indian copywriter on some of the distinctions of Western English I think they would still struggle to write like a native because they are not fully immersed in the language”: I think “native” needs defining more closely. Salman Rushdie? Anita Desai? Arundhati Roy?

    I would prefer to work with anyone but Harry…

  6. Matt Ambrose on May 7th, 2007 7:51 pm

    ‘Impossible’ was probably too extreme a word.
    Nothing is impossible if you’ve got the talent to overcome the obstacles that trip up most. And there are certainly some highly respected Indian English writers whose novels are appreciated by a global audience.

    The type of writing I was referring to was the copywriting services provided by some Indian web companies for rock bottom fees.

    Although they might be cheap, the copy is often of a lower standard than you would expect from a native English speaker because of inherent differences in the usage of words and phrases.

    Please see this article on an Indian news website for an example:

    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/TOIonline/Cricket_/Bangladesh_ready_to_stretch_India_says_Ashraful/articleshow/2010229.cms

    What might appear as a concise and clearly worded article to an Indian audience isn’t necessarily the same to a Western reader. Just a few incorrect words or difficult to follow sentences can lose Western website visitors and reflect badly on your business.

    I wasn’t looking to discredit Indian copywriters. I just wanted to highlight the inherent differences with Western English writing.

    Indian copy might be cheap, but is composed for an Indian audience.

  7. Mike on May 8th, 2007 10:46 pm

    For the most part I agree with this article. I have had many UK clients complain that their previous copywriters did not speak to the UK audience with a UK voice but that of an American.

  8. Theda K. on May 27th, 2007 6:18 am

    Interesting article. As a newbie to the article marketing field, I’ve been running into potential clients who want to pay me low, low rates…presumably because they can get low rates from foreign writers.

    But your article gives me hope that they’ll wake up soon enough. Or, at least, there are others out there who appreciate quality writing from native speakers.

    Thanks for the news!

  9. Matt Ambrose on May 27th, 2007 7:56 pm

    Stick to your guns Theda and value your service as a skill and not a commodity.

    I’m hoping that the policy of writers being chosen based on price rather than on quality is just a phase.

    Copy which isnt concise, easy to understand or fails to communicate is counterproductive to what a business website has to achieve. The sooner more businesses realise that the better.

  10. Subashini on June 21st, 2007 4:27 am

    It might come as a shock for most of you here, but there are plenty of “non-Western” people who grow up speaking, dreaming, and thinking in English. Lots of people, in fact, who don’t live “in the West,” but are comfortable with English being their first language. If that doesn’t give you the privilege to be “immersed in the language,” I don’t know what will.

    Most of the comments here seem to stem from a bad case of sour grapes. Yes, outsourcing copy to foreign writers to cut costs is a deplorable practice - not least because it devalues the art of writing. But then again, comments like those made by Theda K - “Or, at least, there are others out there who appreciate quality writing from native speakers” just smacks of ignorance and prejudice. For Matt Ambrose to ignore that and tell her to “stick to her guns” is a good way to alienate a large share of his audience who don’t fit into the vanilla cookie-cutter world he seems to inhabit.

    Thanks to years of colonialization and imperialism, English no longer belongs only to the English. The idea of native speakers vs. non-native speakers is irrelevant and archaic.

    Sometimes, if you’re not getting the job, you’re probably just not a good writer.

  11. umd on June 25th, 2007 10:03 am

    It’s not just the language.

    It’s the idea, the thinking and the way you communicate the story.

    I feel sympathetic to some of the above racist comments.

  12. Matt Ambrose on June 26th, 2007 1:49 pm

    Subashini - please have a read of this article, taken from a national Indian news site, for an indication of the style of writing I’m referring to:

    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/TOIonline/Cricket_/Bangladesh_ready_to_stretch_India_says_Ashraful/articleshow/2010229.cms

    To a Western reader this article is awkward to read due to differences in sentence structure and application of words. If this was copy used on a business website then it would fail to build trust, or keep the reader’s attention.

    I’m not suggesting that quality writing can’t be produced by a foreign writer - in fact compared to Theda I am myself a foreign writer - it’s just a lot more difficult due to inherent differences in the approach to the language, and being able to be relevant to your audience.

    I always thought this post would invite criticism, but it has been interesting reading the range of comments which I think reflects why it’s a controversial subject.

  13. Judith on July 12th, 2007 5:50 pm

    Can someone tell me what those lower rates for Indian copywriting are or how I can locate them?

  14. Matt Ambrose on July 14th, 2007 1:50 pm

    Judith,

    The copy I’m referring to, in this post, is the content writing work you’ll find on Craigslist and some bidding websites which pays as little as $5 per 500 word article.

  15. Another blog that’s worth a visit for Copywriter’s Crucible fans | The Copywriter's Crucible on July 28th, 2008 5:34 pm

    [...] me to network, question views and get feedback from other writers and marketers (my post on whether Indian writers used a different structure and syntax to Western writers has a [...]

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