Corporate Language Guide English

This is a short guide to walk you through the framework for Parasol Island's Corporate Communications language and tonality.
The official language for our corporate communications is English. Exceptions apply for chats and communications between native German speakers e.g. the DE press.
The topics below are divided into two sections: A guideline to support your usage of inclusive and gender-neutral language and a tonality and style-guide.
If you are in doubt regarding a particular topic, e.g. while posting on our social media channels, please do not hesitate to get back to our Corporate Communications Department.
For a guide on how to compose Radar Blog entries, click here.

Gender-inclusive language

Introduction

In English, there is a difference between “grammatical gender”, “gender as a social construct” (which refers to the roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society at a certain time considers appropriate for men or women) and “sex” as a biological characteristic of living beings.

English has very few gender markers: the pronouns and possessives (he, she, her and his); and some nouns and forms of address. Most English nouns do not have grammatical gender forms (teacher, president), whereas a few nouns are specifically masculine or feminine (actor/actress, waiter/waitress). Some nouns that once ended in -man now have neutral equivalents that are used to include both genders (police officer for policeman/policewoman, spokesperson for spokesman, chair/chairperson for chairman).

A challenge for gender-inclusive communication in English is the use of the masculine form by default. For example, “Every Permanent Representative must submit his credentials to protocol.”

Do not make gender visible when it is not relevant for communication

Use gender-neutral words. Example: use “human-caused” instead of “mankind”
Use plural pronouns/adjectives: plural pronouns may be used as a shortcut to ensure gender inclusiveness Use the pronoun “one”.
Example: Instead of saying “A staff member in Berlin earns less than he would in New York.” better say “A staff member in Berlin earns less than one in New York.”
Use the relative pronoun “who”. Example: Instead of saying “If a complainant is not satisfied with the decision, he can ask for a rehearing.” Better say “A complainant who is not satisfied with the decision can ask for a rehearing.”
Use a plural antecedent. When referring to generic subjects, plural antecedents may be used in order to avoid gendered pronouns. Example: Instead of “A judge must certify that he has familiarized himself with the record of the proceedings." Better say: "Judges must certify that they have familiarized themselves with the record of the proceedings.”
Omit the gendered word. Example: Instead of "A person must reside for 20 years before he may apply for permanent residence.” better say "“A person must reside for 20 years before applying for permanent residence."
Use the passive voice. Example: Instead of "The author must have direct evidence of the situation he is describing.” better say “The author must have direct evidence of the situation being described."

Make gender only visible when it is really relevant for communication

Make gender “Pairing” is the use of both feminine and masculine forms (he or she; her or his). It is a strategy that may be used when the author/speaker wants to explicitly make both women and men visible. It is advisable not to overuse this strategy in English, however, as it may be distracting to the reader, in particular in narrative texts. It may also create inconsistencies or render the text less accurate — for example, in legal texts.

The feminine and masculine forms can be alternated throughout the text. This strategy should be used with caution, however, in particular when its use may affect the meaning of the text, cause confusion or be distracting to the reader. It may be more appropriate to alternate masculine and feminine forms by paragraph or section, rather than by sentence or phrase. Example: “When a staff member accepts an offer of employment, he or she must be able to assume that the offer is duly authorized. To qualify for payment of the mobility incentive, she or he must have five years’ prior continuous service on a fixed-term or continuing appointment.”

In cases in which highlighting gender would make the sentence more inclusive, two separate words can be used. This strategy should be used only when popular beliefs or preconceptions may obscure the presence or action of either gender. Example: “Boys and girls should attend the first cooking class with their parents.”

Avoid gender-biased expressions or expressions that reinforce gender stereotype

Discriminatory examples: "She runs like a girl.” / “Men just don’t understand.”

Sources

The guideline above is based on the UN standards for gender inclusive language.

Read more https://www.un.org/en/gender-inclusive-language/index.shtml
See also the EU Guidlines for Gender Neutral language: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/151780/GNL_Guidelines_EN.pdf

Tonality standards

Introduction

Parasol Island’s official language to address its audience is English. That applies for social media and press releases. Exception: If we know the receiver speaks another language e.g. mailings to the German press.
Please use inclusive language – accessible to non-native English speakers: short sentences, toned-down tone.

Spelling

Use British English spelling. Eg. “colour” not “color”, “favourite” not “favorite”, “customised” not “customized”, “ageing” not “aging”, “traveller” not “traveler”.

Punctuation

Exclamation marks: avoid except in actual exclamations.
Using Dashes: En dash (–) to be used with no spaces in body text, not hyphens (-) or em dashes (—). For in-sentence – use as comma alternative/pause/emphasis. Note: en dash (–) for spans of time, hyphens (-) for joining words.

Compound adjectives

Usually use a hyphen: Eg. middle-class professionals, a down-to-earth eatery, old-school uniforms.

Quotation marks

Double quotes always (“”) unless it’s a quote within a quote.

Headlines and titles

Capitalise the first word of the title and all verbs, pronouns adverbs, adjectives and some prepositions (in, out, over). Conjunctions and articles are not capitalised unless they are the first word of the title, nor are some prepositions (to, at), Non-capitalisation in running text. Find an online tool to support you here (we are using AP style).

Job titles

X is managing director NOT X is Managing Director. EXCEPT When referring to an official title directly.

Numbers

Write out numbers from one to ten, inclusive. For larger numbers use digits, except when starting a sentence (best to rearrange it). Comma after the thousand: 1,200. Write out hundred, thousand, million, billion etc: over a thousand wines, rather than over 1,000 wines. .

Times

Use colon. No periods, no spaces e.g. 2:45pm, 3:15am, 12am, 12pm For time ranges, use an en dash (–) and skip first “am” or “pm” unless it changes e.g. 3–6pm, but 10pm–1am.

Dates

For specific dates, use three-letter month abbreviations plus number (no “th”; “st”, etc.) e.g. Jan 31, Sep 9

Decades

Use full four-digit year, plus “s” with no apostrophe e.g. 1960s.

Sources

The language and format standards align with https://www.apstylebook.com/. Further: https://www.amamanualofstyle.com.
Quotation Mark Specials due to Font used: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_mark#Summary_table
Headlines, with tool: https://headlinecapitalization.com/