Language Standards — Multi-Language Tone & Grammar
Cross-cutting tone and grammar policy for English, French and Kiswahili copy: every caption, CTA, description and microcopy line follows the standard for its language, and native execution belongs to the dedicated native-copy skills.
Use When
- Writers produce English, French and Kiswahili (Swahili) posts in different styles and the client wants one set of rules for all three.
- A new market launch needs agreed spelling, date and number formats and call-to-action button wording in each language.
- The team keeps using hype and AI-sounding phrases in every language and needs a banned-words and redundant-phrase list.
- Translated campaign copy needs checking for register, text expansion and whether an in-country reviewer is required.
Do Not Use When
east-african-english for editing English posts and ads for East African readers.french-native-copy or swahili-native-copy for writing the French or Kiswahili campaign copy itself.- Stop short of certifying translation accuracy, publishing or spending; name the in-country reviewer still required and return the draft for client approval.
Required Inputs
| Artefact |
Source/provider |
Required? |
If absent |
| Source text or deliverable brief |
Requester or approved brief |
Yes |
Stop; a style specification needs real copy or a brief to apply to. |
| Target language(s) and market(s) |
Client or brief |
Yes |
If the target language is unclear, stop and establish it; if only the market is unclear, use the default audiences below. |
| Channel and copy types (captions, ads, CTAs, microcopy, email) |
Brief |
Yes |
Cover captions and CTAs and mark other copy types not assessed. |
| Brand voice, protected terms and client vocabulary |
Client source pack |
Conditional |
Apply the neutral professional register for each language and list the terms still to confirm. |
| In-country reviewer per non-English language |
Client or agency |
Yes before release |
Name the reviewer profile still required (target-market francophone; East African Kiswahili speaker) and return the draft for approval. |
Workflow
- Confirm the source text, languages, markets, channel and approval owner; route single-language execution to
east-african-english, french-native-copy or swahili-native-copy, and stop if the target language is unclear.
- Fix the audience per language from the default table below, departing from it only where the brief explicitly names different markets.
- Set the per-language rules for spelling, dates, numbers, currency, courtesy, register and CTAs from the English, French and Kiswahili standards.
- Add the banned-word tiers, banned phrases, structural patterns and redundant-phrase list from AI language and redundancy, and the English craft layer from the human English craft standard.
- Plan text expansion for layouts (French 1.3x, Kiswahili 1.2x) and note the in-country reviewer each language needs.
- Test sample copy in each language against the quality checks; where a check fails, correct the rule or the sample and rerun the check.
- Run the
anti-ai-slop ship gate and return the specification with the reviewers still required; stop short of certifying translation accuracy, publishing or spending.
Default audiences by language
| Locale |
Primary Markets |
Secondary Markets |
Register |
| English |
East Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda) |
All English-speaking Africa and global English speakers |
British-influenced East African professional English; clear, direct, respectful; globally readable |
| French |
DRC, Congo-Brazzaville, Burundi, Senegal, Mali, Côte d'Ivoire, Togo, Cameroon, Gabon, Madagascar |
All francophone Africa (Bénin, Burkina Faso, Niger, Guinea, Djibouti, Comoros, Chad, Central African Republic) |
Formal vous; francophone African professional French; never France-centric, never Québécois |
| Kiswahili |
Kenya, Tanzania, DR Congo |
Uganda (limited), Rwanda, Burundi, Mozambique (Kiswahili speakers) |
Respectful Kiswahili sanifu; no slang, no Sheng, no regional dialect drift |
Readers in every language are educated professionals with advanced comprehension (often L2/L3): do not simplify, over-explain or patronise. Core principles for all languages: clear and direct, formal and respectful, no excessive marketing language, professionally indirect, measured confidence, culturally authentic. Full reader profiles and rules: target audiences and scope.
Outputs
| Artefact |
Consumer |
Acceptance condition |
| Multilingual copy style specification (per-language spelling, dates, numbers, currency, courtesy, register, vocabulary and CTAs) |
Client lead; writers in each language |
Each enabled language has its own section; every rule matches the language standard or records a brief-approved departure. |
| Banned-word and redundant-phrase list |
Writers; anti-ai-slop reviewer |
Tier 1–3 words, banned phrases and structural patterns are listed with the replacements. |
| Reviewer and expansion note |
Designer; approver |
Names the in-country reviewer each language needs and the layout expansion factor. |
Evidence Produced
| Evidence |
Format |
Acceptance condition |
| Per-language check record |
Checklist per language with sample lines |
Each quality check is marked pass, fail or not assessed; none is silently passed. |
| Reviewer register |
Table: language, market, reviewer, date |
Unreviewed French or Kiswahili is recorded as awaiting review. |
Capability and Permission Boundaries
Read and search only; analysis is read-only. Publishing, spend, live account changes, outreach and personal-data processing need explicit, action-specific client authority. This skill does not certify translation accuracy; that needs a named in-country reviewer.
Degraded Mode
Without a confirmed target language or an in-country reviewer, return the narrowest qualified result and mark the affected checks not assessed. The English specification and the cross-language banned-word list can still be delivered, with French and Kiswahili sections marked awaiting review.
Decision Rules
| Condition |
Action |
Failure or risk avoided |
| Brief does not name markets |
Use the default audiences table; do not deviate unless the brief explicitly names different markets. |
Copy positioned for the wrong readers. |
| French content for a Uganda-based client |
English pages serve the Ugandan/East African audience; French targets francophone Africa broadly ("Afrique francophone", OHADA, BCEAO/BEAC, FCFA), never Uganda or East Africa only. |
French pages that reach no francophone market. |
| Kiswahili content is requested |
Target Kenya and Tanzania first, DR Congo second; do not assume Ugandan readers. |
Misjudged readership for Swahili content. |
| French or Kiswahili copy must be produced |
Route to french-native-copy or swahili-native-copy; never raw-translate from English. |
Copy that reads as translated rather than authored. |
| French or Kiswahili copy is ready for release |
Send it to a native reviewer from the target market before publishing. |
Unreviewed regional errors going live. |
| Strings with apostrophes go into Astro JSX template expressions |
Use double-quoted strings or template literals; never ’ escapes or \' in template JSX. |
A broken site build from French d' or Swahili ng'. |
| A required fact or approval is missing |
Stop that claim; request it or leave an explicit placeholder. |
Fabricated facts, implied consent or unauthorised publication. |
Quality Standards
- English: British spelling, East African tone, day-month-year dates, no marketing hype.
- French: formal French,
vous throughout, francophone African vocabulary, correct diacritics and agreement, reviewed by a francophone from the target market.
- Kiswahili: standard Kiswahili, formal register, no slang or Sheng, reviewed by an East African native speaker.
- All languages: no truncation or text overflow; layouts allow French 1.3x and Kiswahili 1.2x expansion.
- All languages: grammatically correct, properly punctuated and culturally appropriate.
- All languages: CTAs use respectful, inviting language, not aggressive.
- No Tier 1 banned words or banned phrases; at most one Tier 3 word per paragraph; the
anti-ai-slop ship gate is passed.
- Names, figures, quotations and platform rules are verified before use.
Anti-Patterns
- Writing one language by translating another word for word. Fix: author each language from meaning, through its native-copy skill.
- Positioning French for Paris or for East Africa only. Fix: use "Afrique francophone" and West and Central African institutions and examples.
- Using American dates or thousands separators in French and Kiswahili. Fix: apply each language's date and number rules from its standard.
- Letting AI-tell vocabulary through in any language. Fix: screen against the tier lists, banned phrases and structural patterns.
- Designing buttons for English label length only. Fix: allow 1.3x for French and 1.2x for Kiswahili.
- Treating missing native-language review as approval. Fix: mark the check
not assessed and name the reviewer still required.
- Publishing, sending or spending from drafting authority alone. Fix: obtain explicit action-specific authority and keep the approval record.
References
- Target audiences and scope: read when confirming default markets, reader profiles, core principles or which skill executes the copy.
- English (en) standard: read when setting English spelling, dates, country tone, courteous phrases, vocabulary or CTAs.
- French (fr) standard: read when setting French grammar, dates, registers, vocabulary, CTAs, expansion or the francophone Africa geographic scope.
- Kiswahili (sw) standard: read when setting Kiswahili grammar, register, dates, courtesy, vocabulary, CTAs or dialect rules.
- AI language and redundancy: read when screening any language for AI-tell words, banned phrases or redundant constructions.
- Human English craft standard: read before drafting English and again at the proof pass.
- English collocations and lexical precision: read when checking English collocations, register and word choice.
- Business English advanced: read when phrase banks, ESL grammar checks, register switching or anti-jargon rewrites are needed.
east-african-english, french-native-copy, swahili-native-copy: read when executing copy in one language.- Anti-AI slop production gate: read before release.
- Repository agent guide: read when the engine-wide market, safety and anti-slop gates apply.
