Communication with users: insights from second language acquisition

The paper addresses the question of how an English language user interface will be understood by users from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds and provides some answers from the study of second language acquisition and the practice of language teaching and learning. It is accepted that for a number of reasons, translation of an English interface into other languages is not always feasible or appropriate. Existing knowledge of language learning problems and solutions can be applied to the design of English language interfaces so that they are more accessible to non-native speakers. The present article categorises language-related problems, gives examples in each category, and provides a set of guidelines. The conclusion reached is that making word collocations and co-occurrences visible and available is the key to building in sufficient verbal context for understanding—a measure which will also be helpful to native speakers of English.