east-african-english

name	east-african-english
description	Use when English website copy must sound natural, clear, respectful, and professionally East African; use `language-standards` for multilingual policy and `content-writing` for message structure.
metadata	{"portable":true,"compatible_with":["claude-code","codex"]}

East African English

Acknowledgement: Shared by Peter Bamuhigire, techguypeter.com, [phone].

Apply an East African, British-influenced English register without caricature, imported slang, or blanket regional assumptions.

Target Audience (Standard)

English content targets East Africa primarily (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda) but must be globally readable by any English speaker worldwide. The reader is an educated professional with advanced English comprehension — often reading English as L2 or L3 alongside local languages.

The test: A business professional in London, Lagos, Nairobi, or Kigali must understand every sentence without confusion. Use East African warmth and courtesy but avoid local slang, localised abbreviations, or references only one country's readers would understand.

Use When

• Drafting or reviewing English copy for audiences in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, or the wider region.
• A site needs courteous, credible language that reflects local commercial communication.
• Imported US copy, slang, or idiom sounds foreign to the intended reader.

Do Not Use When

• The task is French or Kiswahili execution; use the matching native-copy skill.
• The task is multilingual governance; use language-standards.
• The message hierarchy or conversion argument is broken; fix it with content-writing before polishing register.

Required Inputs

Artefact	Source or provider	Required?	When missing
English draft or content brief	Project owner	yes	Return a short style brief if no draft exists.
Target country, audience, and context	Brand or market brief	yes	Use neutral international British English and label regional choices unresolved.
Brand voice and required terminology	Brand guidance or client	conditional	Preserve established terminology; flag conflicts rather than silently replacing it.

Workflow

1. Identify the country, audience, channel, and level of formality.
2. Stop and request context when a local term could change meaning, trust, or legal interpretation.
3. Preserve the author's meaning and business facts while correcting spelling, idiom, courtesy, and rhythm.
4. Replace imported slang or forced regionalisms with plain language unless evidence shows the audience uses them.
5. Check dates, currency, addresses, phone formats, and institutional terms against the target market.
6. Read the result aloud for natural cadence and review every material change.
7. If country-specific verification is unavailable, revert to neutral British English and disclose the limitation.

Recovery: repair disputed terminology with the owner, then rerun the regional and meaning review.

Quality Standards

• British spelling is consistent unless the client's established house style requires otherwise.
• Language is direct and respectful, not stiff, patronising, or artificially "local".
• Regional terms are used only when they improve comprehension for the named audience.
• Facts, names, prices, dates, and quotations remain unchanged unless correction is evidenced.
• Review findings identify exact wording and a usable correction.

Anti-Patterns

• Adding "kindly" to every instruction. Fix: use it only where courtesy genuinely requires it.
• Treating East Africa as one uniform dialect. Fix: name the country and audience or use neutral English.
• Replacing clear English with slang to sound local. Fix: prefer familiar professional language.
• Converting British spelling inconsistently. Fix: apply one project-wide spelling standard.
• Editing facts while editing tone. Fix: preserve claims and flag factual issues separately.
• Calling a phrase wrong because it differs from US usage. Fix: judge it against audience comprehension and the agreed regional standard.

Outputs

Artefact	Consumer	Observable acceptance condition
Revised English copy	Page or content owner	Meaning is preserved and regional, spelling, and courtesy choices are consistent.
Language review notes	Author or approver	Each material issue includes the original, correction, and reason.
Regional style decision	Future writers	Country, register, spelling, and unresolved terminology are recorded.

References

• Legacy detailed guidance for the preserved regional language standard and examples.

Evidence Produced

Evidence	Format	Acceptance condition
Change log	Inline notes or tracked list	Material register and terminology edits are traceable.
Regional decision note	Short record	Target market and any neutral-language fallback are explicit.

Capability Contract

Read access to the draft and market context is required. Review defaults to read-only. Editing the source requires explicit authority. Network access may verify current institutional or market terminology; it is not required for basic prose review.

Degraded Mode

When country context or verification is unavailable, use neutral international British English, retain uncertain local terms, and list them for confirmation. Never label an unverified regional expression as correct.

Decision Rules

Choice	Action	Failure or risk avoided
One named national audience	Apply verified local conventions	Generic regional stereotyping
Mixed East African audience	Prefer widely understood neutral forms	Country-specific wording confusing other readers
Established brand term conflicts with preference	Preserve and flag	Unauthorised voice drift
Meaning changes under a proposed edit	Stop and ask	Tone editing that changes the offer or claim

Worked Example

Input: a Kenyan service page says "Schedule your free consult today" for a formal procurement audience. Revision: "Book an initial consultation"; the note records the formal register choice and does not add Kenyan slang.

Read Next

• language-standards governs cross-language consistency.
• content-writing fixes message hierarchy and page purpose.
• premium-commercial-writing supplies the commercial editorial gate.