Non-native writers often get two problems mixed up. Translated-sounding text is a grammar and collocation issue. Generated-sounding text is a rhythm and specificity issue. They need different fixes.
If a reader says 'this sounds translated', the problem is usually collocation — word pairs that do not normally go together in English, or a sentence structure carried across from your first language. If a reader says 'this sounds like AI', the problem is flat rhythm and no specifics.
Tackling the second before the first is the common mistake: you smooth a paragraph into model-shaped English and it reads as generated instead of foreign.
Never translate an idiom. 'Put the cart before the horse' from another language becomes nonsense or a cliché. Write the plain statement: 'we did the second thing first'. You lose colour and gain clarity, which is the right trade in business writing.
Keep one phrase that is genuinely yours — a way of saying something you always use. Readers read that as a person, and it costs you nothing in correctness.
1. Grammar and collocation, with a tool or a person.
2. Cut the generated tells: hedging, filler transitions, adjective chains.
3. Vary the sentence length deliberately.
4. Read it out loud and stop at anything you would not say.
Doing 3 before 1 is what produces the strangely smooth text that non-native speakers get accused of generating.
| What people usually write | What it looks like after |
|---|---|
| I am writing for the purpose of expressing my interest in the position which was advertised by your company. | I want the role you posted last week. Here is why I think I can do it. |
| It is important to note that the process of optimisation can lead to significant improvements in the domain of performance. | The slow part was the database query. Fixing it cut the page from 4 seconds to 300 milliseconds. |
| We are deeply committed to delivering comprehensive and seamless solutions for our valued clients. | You get one person to talk to and a reply within a day. That is the whole promise. |
If you want this done to your own draft: ShipCopy takes a piece of text you already wrote and rewrites it in one of three modes — rewrite it to read human, turn a product description into launch copy, or turn a plain-language request into a reusable prompt. Six output formats, 13 languages. 10 generations free, no card.
See what it does Pricing — US$15/monthOnly for the first draft. Translate-then-edit produces cleaner results than translating the final version.
Usually less obvious than you think. Readers notice generated rhythm far more than small grammar differences.
Thirteen UI languages, with the rewrite itself working on English text in the main flow.