peterbamuhigire/language-standards

Language Standards — Multi-Language Tone & Grammar

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Use When

• Language and tone standards for all written content across 3 languages — English (British, East African), French (Francophone African), and Kiswahili (East African standard). Enforces authentic, culturally appropriate, professional communication...
• The task needs reusable judgment, domain constraints, or a proven workflow rather than ad hoc advice.

Do Not Use When

• The task is unrelated to language-standards or would be better handled by a more specific companion skill.
• The request only needs a trivial answer and none of this skill's constraints or references materially help.

Required Inputs

• Gather relevant project context, constraints, and the concrete problem to solve; load references only as needed.
• Confirm the desired deliverable: design, code, review, migration plan, audit, or documentation.

Workflow

• Read this SKILL.md first, then load only the referenced deep-dive files that are necessary for the task.
• Apply the ordered guidance, checklists, and decision rules in this skill instead of cherry-picking isolated snippets.
• Produce the deliverable with assumptions, risks, and follow-up work made explicit when they matter.

Quality Standards

• Keep outputs execution-oriented, concise, and aligned with the repository's baseline engineering standards.
• Preserve compatibility with existing project conventions unless the skill explicitly requires a stronger standard.
• Prefer deterministic, reviewable steps over vague advice or tool-specific magic.

Anti-Patterns

• Treating examples as copy-paste truth without checking fit, constraints, or failure modes.
• Loading every reference file by default instead of using progressive disclosure.

Outputs

• A concrete result that fits the task: implementation guidance, review findings, architecture decisions, templates, or generated artifacts.
• Clear assumptions, tradeoffs, or unresolved gaps when the task cannot be completed from available context alone.
• References used, companion skills, or follow-up actions when they materially improve execution.

References

• Use the references/ directory for deep detail after reading the core workflow below.

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All website copy, headings, CTAs, descriptions, and microcopy must follow this style guide for their respective language. Cross-cutting standard — applied throughout every content-writing step.

Core Principles (All Languages)

1. Clear and direct. Sentences are straightforward, grammatically careful, logically structured.
2. Formal and respectful. Politeness is essential. Communication shows courtesy and humility.
3. No excessive marketing language. Avoid drama, exaggeration, slang.
4. Professionally indirect. Soften directives with courteous phrasing.
5. Measured confidence. Confident without arrogance.
6. Culturally authentic. Respect regional norms, preferences, sensitivities.

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ENGLISH (en) — British English, East African Professional Standard

Core Characteristics

1. British English spelling throughout.
2. East African tone — formal, respectful, professionally courteous (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania blend).
3. Measured and confident without arrogance or dramatic language.
4. Logical sentence structure — no fragments or telegram-style copy.
5. Progressive tense preference — use simple present or past over continuous tenses. "The company plans to expand" not "The company is planning to expand." Simple tenses are more direct and authoritative.
6. Consistent verb tense — do not switch tenses within a section. If you begin in present, stay present throughout that block. Mixing past and present within the same thought signals uncertainty.

Additional Guidance

Extended guidance for language-standards was moved to references/skill-deep-dive.md to keep this entrypoint compact and fast to load.

Use that deep dive for:

• British English Spelling
• Dates and Numbers
• Tone by East African Country Context
• Courteous Phrases (English)
• Vocabulary Standards (English)
• Redundant Phrases (All Languages)
• The "Because" Principle (All Languages)
• English CTAs and Button Text
• Core Characteristics
• French Spelling and Grammar
• French Dates and Numbers
• Formal Registers and Politeness
• Additional deep-dive sections continue in the reference file.