An important aspect of writing is considering your audience and the medium of delivery of your message, or text. This, in turn, will determine the language variety that you select. So, for example, if you are an academic based in the United States of America, writing an academic article that you hope to have published in a US-based academic journal, you will select US, or American, English as your language variety, assuming that the style guide of your target publication specifies this variety of English.

When you send your article to a copy-editor for editing, it would be useful for you to supply the style guide of your target publication, or to specify the language variety selected for your text.

In many respects South African English is similar to British English, but in others it resembles American English, for example, the -ize endings typical of American English (see 'Spelling', below). Because of this and their wide reading of American books, South African copy-editors are well positioned to edit texts in both British and American English. Furthermore, English is the native language of many South Africans.

These factors make South African editors an appealing option when choosing an editor for your text.

With these factors in mind, it would be worthwhile for you to consider using a South African copy-editor for the next piece you write.