DataIsland Publishing Guide

Writing for International Trade

More Canadian businesses and government offices are actively building trade relationships beyond the United States — with the EU, the Gulf states, Asia, and beyond. FusionMD and PolyWrite both let you write in English or French, communicate fluently in your trading partner's language, and produce a document at the end of it — on your own Mac.

Covers: on-device translation  ·  multilingual writing  ·  professional export
Part 1

Write in the language you think in

Draft the substance of a trade proposal, briefing note, or letter of introduction in English or French — whichever you write most naturally in. Both apps' spelling, grammar, and vocabulary tools work the same way they do for any document; nothing about writing for an international audience needs to change how you draft. Use FusionMD if the document is headed toward a formal publication or report; PolyWrite for anything simpler — a letter, a briefing note, routine correspondence.

Part 2

Translate to your partner's language

In FusionMD: open the right panel → Translation tab, choose the target language, and click Translate to New Document. This is Apple's on-device Translation framework only — no fallback, no cloud service involved under any circumstance.

In PolyWrite: open the AI panel (brain icon), find the Translate to row, choose your target language, and click Go.

An honest distinction worth knowing before you rely on it. FusionMD's translation panel uses Apple's on-device framework exclusively — nothing is ever sent anywhere, for any language pair. PolyWrite's translation tries the same on-device framework first, but if the language pair isn't one Apple supports yet (Hebrew is one current gap), it automatically falls back to whichever AI engine you've configured in Settings → AI. If that's Apple Intelligence, you're still fully on-device. If it's OpenRouter, the text is sent to that cloud service to get translated. For official or sensitive correspondence in a language Apple Translation doesn't yet cover, FusionMD is the safer choice specifically because it has no fallback path at all.

Machine translation handles most business prose well either way. For anything going out under an official letterhead, review the translated draft yourself or have a native speaker check it before sending — the same practice any professional translation workflow follows, just without the cost and delay of an external service for routine correspondence.

Part 3

Or write directly in your partner's language

If someone on your team writes Arabic, Mandarin, or any other language directly, neither app needs anything special — macOS handles the input (add the language in System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources, no purchase required), and both apps carry it through spelling, formatting, and export like any other document. Right-to-left languages like Arabic get correct text direction automatically — in FusionMD once the document's language is set in the Metadata panel, in PolyWrite via the writing-direction toggle in the Rich Text toolbar.

Part 4

From draft to a document you can actually send

A finished trade letter or briefing note rarely stays a plain text file. Both apps export a polished PDF for email or a Word document if your partner's office requires one. If it needs to become a properly laid-out printed brochure or report for an in-person meeting, FusionMD exports IDML directly into Affinity or InDesign — and a PolyWrite document gets there too, with one click via Open in FusionMD.

Part 5

Who this is for

Trade commissioner and export promotion offices

Correspondence and briefing materials for partners in markets you're newly building relationships with.

Exporting businesses

Proposals, product documentation, and follow-up correspondence with new international buyers and distributors.

Chambers of commerce and sector associations

Member communications and delegation materials for trade missions abroad.

Anyone who'd rather not depend on a foreign cloud service

For official or sensitive correspondence, on-device processing isn't a nice-to-have feature — it's the whole point.

One document, any language, still yours alone.

Write, translate, and publish — without a foreign server ever seeing what you wrote.