As a young journalist, I once watched in stunned silence as a more experienced reporter lambasted an intern who didn’t know who Neil Sheehan (the New York Times reporter who published The Pentagon Papers) was. The intern was demoralized as the reporter left him with his head down on the desk - still not knowing how Neil Sheehan was.
Since that day, I’ve repeated this mantra - “The only stupid questions are the ones you don’t ask” - a thousand times. sometimes you have to show a little less bravado in order to get the story.
Too often, however, that bravado gets in the way and prevents us from asking the right questions, from getting to the core of the truth, from attaining understanding. Far too often, it seems, journalists, bloggers, commentators are more interested in impressing the audience with their flair for language and their overall intelligence than communicating information.
It bears repeating that the purpose of all written and verbal communication is actually to communicate. If your audience can’t understand how you communicate - either because it is over their head or, in many cases, in a completely different language all together - then the goal can never be reached.
A common example is in technical documentation or training. As the vice president of IT for a metropolitan newspaper, we were constantly installing new systems or software that required some kind of documentation. Early on you find out that you cannot use typical IT terminology with most users. In training classes, the concept of locating the “icon in the system tray”, locating a .pdf file, or using tools in the title bar elicit blank looks. Quickly you learn that you can’t assume people will understand the language your are speaking, no matter how basic you think you are being.
When technical people write for business people it’s almost like watching people talk to their dogs (you talk and the dog listens intently and then tilts his head and scrunches up his eyes… then wanders off to sleep on your best heirloom blanket!). IT people are just not wired to think in terms of business metrics and, to some large measure, don’t think they should have to. Everyone should understand that bigger is better, faster is more productive and new technology is better than old. Unfortunately, that’s not good enough now — in IT or in other areas.
Notably, business and economics. No longer can we afford to keep to ourselves when commentators and other expert analysts on TV or in newspapers prattle on in terms we don’t understand. Elevated linguistics, complex business terminology and jargon are just methods of making the average person believe that they are just not smart enough to think on the same level and, therefore, should leave all the thinking to the experts. Wrong. If there’s one thing we cannot afford to do now - either as an individual or as a country - is to go along for the ride. And the state of the economy right now should show us that maybe a few more basic questions should be being asked.
Key #1 of good communication is to know your audience. If you are an doctor writing for a medical journal, you can expect a level of subject matter expertise and a common understanding of the mystical language of MDs. But if you’re a doctor writing an article for a general readership publication, your audience is far different and you need to write differently to communicate with them.
It is impossible for you to be a good barometer of the readability of your own work. You know what you are trying to say and, even if details or explanations are missing, you will fill in the gaps mentally. Here’s a pretty good test: find someone in your target audience and ask them for a test read. If you’re writing a business proposal, seek out someone in the finance field. If you’re writing for a general audience, seek out what newspaper’s would call “a regular person” and ask them to look it over for you. Make sure you are clear with your tester that you WANT honest assessment and be welcoming. Generally, we don’t like to look “dumb” so we may pretend to understand things we really don’t.
Key #2 is to use words economically. Use the fewest words to make your point, not the most. And always use the smallest most direct word rather than the $60,000-word. If you want to impress your audience with your linguistic skills and make them feel stupid at the same time, go for words that send people looking for a dictionary. But if you want to communicate with them, treat them with respect and use language most people can understand to make your point.
At the end of the day, communication is about sharing information to help people understand an issue, make a decision, or do a job better. Language is a means to that end, not the end itself.
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