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Have
you ever heard a police officer speak on TV when he is describing
what happened? You might think he is talking about a member of some
kind of elite school, instead of a criminal who was just caught.
The TV interview goes something like this:
Officer Joe: "the gentleman driving the vehicle was intercepted
while engaging in illegal activities which involved prohibited substances
and was apprehended at the junction of 2nd and 4th streets. Myself
and Officer Jones had him lay down while we recuperated the substances
from him; he was accompanied to the station and booked.
Off TV, the interview would be like this - with a few grammatical
corrections as well-:
"We caught the man dealing drugs at the intersection of 2nd
and 4th streets. Officer Jones and I had him lie down while we took
the drugs from him; we took him to the station and booked him".
Doesn't the policeman in the second version sound a lot smarter,
even though his vocabulary wasn't grand?
Sounding grand isn't only limited to TV sound bites. Many business
people use language on their web sites that is meant to inform (
impress?) people, but it really does the opposite.
Take the explanation of a company's training goals as stated on
their web site:
"the goal of our work is to give people the ability to re-engineer
the implementation of their job description to be …."
They go on to say…"thus, new behavioural (sic) demands
accompany the strategic ones".
What does all that mean in practical terms? For me, not much and
I didn't bother reading on.
When we write materials for other people, especially on the Web,
where readers have little time or patience, it is important to get
to the point fast and write in simple, understandable English (
or whatever other language you write in). Many writers - non-native
speakers in particular - assume that if they use big words - as
foreigners are used to doing in their own languages - they will
sound cultured and knowledgeable.
However, the best thing is to stick to the old adage of KISS -
keep it simple, stupid and everyone will be able to understand and
appreciate your materials.
Angelika Blendstrup, PhD, is a business communications consultant
(www.professional-business-communications.com)
who helps foreign-born executives with problems understanding the
complexities of American business culture and the English language
to communicate effectively. Learn more about
Angelika...
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