When communicating internationally it is really important to engage your brain before operating your mouth.
Now it is time to open your mouth or put ‘pen to paper’. This chapter contains nine simple and straightforward ‘rules’ that, if followed, should help you to get your message across to others over the seas. Some of these rules are of the ‘thou shalt not’ variety; things to avoid like the plague (for example, using idioms such as ‘avoid like the plague’).
Some of them are exhortations to consciously do something; such as explaining acronyms and testing readability!
Some are caveats or warnings which highlight things that you probably wouldn’t need to think of when communicating with your own nationality.
KISS – Keep It Short and Simple
When you are communicating with people who are not native speakers of your own language, remember that in their heads they may have to translate every word you say. Then, once they have translated the words themselves, they have to analyse the meaning. This is not an easy process. It takes time.
Keep it short:
If I’m trying to translate what you just said, and at the same time you say something else, it can become very confusing.
I’ll probably miss one thing completely.
Or I might lose both!
So when speaking, keep your interjections short. Only cover one topic per ‘soundbite’.
Leave a pause for people to absorb what you have said.
Ask for confirmation that that part of the message has been understood.
“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead” Blaise Pascal (1623–62)
This is also good practice with written communication. Try to keep texts or emails to a single screen (bearing in mind that many people read their email on a smart phone, so a ‘screen’ may be only 50 or 60 words).
This will take more effort on your part; it is actually easier to ‘ramble’ than it is to be concise, so plan enough time to think about paring your communications down for the international audience.
Keep it simple:
This isn’t a matter of dumbing-down or being patronizing. However, try to use simpler words rather than longer or more complex ones; so for example:
| Use … | Instead of … |
| Make happen | Facilitate |
| Lose value | Depreciation |
| Belief | Paradigm |
| Combined effect | Synergy |
Short and simple is harder than long and freewheeling, but it is worth it in the long run.
Explain TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms)
Most industry sectors and organizations abound with acronyms (not necessarily three-letter ones). They are a useful and usually valid way of saving time when constantly referring to something that can be abbreviated. However, this can be very confusing to people who speak a different language, especially when an acronym gets further abbreviated; for instance, Bayerische Motoren Werke becomes BMW becomes ‘Beemer’.
Acronyms can create confusion in several ways:
▪ I heard the letters but wasn’t sure it was an acronym or a word I wasn’t aware of; did you say TLA or tee elay?
▪ I heard the letters and know it is an acronym but I don’t know what they stand for and I’m embarrassed to ask.
▪ In English the acronym for the defence alliance is NATO but in French it is OTAN.
▪ The acronym makes sense in your language but not in mine; for instance in English we talk about 5 a.m. or 5 p.m. These are acronyms from the Latin words ante meridian and post meridian. The Italians don’t use the Latin or the abbreviation but actually say (in Italian) 5 in the morning or 5 in the evening.
▪ An acronym can sound like a word with a different meaning; for instance, NASA the American Space Agency and Nasser the Arabic name, or SALT the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty and salt the chemical or foodstuff.
▪ Any acronym can have numerous meanings even in the same language; the acronym SAS can mean a British military unit, a Scandinavian airline, an environmental charity for surfers or a software brand.
While the context can provide a clue as to which acronym you are using, avoiding the use of an acronym altogether simply makes it easier for the other party to understand the message … which is your aim after all.
Never use an acronym unless you KNOW (for sure) what it means.
Acronyms help people in-the-know to communicate faster. They hinder people not-in-the-know and make it slower.
idiom
(
1 A group of words whose meaning cannot be predicted from the meanings of the constituent words, as for example (It was raining) cats and dogs
2 Linguistic usage that is natural to native speakers of a language
3 The characteristic artistic style of an individual, school or period
As native speakers we often use idioms. They can, however, be very confusing to people who are not familiar with our idiomatic phrases.
Here is an A to Z of common business idioms in English (from across the English-speaking world), check whether you use them regularly …
| A. Ahead of the curve | B. Bring it on | C. Corner the market | D. Drop the ball |
| E. Eyes wide open | F. Foot in the door | G. Game plan | H. Hit the nail on the head |
| I. In the black | J. come-to-Jesus moment | K. Knock yourself out |
L. Low-hanging fruit
|