English—a global language. Most recently dubbed “the most successful language in the world.” While it may not be the most widely spoken language in the world, it, without a shadow of a doubt, is the most influential one. Being seen as educated, regardless of which part of the World we’re in, oftentimes also entails knowing how to speak English. When communicating in international teams, with colleagues from various backgrounds, using the so-called Global variant of English is a method of simplifying the message for everyone. Global English—also known as Plain English—has become the lingua franca of the business world. Rightfully so!
Why? Let’s have a look at some real-world examples of how plain language simplifies comprehension; even for native speakers. In “The Oxford Guide to Plain Language” we are presented with the following example of an emergency sign found in a school:
“In the event of an emergency evacuation of these premises should you require assistance to facilitate your evacuation, would you please advise your host or reception on arrival.”
Honestly, if there were a real-life emergency and I were in panic mode, I might not have the time to read and process all of that. How much simpler my hypothetical evacuation could be if the sign read „In case of emergency, contact reception if you need help.” This is plain language. Today, we’ll be sharing a few tips that you could use when communicating in international teams.
Tip number one. Be literal.
Language is complex and comes with a lot of culture-specific idioms, phrases, analogies, and other jargon. When cooperating on international teams, these culture-specific phrases will, more often than not, be misinterpreted. American business jargon contains a lot of sport phrases; these sport phrases tend to revolve around sports such as baseball, American football, basketball and that’s just to name a few. For example, we have the phrase play ball, which simply means “to agree” or “to go along with.” Then there’s the phrase to play hardball, which means “to get tough.” It could also mean “to be firm and determined in order to get what you want.” These phrases originally come from baseball. It can be said that baseball is a part of American heritage and is seen as the national pastime; in turn, these phrases have become overused to the point of becoming cliche. They might not be so clear to someone who never played or watched baseball in their life.
The tip here is plain and simple—as plain language should be—use literal vocabulary instead of idioms and bizspeak. For example, instead of “drop the ball” say “forget” or “fail.” Instead of saying “It’s just blocking and tackling.” you can say, “These are the basics.” Oftentimes, words that are straightforward are replaced with verbose phrases, which were probably created to sound more imposing. An example is the phrase action item. In this case we can simply say “task.” It’s both easier to understand, and doesn’t contain unnecessary words.
Tip number two. Use abbreviations sparingly.
Has the usage of abbreviations in the daily communication of your company become a daily thing? When the abbreviations are communicated in local teams and the context is well-known, then it might not be a problem. However, outside of your local team, the abbreviations that you use might not make any sense and just seem like a string of random letters. Additionally, oftentimes even when people know what the abbreviations mean, they are not sure whether to write them with capital letters, whether to use periods and/or apostrophes. The plan of making writing simpler can certainly backfire in this case. An official website of the United States government called the MCC created a special publication which they called the “Writing Guide for Public Documents.” In it they provided the following guidelines:
“Abbreviations should only be used if the organization or term appears two or more times in the text. Spell out the full term at its first mention, indicate its abbreviation in parenthesis and use the abbreviation from then on, with the exception of acronyms that would be familiar to most readers[…]” That seems to be a great rule of thumb to follow!
Tip number three. Avoid complex wording.
Using common everyday words is a great way to make your messages clearer.
A few examples:
| Instead of: | Use: |
| commence | begin, start |
| designate | choose, select, pick |
| endeavour | try |
| exclusively | only |
| gauge | measure |
| obtain | get |
| optimum | best |
| previously | before |
| promptly | quickly, soon, without delay |
| scrutinize | look at carefully |
| with reference to | about |
Bibliography:
Crystal David. English as a Global Language. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012) Cutts Martin. Oxford Guide to Plain English. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020), X. Stauning Steve and Stauning Carson. The 30,000 Pound Gorilla in the Room. The 212 Most Annoying Business Phrases Managers Effuse, Confuse, and Overuse. (Independently Published, 2020), 301. Butterfield Jeremy. Oxford A–Z of English Usage. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 1.