tone and language lesson 1
TRANSCRIPT
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Meeting the Needs of the Audience
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Chapter 3: Meeting the Needs of the Audience
This chapter discusses the following:
Audience Recognition
Defining Terms for Different Audience Levels
Biased Language—Issues of Diversity
Multiculturalism
Sexist Language
Audience Involvement
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Phil Wegman, Program Director of Skills Enhancement for the
Center for Business and Technology
Phil says, “I receive two to three calls every day from companies, desperate for Spanish language training. They need to teach their supervisors how to communicate more effectively with customers as well as with employees for whom English is a second language.”
How does Phil meet his communication
challenges?
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Audience Recognition– Knowledge of the Subject Matter
Clear communication is written at the audience’s level of understanding.
Your audience’s knowledge of the subject matter determines whether he or she is a Specialist Semi-specialist Lay
You might write or speak to many people. You then have
Multiple audiences
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Audience Recognition–Specialist
Specialists have these traits:
Experts in the field of discussion
Work experience/education comparable to yours
Require less detail or background information
Do not generally need abbreviations/acronyms defined
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Audience Recognition–Semi-Specialist
Semi-Specialists have these traits:
Familiar with the subject matter, but it’s not within their primary area of expertise
Understand some abbreviations/
acronyms but not all
Require more background information and detail than specialists
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Audience Recognition–Lay
Lay audiences have these traits:
Unfamiliar with the subject matter
Unfamiliar with abbreviations/acronyms
Need more background information and detail than specialists or semi-specialists
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Audience Recognition–Multiple Audiences
You might speak to a large group or write a proposal to many readers.
Multiple audiences include
combinations of specialists, semi-specialists, and lay readers
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Audience Recognition–Multiple Audiences (cont.)
To communicate to multiple audiences,
Define your terms
Provide background information
Provide detailed explanations
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Audience Variables
Knowledge of the Subject Matter• Specialists• Semi-specialists• Lay audience• Multiple readers and listeners
Roles• Management • Co-worker• Subordinate• Customer • Vendor • Other business professionals
Issues of Diversity• Gender• Age• Race and/or Religion• Sexual Orientation• Disabilities• Language and/or Culture of Origin—multicultural or cross-cultural
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Biased Language—Issues of Diversity
Audiences for written and spoken technical communication will not always be just like you.
The audiences will be diverse.
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Biased Language—Issues of Diversity (cont.)
Diversity includes Gender Race/ethnicity Religion Age Sexual orientation Class Physical and mental characteristics Language Family issues
NOTE:
You must use language with sensitivity. Avoid biased language.
NOTE:
You must use language with sensitivity. Avoid biased language.
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Biased Language—Issues of Diversity (cont.)
Understand the importance of diversity.
Diversity is protected by the law.
Respecting the diverse workplace is the right thing to do.
Diversity is good for business.
A diverse workforce keeps companies competitive.
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Biased Language—Issues of Diversity (cont.)
Insensitive and Biased Language
“The president, a woman, is in charge of a 36-branch operation.”
“He suffers from diabetes.”
“The old people needed more accessible seating.”
“Define terms for lower-class shoppers.”
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Biased Language—Issues of Diversity (cont.)
Sensitive and Unbiased Language
“The president is in charge of a 36-branch operation.”
“He has diabetes.”
“The senior citizens needed more accessible seating.”
“Define terms for shoppers.”
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Multiculturalism
International business requires multicultural communication, the sharing of written and oral information between businesspeople from many different countries.
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The Challenges of Multicultural Communication Medtronic, a medical technology
company, does business in 120 countries. Many of those countries mandate that
product documentation be written in the local language.
Medtronic translates its manuals into 11 languages: French, Italian, German, Spanish, Swedish, Dutch, Danish, Greek, Portuguese, Japanese, and Chinese.
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Multicultural Team Projects
You might work on a “virtual team” project, communicating to colleagues from many different countries.
You must be aware of international Verbal and nonverbal communication norms Management styles Decision-making procedures Sense of time and place Local values, beliefs, and attitudes
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Communicating Globally . . . in Your Neighborhood
Cross-cultural Communication--writing and speaking between businesspeople of two or more different cultures within the same country
“About 19 million people in the United States are not proficient in English.”
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Communicating Globally . . . in Your Neighborhood (cont.)
By 2014, the U.S. workplace looked like this:
White67%
Black12%
Hispanic16%
Asian5%
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Multiculturalism (cont.)
To meet the challenges of communicating to a multicultural or cross-cultural audience, consider these ten techniques:
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Multiculturalism (cont.)
1. Define acronyms and abbreviations.
2. Avoid jargon or idioms.
3. Distinguish between nouns and verbs.
4. Watch for cultural biases and expectations.
5. Be careful with slash marks (/).
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Multiculturalism (cont.)
6. Avoid humor and puns.
7. Leave space for translations.
8. Avoid figurative language.
9. Be Careful with Numbers, Measurements, Dates, and Times.
10. Use stylized graphics.
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Practice Multiculturalism (cont.)To: Jose Guerrero, Mexico City, Mexico Office; Yong Kim, Hong
Kong Office;Hans Rittmaster, Berlin Office
From: Leonard Liss, New York Office
Subject: Agenda for Teleconference
Time to wrap up that deal. If we don’t finish the project soon, we’re all behind the
eight ball. So, here’s what I’m planning for the 03/07/09, 12:00 discussion:
Restructured design—rather than build the part at 8 x 10 x 23, let’s consider a smaller design.
Shipping method—let’s use a new carrier/vendor. We’ve not had good luck with Flyrite Overnight. I’m open to your suggestions. Let’s think outside the box.
Brainstorm before our teleconference so we can tackle this topic pronto. My boss
needs our suggestions ASAP, so I need it even sooner. I know you’ll come through
with flying colors.
Where are the problems in this e-mail?
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Sexist Language Fifty percent of the workforce is female.
Avoid sexist language, created through
Omission
Unequal treatment
Stereotyping
Sexist pronouns and nouns
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Sexist Language (cont.)
Omission When writing or speaking ignores
women, that’s biased sexism.
BAD“With new technologies, men can
achieve great things.”GOOD“With new technologies, workers can
achieve great things.”
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Sexist Language (cont.)
Unequal treatment Referring to women in terms not applied to men is biased
sexism.
BAD
“Ms. Jones, the dizzy blonde, is Mr. Gardener’s assistant.”
GOOD
“Ms. Jones is Mr. Gardener’s assistant.”
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Sexist Language (cont.) Stereotyping
Writing or speaking that implies only men or women do certain jobs is biased sexism.
BAD“The auto mechanics are men of good standing in the
profession.”GOOD“The auto mechanics are all certified.”
BAD“A nurse must fill out her patient’s forms correctly.”GOOD“A nurse must fill out patient forms correctly.”
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Sexist Language (cont.)
Sexist pronouns and nouns
The pronouns “his” and “he” are masculine.
Nouns such as “mankind,” “manpower,” and “foreman” are masculine.
Revise these pronouns and nouns for unbiased communication.
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Sexist Language (cont.)
BAD“A good employee should make sure that his time
card is accurate .”GOOD“Good employees keep accurate time cards.”
BAD“The foremen ensured that all workers cleaned up
the job site.”GOOD“The supervisors ensured that all workers cleaned
up the job site.”
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Audience Involvement
To involve your audience,
Use a personalized tone
Show reader benefit
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Audience Involvement (cont.) Personalized tone
Involve your audience by using pronouns: You Your Us We Our I Me My
NOTE:
Companies don’t write to companies.
People write to people.
Pronouns personalize the correspondence.
NOTE:
Companies don’t write to companies.
People write to people.
Pronouns personalize the correspondence.
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Audience Involvement (cont.)
Reader benefit
Show how the audience benefits
Use positive words
NOTE:
Using “Please” and “thank you” improve the tone of your correspondence.
NOTE:
Using “Please” and “thank you” improve the tone of your correspondence.
NOTE:
Using words like “advantage” and “achieve” help to sway an audience.
NOTE:
Using words like “advantage” and “achieve” help to sway an audience.
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Meeting Workplace Communication Challenges
Use the end-of-chapter activities to apply chapter principles individually and in groups.