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The importance of using plain English in business, commerce and industry http://ow.ly/4SHOD
Notes to the link above:
Before finding time to read this, you may want first to click on the link above to read the article that’s lodged in my Helium.com account, where you can also find many other articles I’ve written on numerous topics. On this article, I’ll point out right away that language is a powerful tool, such that most people would even use it to dominate others, which has been happening since mankind started writing down history. The English language, per se, is not the main culprit but those interesting characters we meet all the time in our lives and who think of themselves as superior, one way or another, just because they happen to be speaking in a language that’s used in business, commerce and industry. Well, it could have been Chinese Mandarin, Tagalog, Nihongo, Espanol, or some other languages you may fancy about. In our case, we try to keep using plain (or some would say ‘basic’ or ‘simple’) English whenever we make transactions.
1) Keep in mind that many people (so many, actually!) outside of the USA, Canada, some Caribbean countries, UK, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand who know and understand English. But the kind of English they know may sound different from what you may be using now. This does not give you license to make fun of people who speak your English differently from you – mainly because these people most probably will be speaking other languages than English. That in itself means they’re more superior to you intellectually if you’re just speaking one language, which in this case is English. So, try to keep your English plain whenever you deal with people outside of the countries you believe have these ridiculous claims about being able to speak in the language as a ‘native speaker.’ You’ll find it more tactical whenever you deal with others who probably use other languages.
2) Plain English allows for space to negotiate, which is a very important tool in conducting daily affairs in business. Be deliberately simple whenever you use English whenever you talk with others who speak languages other than English. You’ll certainly be more appreciated, and they will consider you more respectful (and will probably give you the business if you impress them as reasonable).
3) English is constantly being mixed with other languages in other countries. Keep in mind that there are other versions of English that are spoken freely with other languages, like Taglish, Singlish, Indian English, etc. These languages continue to evolve to-date. Avoid confusing yourself more; use plain, unaffected English with others who speak languages other than English.
4) Also, try to always remember that others actually read and hear better in English than when they speak it. These skills involve different faculties, as your teachers may have taught you in grade school. These skills accounts for notable differences why vocabularies being used by those you conduct business with sound so far from the usual idiomatic expressions you use daily in life. There will always be a gap among the usages of English in written, spoken and sound formats (and now in digital format, too!).
I remember that when I wrote this article on Helium.com, I received a note from some un-named editor who thought the article was ‘badly written.’ I can only guess that this article must have been just using English most of his / her writing life. But fortunately, the article remain in my inventory of articles on Helium.com. I can also that editors of articles written English need to posses that international outlook, and must be at least able to speak competently in 2 or more other languages. They will have a better sense of doing their work, especially when reading works done by writers who speak, read, and write in languages other than English. There you go! 😀
Related articles
- Why English is The Universal Language (socyberty.com)
- Speak in Plain English (cathystucker.com)
- In Plain English (waverleylibrary.wordpress.com)
- Insurance in plain English? – Yeah, right… (pinnaclelife.co.nz)
- THE Place of English in India (socyberty.com)
- My Campaign for Clear English (chalisque.wordpress.com)
Moving On 