Best-selling fiction author, John Irving, confessed, “I do know where
I'm going and it's just a matter of finding the language to get there.”
Well, there's no doubt that language is important and, as John Irving observed,
finding the right words takes work. Today, we’ll focus more on how
to use language effectively. Specifically, we'll learn from the
marketers with the 4 C's and then some general suggestions on using language more effectively.
We can learn a lot from the professionals who use language to sell us. Isabel Albanese
identified what she called the 4 C's of truth and communication: comprehension, connection,
credibility, and contagiousness. Together they will increase your communication effectiveness.
Comprehension addresses the issue of, Does the audience get the message?--the main idea,
the point--and can they remember it? Here are some tips for better comprehension:
Make the message clear and sharp. Emphasis can help. The more time you spend on a topic,
for example, the more you emphasize it. Conversely, less time means less emphasis.
Related to emphasis is repetition. Tell your audience what you're going to talk about,
tell them, and then tell them what you told them--your preview and summary statement,
say important words more than once, or restate concepts in different words.
Examples are, “There are four key points to remember about language,” or “There are four
key points to remember about language and, if you keep these in mind, they
will help you create a memorable presentation.” Transitions also help; using words or phrases that
emphasize the relationship between your ideas. You can use transitions to clarify by saying,
“In fact,” or “For example,” to contrast in comparison or, on the other hand, summarize:
“Therefore,” “so,” “finally.” Or illustrate: to illustrate the point, to demonstrate.
The second C is to connect—the connection with the audience. This focus is on the
audience and figures out what resonates with them and what triggers an emotional response,
such as frustration, excitement, anger, passion, joy, happiness.
The third C is credibility. The audience needs to believe the source of the message
as well as the content. In other words, is it logical? This may be the most important. See,
if I don't trust you then the rest doesn't matter. And, finally, contagiousness. Now, in this case,
contagiousness is a positive thing. You want to make your messages energetic—new, different,
and memorable. And that means in terms of content as well as word choice. As you use language,
there are several guidelines to keep in mind: Language should be concrete, vivid, simple,
to the point, and correct and accurate Starting with concrete.
Words can be placed on a continuum, with abstract on one end and concrete
on another. One abstract term that I tend to use a lot is “stuff.” I will get my
“stuff” together, I'm talking about “stuff.” Perhaps it'll make more sense by comparing
abstract with concrete words. I could say, for example, “Your donation will help the
homeless,” which is very abstract, A concrete way of saying it is, “Your $25 donation will provide
a Thanksgiving dinner for a family of four.” Other examples: “They say that too much salt
is bad for you.” Well, who is “they?” Let's do a quick little activity:
Arrange the following series of words from most abstract to the most concrete.
For example: “vehicle,” “automobile,” “Corvette,” “transportation,” and “sports car.”
The most abstract would be “transportation.” Moving closer to the concrete would be
“vehicle,” then “automobile,” then “sports car,” and, finally, the most concrete of
these would be “Corvette.” And you can take some time to do these other ones as well.
You also should consider using language that is vivid. An example of language that is vivid:
You can often find on a menu, for example: “This is grilled chicken the way you would
make it,-that is, if you happen to be a grill master, with a secret savory blend of spices.”
Sounds pretty good, huh?” Let me continue: “Kentucky grilled chicken is marinated,
seasoned, and slow-grilled to juicy perfection for a taste so good you might never grill again.”
When you're using vivid language, you are using language that appeals to the senses: the senses
of sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste. We've talked about language being concrete
and vivid; it also should be simple. “Simple,” in this case, means that you can get your meaning
across to your audience quickly and concisely. The words and sentences that you use should be
immediately understandable to your audience. Avoid a long word when a short word will do.
So, match it to your audience; they're the reason that you're communicating. Oftentimes
doctors use “medical speak.” If a doctor is speaking to another doctor, he might use
the word “emesis,” but the word “vomit” would probably work better for an adult patient. And,
for a younger patient, the words “puke” or “throw up” might be more effective.
The suggestion, then, is avoid jargon and acronyms unless it works most effectively
for your audience. This includes whether you have to mention the qualifications of
the source. You may know who Sal Khan, is but your audience likely may never have heard of
him. Oh? Salman Khan? He's the founder of the Khan Academy, the free online education
platform and nonprofit organization. Well, if you still don't know, I know you can look him up.
Another reason to keep your language simple is that the audience knows the words but maybe not
like so well as you do. The time it takes for them to decode the word might cause them to miss the
next point. You're trying to make--let's say, that I was talking to you about a hex-photo cybernetic
camera. Well, you could probably take the time to figure it out—“hex” meaning six, “cybernetic”
meaning its computerized. You can break down the word what I'm really talking about is an automatic
camera with six functions. Another term that has been used to describe this kind of camera is
an “idiot camera .” Well, just as a “hex photo cybernetic camera” is probably not appropriate
for most of your audiences, the words “idiot camera” are probably a little bit too informal
for most of your audiences. So, you'll have to choose the one that fits the actual audience.
The same applies to acronyms or initials, like PRN--very commonly used in the medical
field. Your prescription might say something like take one tablet PRN well what does that
mean PRN stands for “pro re notta,” which is a Latin phrase meaning “in the circumstances”
or “as a circumstance arise, So, your doctor’s telling you to take one when needed, but instead
you may use the terms take one tablet PRN, “To the point” means that you should eliminate
clutter. Don't say, “in my opinion,” Of course, it's your opinion. Or, “as I think about it.”
Do some wordsmithing, which is getting rid of unnecessary words. Rather than saying,
“We are facing a difficult crisis that will be troublesome to successfully resolve,”
be much more succinct: “We have a crisis.” Comedian George Carlin said that people add extra
words when they want to sound more important than they really are and, as this is not your goal,
don't add words that are unnecessary. Language should also be correct and
accurate. Related to this, you should have a good and varied vocabulary. Remember that
we are “linguistically lazy” and we tend to use the same words over and over again--this
addresses the “varied” aspect of this statement To address the “good” aspect, we need to talk
about the “bad.” That's what “mal” means: “bad.” “Malapropism,” according to the World English
Dictionary is “the unintentional misuse of a word by confusion with one of similar sound especially
when creating a ridiculous effect, as in ‘I am NOT under the affluence of alcohol’.” Well,
you know that word, “affluence,” is incorrect. This person probably meant the “influence” of
alcohol. For example, if you say, “I need to go to the pharmacy to pick up my subscription,” you
are confusing the word “subscription” with the word “prescription.” Or you say the Jews were
“prosecuted” instead of “persecuted.” Now, here's a quick history on the
word malapropism: It came from a play written by Sheridan in 1775 called,
“The Rivals. Mrs. Malaprop was a character who was laughed at for her ridiculous misuse of
large words. She would say “contagious countries” instead of “contiguous countries,” so the word
“malapropism” was derived from her character. Here are some real examples of malapropism:
Johnny Logan, shortstop-turned-sportscaster, upon receiving an award said. “I will perish
this forever.” I'm pretty sure that he meant he would “cherish” it forever. And baseball player
Pete Rose, when he was accused of gambling, said, “All I want is my cause to be heard in front of
an impractical decision maker.” I'm fairly sure he meant an “impartial” decision maker.
The language you use should be precise. Author Mark Twain knew the importance of
precise language; he explained that “the difference between the ‘almost right’ word
and the ‘right word’ is really a large matter. It's the difference between the
‘lightning bug’ and the ‘lightning.’” Here's an example about how precise
language can be and the multiple shades of meaning that words have.
If you look up the word “untruth” in a thesaurus, you will find the following
synonyms: “lie,” “story,” “fib,” “myth,” “falsification”--all meaning “untruth.”
While each are synonyms of “untruth,” they all have different shades of meaning.
For example, complete this sentence with one of the words above:
“Icarus didn't really fly near the Sun on wings made of wax that's just a XXXX.” And the obvious
response would be “myth.” “Lie” doesn't fit there. Definitely, “fib” doesn't fit there, and
“falsification” doesn't fit. Possibly “story” might fit,
but we have a better example for “story.” “When I telephoned Professor Smith at his home,
his little boy said, ‘Daddy's in the shower,’ but I think that was a”—"fib” works best here.
“The worst thing that can happen to a scientist is for others to discover a ‘falsification’
in laboratory records.” Again, “lie,” doesn't work there and definitely “myth” doesn't work.
“Even criminals sometimes find it hard to tell an outright ‘lie’ under oath in court.”
And “George told me he was late for our date because his car broke down.
Does he think I'm going to believe that tired old”--and “story” fits best there.
“Correct and accurate” also means using proper grammar. You need to learn the
structure of the language that you are using. The language we're using right now is English,
so we need to use the proper English grammar. II were giving this lecture in Spanish to
a Spanish-speaking audience, I would have to use the grammar of the Spanish language
Now, some aspects of grammar are subject-verb agreement, particularly with singular and
plural subjects. Part of the problem is our desire to be non-sexist in our word choice.
If you say, “A person who wants to, should try; otherwise they should not try.” “They”
is plural compared to the singular “a person.” Don't go overboard, however,
because often while we're speaking, we end our sentences in prepositions like” in” or”
to.” We might say “What table did you put it on?” rather than,” “On which table did you
put it?” Most audiences will understand--unless you're speaking to a group of English professors.
In terms of language being correct and accurate, we've addressed the importance of vocabulary,
grammar, clarity, preciseness, and now as it relates to oral
communication, we can add pronunciation. For example, when people refer to the “library”
versus the “library.” Some of these are regional pronunciations but often can be perceived by the
audience as being mispronounced and that you don't understand the words that you're using.
Quiz time! How important is it to select
the right word to convey your meaning? Do you vary your language based upon
the person to whom you are speaking? And, finally, How linguistically lazy are you?
How many different ways can you say, ‘I'm angry”? Think about the words that you use and the
choices that you make and see if you can become a more effective communicator.