tone and language lesson 1

Meeting the Needs of the Audience

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

Audience Recognition–Multiple Audiences (cont.)

To communicate to multiple audiences,

Define your terms

Provide background information

Provide detailed explanations

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

Biased Language—Issues of Diversity

Audiences for written and spoken technical communication will not always be just like you.

The audiences will be diverse.

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.


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.


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.”


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.”

Multiculturalism

International business requires multicultural communication, the sharing of written and oral information between businesspeople from many different countries.

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.

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

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.”

Communicating Globally . . . in Your Neighborhood (cont.)

By 2014, the U.S. workplace looked like this:

White67%

Black12%

Hispanic16%

Asian5%

Multiculturalism (cont.)

To meet the challenges of communicating to a multicultural or cross-cultural audience, consider these ten techniques:


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 (/).


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.

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?

Sexist Language Fifty percent of the workforce is female.

Avoid sexist language, created through

Omission

Unequal treatment

Stereotyping

Sexist pronouns and nouns

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.”


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.”

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.”


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.


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.”

Audience Involvement

To involve your audience,

Use a personalized tone

Show reader benefit

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.

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.

Meeting Workplace Communication Challenges

Use the end-of-chapter activities to apply chapter principles individually and in groups.

tone and language lesson 1

Education