Good art is its own language
Three tips for English-speaking editors to communicate effectively with ESL creators.
I sometimes feel like editor-speak is its own language, one that most people aren’t very fluent in. The same can be said of photography. When done well, the hours of hard work is unnoticeable, and the piece speaks for itself. But striking this balance can be complicated when both editor and photographer struggle with the other’s native language.
Over the past several weeks I worked with photoimaging student Henghui on his photobook Art and Solitude: The Story of Vincent, a day-in-the-life style documentation of an eccentric tattoo artist navigating life and loneliness.
My co-editor, Katrina, and I had a lot of fun working with Henghui. We had a group chat that, at times, was more memes than sense. But collaborating on this project wasn’t without its pitfalls. I am painfully monolingual, and Henghui, an international student from China, struggles with English. Henghui was straight up with us from our first correspondence that English wasn’t his strong suit. We could chit-chat, sure, but things got tricky when we tried getting technical. Early on in our meetings we often found ourselves at a loss for words, unsure which ones in the right combination would get across our ideas in a way that wasn’t just plain confusing.
Over these past weeks I developed some tools, through much trial and error, that helped me communicate effectively with someone who struggles with English that I hope will help you in your own communications with non-native English-speaking creators. I have distilled my advice into three distinct areas:
1. Cut the fluff
It can feel like giving up a first born to let go of all that lovely softening language we like to pad out our communications with. But when someone who struggles with English must wade through the depths of niceties to get to the point, it’s going to be pretty fatiguing.
Similarly, it can be tempting to throw around a lot of jargon, you may not even realise you’re doing it, but it’s just one more thing for your creator to have to figure out. Be concise and clear. Don’t forget: you’re the expert in editing, but you don’t need to be annoying about it.
If you can’t explain what you’re doing clearly and simply then you probably shouldn’t be doing it.
Sure, every short and direct Facebook message I sent felt like I was shouting (and I still couldn’t bring myself to use the dreaded full stop feared by millennials everywhere) but Henghui didn’t care, and, most importantly, he got what I was saying.
2. Be a chameleon
They say that a person’s favourite word is their own name, so it stands to reason that the same logic can be applied to their writing style. I found correspondence went a lot smoother, with the least need to explain myself, when I tried to phrase messages in a way that mimicked Henghui’s.
This follows on from the last tip, as there was need to cut down on the softening language that Henghui didn’t use, but also try to notice key words your creator likes to use. If someone is having to translate an unfamiliar word or pick apart a confusing sentence it’s only going to make it less likely that you’re being understood.
3. Show, don’t tell
The annoying adage that hangs over the heads of all writers is (unsurprisingly) useful to put into practice when verbal or written communication with someone is difficult.
When words are a shaky common ground, showing what you mean visually is an invaluable tool.
If you can meet up face-to-face (which can prove difficult in post-covid times), explaining technical edits or structural changes with a hard copy is ideal. If meeting in person isn’t possible, our team worked on a shared Google doc where I could show Henghui what I was doing and explain it in our group chat at the same time.
If you’re just doing a light edit this might not be necessary, but for Katrina, Henghui, and I, the project became quite collaborative, so major changes were far easier to communicate over a visual medium. Rather than writing paragraphs explaining an idea we had, simply making easily undoable changes and asking, ‘what do you think?’ proved to be far more efficient.
At the end of the day, this isn’t your work, it isn’t your voice. When it comes to the English language, we’ve pretty much heard it all before, so celebrate the perspective of someone who brings the intricacies of a whole other language to the table. There was no shortage of things to appreciate when working with Henghui, I found his work inspiring and emotional, and it was a great feeling to be able to contribute to something we could all be proud of.
It’s not a new concept that you can learn a lot from trying to see things from another person’s perspective.
As editors we will almost certainly be lucky enough in our careers to work with creators from backgrounds different to our own. These tools will help you communicate quickly and effectively so you can hone back in on what really matters — their art. Maybe you’ll even be as lucky as Henghui, Katrina, and I, and establish an editor-creator relationship where you can trust each other, build friendships, and have fun.
