Simplifying your language for inclusion.

About one year ago, I had an epiphany: Simple language is inclusive language.

At work, I had written an internal blog post in English and I asked a colleague to help translate it so it could be posted in both English and German. They commented that it was incredibly difficult to translate because of the complexity of the sentences. The post was about inclusion, and they wryly said “language this complicated is not inclusive.”

I thought to myself, what purpose does complexity of language serve? At other times in my life, it may have shown my mastery of the English language. It may have demonstrated my ability to be clever or poetic. But in this case, it served no purpose. It actually caused more confusion than clarity.

After this realization, I rewrote the post with shorter sentences. I removed unnecessary adjectives. I dropped long complex phrases. I began to challenge myself to write all my communication more concisely. Another colleague recently suggested that, we as native English speakers, should look towards “ESL” (English as a Second Language) lessons for inspiration. This would, in theory, make our communication easier to understand for all English speakers, especially those who are still learning. This got me thinking... when you learn a new language, you reduce it to its most basic structure. As you continue to learn, you are challenged to communicate complex concepts with limited experience with the language. There’s a beauty and simplicity to it. Let’s embrace those principles to communicate better.

For example: When I was in the states, I recall long rambling conversations with lots of language softeners and confusing points. I recognize that these tactics were a way to give critical feedback or bad news in a more gentle way. But often these do us a disservice and obscure the point we are trying to make. Let’s challenge ourselves to communicate more simply.

Privilege

Even though I work for a German company, English is the “working language”. Yet the majority of employees speak English as their second (or third or fourth) language. An important first step for me was recognizing the privilege I had as a native English speaker. A second step was taking on the responsibility of communicating clearly for a wide audience. But how?

Simplify

Here’s some advice I gave to a friend on how to communicate more clearly after he received some feedback that his colleagues had trouble understanding him.

1. Re-read old emails you have written and see what extra or confusing language could be removed. Look at any long sentences, can they be split into two?
2. Record yourself in meetings and replay it later. Try to transcribe the sentences to see if they make sense and are logical. How clear were your points?
3. Ask for “in-the-moment” feedback from colleagues after communicating verbally. Take their feedback to heart.
4. When speaking, try to avoid digressions in the middle of a statement or while making a point.
5. Try to avoid phrases or words that add no actual value to the sentence: practically, sort of, kind of, almost, it’s as if, to be honest, the thing is, etc.
6. If you are a fast talker, take a breath and speak more slowly and clearly.

Since that epiphany a year ago, I approach language very differently. I feel allergic to my old (American) style of speaking. I am impatient with long, rambling sentences with many roundabout points. I try to avoid using uncommon idioms. I’d challenge all my native English speaking friends and colleagues to embrace simplicity. Your audience will appreciate it and your message will resonate.

Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash.