«NAwareness of the importance of inclusion and accessibility also on a linguistic level has grown in recent times. But between Schwa and asterisks, we often forget that, if we don’t speak clearly, we lose sight of the goal of making ourselves understoodAnd”. For this reason Valentina Di Michele, a communications expert who deals with facilitating the language of technology, has decided to organize an ad hoc festival. Thursday 21st and Friday 22nd September will be held online DiParola Festi: the first event in Italy dedicated to accessible clear inclusive language. A free initiative aimed at a broad and multi-sector audience. The program ranges tamong different contexts: technological, public administration, the world of work, medical, legal, energy and economic. There are many areas of life in which citizens find themselves faced with unclear expressions on a daily basis. But there are also many situations in which, more or less consciously, he himself produces incomprehensible content. Sometimes, not even entirely to himself.
Inclusive but also clear, the language we would like
«Do you remember the 2008 crisis? We were all talking about spread And subprime without really understanding what we were saying». Then came the pandemic, and between antigen, cluster and monoclonal antibodies It didn’t get much better. Based on the emergency or key topics of the moment (from Pnnr to Chatbots, from superstorm cells to gaslighting), each period could be easily identified by the words we used (and didn’t quite understand). «Sometimes these are English terms or technical terms that we start using without mastering them. In an attempt to dominate complexity, we choose decontextualized words.” “Sliding them” between words, ours, with which they often have little in common.
«We do it, perhaps, to feel part of a group. It happens, for example, in work environments: but the use of a language that we perceive as exclusive risks being exclusionary.” And to fail the purpose for which it exists, which is to make us understood and to widen our network. «Social media, above all, are responsible for a short circuit. The structure of the sentence is increasingly simplified, our lexicon has been reduced, but it is full of complex and hyper-repeated words, which follow the trend of the moment. Words that actually hide our inability to master a certain theme.” We overuse them and then simply let them decay.
7 tips to make yourself understood (and understood)
So, what to do? Here are 5 tips from the expert to understand and be understood.
1. Listen before you speak. For To be sure of being understood, we must know the way our interlocutor speaks. By choosing the words he uses, we can be sure that he will understand what we want to tell him.
Is it appropriate to use a complex word? Let’s follow it with a simpler expression that clarifies its meaning. If the people we talk to know the term aspirin, why use the words acetylsalicylic acid? Short, everyday words are more effective than complex, technical ones. If we really have to use the complex ones, we have to explain them. For example: acetylsalicylic acid, i.e. aspirin. Or use a metaphor. To explain what a password is to a person who knows little or nothing about Internet suffice it to say that it is like a key that is used to keep personal information confidential.
2. Start with the why and organize the information in your mind before speaking. What goal do we want to achieve with the sentence we are about to pronounce? What do we mean? If it is not clear to us, it cannot be clear to our interlocutor. Give the information a logical order and consider priorities.
3. Prefer positive phrases. Negative phrases, such as prohibitions, often have the opposite result than desired. “No crossing outside the pedestrian crossing” he doesn’t say what to do, only what not to do. «Crossing at a pedestrian crossing» gives a precise instruction, without misunderstandings.
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