When should we use technical jargon and when should we explain ourselves differently than we are trained to?
Do you read articles in the business sector from your newspaper or online news portal? Have you ever come across words, terms or whole sentences that seem like gibberish to you? More and more well-educated and well-versed business people find that they can have difficulty understanding the context or the language of business articles, because terminologies that are very industry-specific are being used like never before. Columns, blogs on websites and debate posts are particularly heavy on this kind of jargon. And we train more and more people via our education systems to communicate in this way, because we require the university students to be able to use the technical terms in their assignments and speech.
But when should one or the other form of communication be used? You must always assess which audience you have to communicate with and which context it is in. A textbook example is the doctor who fails to use communication that the patient understands and therefore the patient thinks they are making a mistake far worse than they are. Here we are talking about a professional talking to a non-professional and must ensure they understand an important message. If, on the other hand, the doctor were to give a message to a colleague about the patient, it is important that the doctor uses the correct professional jargon. In this case, it will ensure that the two understand each other better and that the information is passed on effectively and correctly.
Technical translation and technical copywriting have never been greater and more necessary than they are now. When companies communicate with their core stakeholders, they expect a certain level of language use. It therefore creates credibility to communicate with professional jargon within certain industries, technology branches or positions. Therefore, it has increasingly become more important for companies to work with translators and translation agencies that can handle their technical translations in a professional manner.
Another example could be the robot company. Here it is important that technical terms and specifications are used in the communication with the buyer if it is the technically responsible person at the customer's robot company is in dialogue with, but they do not necessarily have to use the same terminologies towards the director or purchasing manager at the customer. These are therefore two stakeholders from the same industry, to whom the robot company must be aware of communicating differently. If they communicate in the same way to both parties, they may risk losing the order and the trust of the customer.
We are thus faced with a challenge where all employees who have customer contact or stakeholder contact must be trained in interpreting the recipient and context before they start communicating. It is not something that is right for everyone and can therefore create challenges, but it becomes a more and more important discipline the further up the ladder of responsibility an employee wants to climb.
This blog has been translated by Startup Central.
