Unit 2. Using the Business Language

2. Using the Business Language

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

"Language is the dress of thought."- SAMUEL JOHNSON

"Language is the means of getting an idea from my brain into yours without surgery." - MARK AMIDON

"Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about." - BENJAMIN LEE

"Thought is the blossom; language the bud; action the fruit behind it." -RALPH WALDO EMERSON

"The most important things are the hardest to say, because words diminish them." - STEPHEN KING

"Language is the armory of the human mind, and at once contains the trophies of its past and the weapons of its future conquests."          -SAMUEL TAYLOR

"There is no more difficult art to acquire than the art of observation, and for some men it is quite as difficult to record an observation in brief and plain language.           -WILLIAM OSLER

 

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to

-        know about the fundamentals of language, such as language and meaning making, language and its implications for society and culture, stylistic features of language, and functions of language.

       identify the techniques of using language effectively

     describe the key feature of strong words, effective sentences and coherent paragraphs

 

Language is an oral, written or non-verbal system of communication used by a particular community or group. The voice sounds, written symbols and gestures are arbitrary (=not based on a system or principles and often seeming unfair), but they convey meaning shared by a community using that language. Language also consists of rules for combining those symbols in order for the speakers to produce a variety of messages.

Language is an important vehicle of communication. A sender encodes the message with a certain meaning using sounds, scripts, or non-verbal signs and a receiver decodes those symbols to make meaning out of them. Successful communication occurs only when both sides share a common system of language. Inadequate use of language, such as incorrect grammar, syntax, overuse of technical/obscure words, or ambiguity distorts the message, posing as a barrier to effective communication.

There should be focus on the basic rules and standards of using quality and effective English language. A general introduction to the nature of language, its elements, functions and its other basic features, followed by a detailed discussion on grammar, punctuation, and spelling should also be considered.

FUNDAMENTALS OF LANGUAGE

Over 7,000 living languages around the world, each language has its own system of codes. To be able to communicate effectively, one must know the basic rules and standards guiding the language, its nature or functions. The following are some fundament issues that apply to any language:

LANGUAGE AND MEANING

Language is symbolic. It communicates through symbols. A symbol is something that represents something else. Symbols can be verbal and non-verbal. For example, namaste, is the verbal symbol for a particular idea of greeting someone. The written word, N-A- M-A-S-T-E, has been combined to form a symbol that stands for the idea of greeting. Similarly, showing the folded hands to someone is the gesture that symbolizes the idea of greeting. However, these symbols are not exactly the things they refer to; they are used only to represent them for our communication convenience. At times, a symbol (rose) may not just represent the flower but also love. Some symbols can have several referents.

Thus, the relation between a symbol (the sound namaste or rose), the idea of greeting, or love (in our mind) and the referent (the actual greeting or a flower) is indirect. This is why many words can be confusing and we often have to rely on dictionaries or thesauruses to find out if a word is connotative or denotative. Denotation is the literal or primary meaning of a word, as we find in a dictionary. Monosemic words, or words that have only one use in language, are easier to denote. Connotation is an idea or feeling that a word invokes for us. It includes literal or primary meaning, but in addition to that, it is also the meaning based on how we associate with a word at the personal level -with our emotions or experiences.

Meaning making in language is thus a complex process requiring standards and rules that help to make it learnable and usable. The rules lay out the boundaries for what is acceptable and what is not in using speech, writing, and non-verbal language. The rules may look rigid, but there is always some room for creativity. Learning a language, despite the challenges of knowing so many symbols with different meanings, can be surprisingly easy for many people. Humans are biologically programmed for language acquisition. We start learning a language at an amazing speed during the first two years of our lives. By our early teens. We attain all the linguistic information we need to communicate in social settings.

LANGUAGE, SOCIETY AND CULTURE

Our society and culture influence the way we use language. In turn, we also influence society and culture in using language in the way we socialize. We follow social rules or norms in conversations. These are our shared values internalized over the years. For example, we introduce to a stranger before we begin conversation. Depending on our cultural norms, we may be expected to look at the person while speaking to him or her, or to seek permission or an excuse (“sorry, I have to leave”), if you would like to leave.

We follow certain culturally accepted norms on how we start and end our conversations or how we change topics. We carry out conversations in a logical sequence of sentences, in asking questions and giving answers. Most such sequences are high scripted and ritualized. In our daily life conversation, we begin with greetings, moves to topics, seek permission to change a topic, apologize for interruption, and thank our listeners or other participants at the end of the conversation. We also change the way we use language as we shift to professional, business, personal or academic contexts.

We acquire knowledge from our culture directly or indirectly, explicitly or implicitly. The language we use shapes our realities. If the language is inadequate to express some realities, we may not be able to talk about our experience accurately. For example, the English word "cousin" does not help distinguish between the child of a maternal and a paternal uncle. Similarly, no exact word is available in Nepali for "swimming pool" although Nepali may have words equivalent to "pond" or "lake". Sometimes the situation gets awkward and even disconcerting when words from another language are used. One famous example from Taiwan concerns an advertisement by Pepsi: “Come Alive with Pepsi”. The problem was, when translated in Taiwanese, it meant. “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead.” Lack of vocabulary in a language makes translation difficult. Onomatopoeias, or words that mimic sounds (examples: sutukka, fyatta, bhaka-bhak in Nepali) can hardly be replaced by any English word. 

Differences in dialects and accents also influence the way language users or speakers are perceived by other people. People with different dialects use different versions of languages that have distinct words, grammar, and pronunciation. Accents reflect in distinct styles of pronunciation. For example, the Nepali language used in Kathmandu is different in dialect and accent from the Nepali language used in many rural areas, and even in Darjeeling. Dialects and accents can vary by region, class, and ethnicities. Customs relating to politeness also define the way we use language. Words like “sorry,” “pardon” and “excuse me” can have similar or different meanings in different English- speaking cultures, Certain cultures may be more open to rather crude or profane language than other cultures. Gender-specific differences can also be apparent. You must have heard that men speak directly and clearly while women communicate in an emotional and indirect way.

Sometimes, people try to accommodate with other languages by switching to communication style of another language. A native Nepali trying to communicate with an English-speaker may adopt the ways of the English speaker. Have you ever received a call from a call center in India in which the caller tries to sound like a native English speaker? Globalization and outsourcing has made such code-switching more common these days. At the same time, it has created cultural bias among people. Cultural bias is discriminating or viewing people negatively on the basis of their race, country of origin, language, gender, age, skills, sexual orientation etc. Not all people living in Terai are Madhesi just as not all Asians are Chinese. Why use only the generic “he” to refer to an antecedent? Using “he or she” is a gender-neutral alternative. "Elderly" is connotative of a rather weak person. "Older people" or simply "people over sixty- five", "retirees", or "grandparents", sound more neutral. "Sexual orientation" is unbiased, "sexual preference" is not, since it suggests people have a voluntary choice, a preference. "Disability" is a better substitute for "handicap".