Part II, reading 2 pg 49 - 113

Part II

Problems with Language:


*why do business and technical writers get themselves into problems with language?

1) assume their readers will know what they are talking about
2) their goal is to impress rather than inform their readers
3) imitation of their superiors or model their documents after those in the files

How do they solve these problems?

1) writers must remember their readers
2) be guided by two principals:
- write everything as clearly, straightforwardly, and simply as possible"; and
- write in a manner or style with which they would be comfortable speaking

These principals will help writers avoid:
1) Jargon
2) Gobbledygook
3) Legalese
4) Sexist or biased language

*All of these problems can be magnified in international business
-larger and more complex audiences
ex) the car the "Nova"


pg. 52 Gobbledygook - Stuart Chase

-Legal Talk
**- Academic talk

Reducing the Gobble

-Federal Security Agency
problems because of Gobbledygook?


pg. 68 The Plain English Revolution - Alan Siegel

No matter where you work or what your job is, you should be yourself when you write. You will stand out as a real person.



pg. 79 A Critic of Plain Language Misses the Mark - Mark Mathewson

Hyland suggests critics of legalese are asking that legal prose sing or entertain, and they aren't demanding that the public be able to understand every legal document.

why lawyers will not and cannot write in an engaging, "novelistic" prose style:

1) It make s the law appear mysterious, remote, indecipherable, and hence makes lawyers appear to be worth $150 an hour.
2) Lawyers deal in abstractions rather than flesh and blood, grist and grit, and so cannot employ clear, compelling, down-to-earth language.

They are only asking that legal writing be clearer than most of it is now.


pg. 83 A Guide to Nonsexist Language

Good communication respects: individual worth, dignity, integrity, and capacity

2 abbreviated rules to check for bias:
- would you say the same thing about a person of the opposite sex?
- would you like it said about you?


***pg. 89 International Communication and Language - Gwyneth Olofsson

- Global community and a flat world trend

- English has become a international language especially for business
- Confusion and misunderstanding still occurs
*All of these problems can be magnified in international business -larger and more complex audiences ex) the car the "Nova"