The English language contains about 490,000 words plus about 300,000 technical words. It is doubtful if any individual uses more than 60,000 words. Written English uses about 10,000 words while spoken English, by the better educated, uses about 5,000 words.
Effective communication in the English language requires that we follow a few simple rules that can be learnt and practiced by anyone. We just need to keep in mind the purpose of communication.
The purpose of communication
Issue, receive, interpret, act on commands
Maintain relations - personal and business
Structure the environment – share information, define jobs.
This can easily and more effectively be achieved by being:
'Direct, Simple, Brief, Vigorous and Lucid' and the way to do this is to:
Prefer the familiar word to the far-fetched;
Prefer the single word to the circumlocution;
Prefer the short word to the long;
Prefer the Saxon word to the Romance;
Prefer the concrete word to the abstract.
Prefer the familiar word to the far-fetched:
If you can use
Do not use
buy
purchase or acquire
measure
quantify
Prefer the short word to the long
If you can use
Do not use
hope
expectations
kind
categories
Prefer the single word to the circumlocution
If you can use
Do not use
act
take action on the issue
often
in several instances
Prefer the Saxon word to the Romance
Saxon
Romance
earnings
profit
fall
depreciate
Prefer the concrete word to the abstract:
If you can use
Do not use
lorries, cars
transportation facilities
door
entrance
TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IN ENGLISH
Clarify ideas before communicating: Systematically think through the message and consider who will be receiving it and/or affected by it.
Examine the true purpose of communication: One must ask himself/herself this question – what am I really aiming to accomplish with this message? The use of language can then be suitably adjusted.
Take the entire environment, physical and human, into consideration: Questions such as, what is being said, to whom and when are very important. Your skill lies in how you say it and, of course, your timing. Adapt your language to the environment.
Be careful of the overtones and the basic content of the message: The listener will be affected by they way you put across your message. Your tone and facial expressions are also to be considered.
Use crisp language and be clear: It is very important that the words are well chosen and that you stay as crisp and concise as possible. In other words use minimum words to send across the message and convey useful information.
Follow-up on communication: One must solicit feedback in ensuring that the receiver has understood the message. If the person has not understood, tone down the language.
Be a good listener: By concentrating on the receiver’s response you can ensure his extent of interest in you and also if he is concentrating.
Avoid:
* Use of long words
* Using new words
* Jargon
* Assuming they know
* Preconceptions, prejudices
* Information overload
* Noise
* Information filtering
* Lack of trust
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