How to Speak Human…

‘Things could go crazy quickly.’

‘That’s a world war when Americans and Russians start shooting at each other.’

If you want people to listen and take note of what you say, keep it really, really simple. President Biden wants Americans to leave Ukraine, and leave now. So, he chooses very compelling language. The Guardian pulls out the key clips for us here.

‘Go crazy’ or ‘shooting at each other’ are the sort of phrases most business leaders would strike out of a speech, substituting more cautious or sophisticated language.

But if your audience is the man and woman in the street, or perhaps your staff, they will take a lot more notice if you use simple, colloquial language.

Sounds obvious huh!

Obvious but not so easy in my experience. It’s probably one of the things professional people find the most difficult when learning to be a spokesperson or give a professional speech.

And just to add one basic point often missed: written English and spoken English tend to be different, so even if you are writing a speech or the script for your podcast, you want to write to be heard, not to be read. We teach this in all our training and is a central feature of my colleague Eric Dixon’s ‘podcast training’.

Here are five tips to ensure you find the right vocabulary:

Imagine someone you know

Putting a real person front of mind and noting the words you would use to speak to them, can really help. I often ask people to speak to their Mum, or their son or their son’s best friend. I find people often automatically find different words and better explanations.

Use the short word

Utilize should always be use.

‘Procure’ or ‘purchase’ should be replaced by buy.

‘Remuneration’ can be replaced by ‘pay’ or ‘pay package’, (or ‘pay and benefits’ if you must).

‘Adhere’ is not something you would say at home. You would say ‘stick’.

‘Accordingly’ can usually be shortened to ‘so’.

Don’t be afraid to use several words rather than one long one

‘Beneficiaries’ might become ‘the people we help’ or ‘serve’.

‘Products’ is best explained as ‘our face creams’, ‘bank accounts’, ‘loans’ and so on.

‘Access to services’ is a phrase whose meaning is often completely lost. Try ‘installing ramps and widening                     doors’ or ‘ensuring people can use the phone, get cash out, etc.’

Have a back pocket phrase

Some phrases you may want to use but need a neat explanation to hand just to help those who are not familiar. For example:

Quantitative easing – a form of printing money.

Reduced footfall – fewer people walking past, less often.

Burrito method – sew inside out, like a burrito.

Try it out on someone else

Spotting the jargon or group-speak of other professions is easy, it’s much harder to work out which of the words you use every day are not fully understood by others. Fortunately, you just need to ask. You can ask colleagues, but it is even better to ask someone not as familiar with your professional world.

The one question I always get…

Aren’t you patronising your audience?

I can only say that I think shrouding the meaning of something in language that only those ‘in the club’ understand, is much more of an insult than over-explaining. If you carefully consider who is in the audience, you will almost certainly pitch your language at the right level. But if you do over-explain here and there, is anyone really going to leave the room feeling ‘patronised’.

Need help with all this? You could book a short online training session with one of our team. To reach us, click  here.

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Lindsay Williams

Lindsay Williams is the founder and MD of The Media Coach. She has been an expert media trainer, communication coach and consultant since 1998. Lindsay hosts a range of bespoke communication skills courses which include Media Training, Presentation Training, Crisis Media Training and Message Building. Her particular forte is CEO Communication Coaching. Lindsay is the person to hire when you want C-Suite Communication Training.

Lindsay Williams is based in London but runs training sessions in multiple time zones, including the US, Europe, Africa and Asia, working online or travelling to host small and large scale training events. With 20 years of experience as a communications consultant with corporations and international organisations, Lindsay also runs Personal Impact Training and Pitching Via Zoom courses.

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