Too often, an intended audience doesn’t receive the intended message.
The speaker or writer may use language the audience doesn’t understand. This is more likely when one of the parties speaks a different language from the other. Whether the language is Spanish, medicine, accounting, physics or engineering, miscommunication can still happen.
My wife and I just returned from a river cruise on the Columbia and Snake Rivers in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. It was a very educational experience.
We learned that explorers like Lewis and Clark sometimes had to communicate with Native American tribes via their interpreters using sign language.
When they asked the people they encountered the name of the Snake River, the sign was making a wavy motion with hands. The intention was to communicate “fish”, because there were abundant salmon in the river. The explorers thought the wavy motion represented “snake”. The the river is still known as the Snake River today.
They asked the Nez Perce Native Americans what they were called. The sign in response was to lift a hand high and make a motion to the nose. The intention was to communicate “hill people.” The French explorers thought the motion represented “pierced nose”, and the tribe is still known as Nez Perce, even though there are no known pictures of members of the tribe with a pierced nose!
One way to try to avoid miscommunication is to ask a child to explain back what you said or wrote. This is no guarantee for the foreign language situation. Try using an interpreter.
Sometimes giving definitions can help, especially for technical subjects.
Being aware that miscommunication can happen is an important first step to solving the problem.
Are you looking for someone who can write clear communications that are understood by the audience? Send me an email at mgray@profitadvisors.com to schedule an initial needs assessment.