Effective communication is a superpower. Here's how the language you use determines who can get your message.
When you write, you should try to communicate, not sound smart.
Here's a question you should ask yourself after you write or say something: Are you trying to communicate, or are you trying to sound smart?
Flexing a broad vocabulary can be enticing for someone seeking credibility and status, especially for writers. Sentences strung together with complex, multi-syllable words is something that can give off the perception of intelligence or sophistication.
Anyone that uses the word insalubrious instead of the word unhealthy must be really intelligent — right?
Your audience — not you — makes the call here.
It isn't the case a more complex word choice makes for better writing or speaking. Whether a message is effectively conveyed, really, depends on the audience. Whether an audience understands you depends in large part on whether they can read your writing or comprehend your speaking, which is contingent on the language you use.
Communicating is hard but there are ways to be better. You can make your writing stronger, and you can make your speaking more precise.
For writing in particular, these are three questions to ask yourself after penning something:
Does the audience understand what I'm trying to convey?
Is the message taking a backseat to the language I'm using to convey it?
How many words (be honest) do I actually need to make my message as clear as possible?
And something simple but extremely important to remember: The bigger the words, the smaller the audience.
The opposite is true too. Writing that a seventh-grader can understand is writing that a massive audience can understand. (Think of the Harry Potter books.)
Many popular books are written for highly educated audiences. Complex language demands a highly literate reader. This type of work is less accessible to a broader audience.
Many readers cannot easily understand outdated, literary words like beseech, effulgent, or perchance. And they have no reason to. This type of language can muddle a story and suspend a reader's understanding, especially if they pop up too often.
It's not a good thing when a reader finds themselves reaching for a dictionary multiple times per paragraph, playing the role of interpreter rather than audience member.
The message here isn't to avoid using complex language. But an effective communicator must recognize the way language can limit or broaden an audience.
An article or book written in simple, plain words has a much higher readership potential than something more convoluted. More people can access and understand work that is written in colloquial language.
In the excellent essay, Politics and the English Language, George Orwell put a different angle to the issue. Orwell writes:
“What is above all needed is to let the meaning choose the word, and not the other way around.”
Sounding smart — or attempting to sound smart — with words shouldn’t be prioritized over lucid communication. You don't want to come off pretentious and disingenuous. You should prioritize the clarity of the message over the word choice.
Fixating on a single word or phrase isn't always productive, especially when it gets in the way of clear communication.
Meaning can be lost when clarity isn't the primary goal. To best relay a message or story, use words everyone can understand. Selecting esoteric words in an attempt to show off can ostracize the reader or listener, which inevitably shrinks your potential audience.
The words you choose matter. They impact who can and who cannot understand your message.
Language selects our audience. Choose wisely.
An earlier version of this article is published in The Writing Cooperative.
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