Jargon.
That is one of the top reasons why someone hates your writing. You can find 7 content hacks that will help you tackle jargon here.
During my early days of writing, my writing mentor often said, “I love your idea but your writing is difficult to understand”.
This article is going to deal with the mechanics and neuroscience behind why people hate when you use jargon in your writing. It might sound complex and sophisticated. In the words of Malcolm Gladwell, “Keep your ideas sophisticated and unique but communicate them in simple writing.”
5 mechanics behind why your writing is not appreciated by your audience
Perspective, language, processing, contextual interpretation, and wavelength are five mechanics that make or break a piece of writing. And, we will try and understand how they create barriers between your readers and your own writing.
1. Perspective, finding a common table for matching world views.
Your cues of body language are foreign when you fly from east to west and vice versa. The same happens with the language that you write. You might make sense to the industry experts but not to the rest of the world.
2. Language, where do you come from?
Every tribe had its own language. Even today, people are culturally divided by language.
Think about this. The word default means something not right to any process-oriented conversation. The same word means a value that remains to those working in the information technology business.
3. Jargon slows the reader’s comprehension
Complex words may add sophistication. They often abandoned because they do not carry meaning to all the added sophistication. Words need to be used with appropriate context.
When readers go back and forth over a sentence. When they continue reading the sentence, again and again, they get stuck like a worn-out tape playing distorted tunes. They will soon realize that your message makes no sense and spending more time on it is useless.
Tip: Use Flesch’s readability score if you are writing for digital internet readers.
4. Run to fetch the dictionary to understand what you write
Reading is often to help satiate knowledge or for pleasure. If your reader cannot fulfill either of these goals, your writing will be trashed. No one wants to sit with a dictionary beside them, all the time to complete some text.
An exception to this when someone is practicing deliberate reading to improve one’s vocabulary and language. Internet readers do not fit into this category.
5. Disintegrated thought becomes your line of argument
Jargon often becomes handy to a writer when the line of thought is all over the place. And, this is why convincing yourself of what you intend to write is fundamental to creating a piece of content.
It’s easy to blame the reader that the wave length between the reader and writer does not match. But, what really matters is… how much effort did the writer invest in writing simple for any reader to understand.
Tip for writing simple: Write for an 8-year-old
Why 8-year-old, why not six?
An 8-year-old can relatively read long sentences. Explaining concepts to them is hard. Thinking like a smart teacher would help. While you approach explaining the concept or communicating a belief like a teacher, structure or build a story like a writer.
Use all the skills to snip those mighty jargons. Replace them with simpler words and live happily ever after.