Learning English - Writing

I love writing. I’m a better writer than a talker. In fact I’m an even better reader but let’s talk about writing. It’s my best self expression.

I am basically an introvert although quite a few people have fervently argued against this (thank you). Suffice to say my Myers-Briggs tests say I am categorically an introvert – I think the main explanation given is that I charge my batteries best when I am alone (preferably by a natural waterfall perfect in its untouched if unkempt condition).

When I was young I kept diaries, well that sounds more organized than it was. Lemme just say I wrote in bits and pieces of paper. And usually when I have to process a very stressful event or thought. It is my way of making sense of my disturbed down cycles in life. Which makes it also my catharsis. So you see it didn’t matter if I lost my bits of written thoughts; once on paper - preferably lots of it – they have served their purpose.

But I can write funny ones too. My elder sister said my funny letters kept her warm and fuzzy when she felt lonely in her first year of college far away from our cozy family home. I do not intentionally try to be funny, they just come out that way. And I am taking that as a positive thing.

I’ve written pages and pages of letters to boyfriends in the days before the internet, and felt so happy to get pages of reply in return. Well later on, I was lucky to get a page-full of hand scribbles.

The advent of personal computers killed all that effectively. I am one of those who lament the lost art of letter-writing. It is an art, especially the kind written in slanting perfect script with nary an error in sight (forget the illegible scratches M.D.s are so proud of, and pharmacists, and esp, med-reps worship).

Nowadays nobody can identify anybody’s handwriting anymore. I mean gosh, one time I told a partner, man if you get kidnapped and you wrote me a note, there is no way I would be able to authenticate it as coming from you.

The thing is I’ve always written in English although I am a non-native speaker. People say I was very good at it. I have articles published in scientific journals. I have written and edited proceedings of international meetings. I got high scores in English tests except for the spoken section. I thought NOT adopting a foreign accent when speaking to the same brown-skinned test administrator won’t matter. It did, I guess.

I am a really good English writer. Or so I thought until 2 days in a non-native English-speaking country (not even an English-speaking colony it was) changed my perspective forever. For good.

Because of the writing exercises in those fateful two days, I now wholeheartedly recognize that there are different English-writing styles. And no one size fits all. So I have seen the error of my writing ways.

Business writing is about simplicity, clarity and brevity.

Results-oriented and busy businesspeople can only, at best, scan things. They have no time to sit and ponder and reflect on what the writer or a message is trying to get across. They need to know what the message is about in the first 2-3 sentences – without resorting to disjointed phrases and bullet points (the most common escape route of the hyper-busy people).

They also will not give you additional points for using long, highfalutin words because they can be distracting. Take out the jargon.

Communication is not a measure of your knowledge of the English language. It is how you get a message across clearly in a short, sweet, and simple way without sacrificing form and structure. It is about communicating effectively.

My boss is a true native English speaker, true being where the language actually originated. Up until a few months ago I argued with the way he wrote English (I thought mine was better! Hahahahaha). After the two days of the equivalent of spiritual enlightenment in English business writing, I put my newly acquired skills to work.

Et, voila! It was an unqualified success. My writing became clear, short and most importantly punchy! Bam, bam, bam – the first 3 short paragraphs already tell you what the problems are at the micro and macro levels and how we intended to solve (some of) them at the micro level that will hopefully resonate and achieve best impact at macro levels. Great!

Well at least that is what my true native English speaker boss tells me. I now believe him.

Let me tell you where we, the supposedly best English-communicating SEAsian citizens do not always get it right:

1. It is not a one size fits all.

Business writing is straight to the point. The destination is the key, (oooh marketing people will love this) with the hows and wherefores coming in later for details. So paint the blue sky first, the rest can come later (usually in very fine print as in credit card terms).

Academic writing is a discourse - a display of your intellectual worldview. You can put in as much jargon and convoluted reasoning as you want. The more complicated (but understandable & logical) to your equally intellectual readers it is, the better.

Literature is the opposite of business writing, with the process being as important as (if not more than) the results. It is about the journey to discovery and transformation. Here, the scent, sight and smell of the words are needed to make your writing interesting. The more poetry and lyrics you can wax, the better.

2. Make each sentence brief as in occupying one single thought.

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT make a long, meandering sentence that has several discrete thoughts in it separated by commas or colons as if to justify the length.

We are so fond it, we do not even notice it. Well, I did not until I was given the new hand lens of brief and concise English writing. Writing long sentences must be a country thing for us.

I explained to the native English speakers that many educational institutions ask us to write long, long essays and answers. Teachers marked them by length rather than substance. The words of my beloved college English teacher still reverberates in my ear: “How dare you give me a 3 page (double-spaced, 1.5 inch margin on all sides) term paper!!!”

To be fair that was more of a literature class than a business course, but you can see how it shaped me and made me think that it was a ‘one size fits all’ thing. On the flip side, I found that when I applied brevity and rewrote a poem in the fewest words I could, it came off, well, so off, it wasn't even funny.

3. To be punchy, write in the now and active tense.

It lends an alert note in your writing. It makes you also sound a real go getter, “I will do this” is a much stronger message rather than “It is viewed that the thing can be done by me”. It reflects personal commitment and implies an unshakable self-confidence.

An academic writing is often ‘formal’ and written in the passive tense. It only interests the sleep-inducing cells in your brains.

Literature can be both. Although I must say that in the present world of information overload, brief writings rich in meaning are really good. It actually is the best reflection of your knowledge i.e., communicating complex ideas in simple lay man’s terms.

You may have heard of the mother test: if your mother understands it, you explained it well. The stupider the mother, the better you are.

4. Adjust your writing styles according to the context: business, academic, literature, conveying bad news, target audience etc.

Seriously they do not teach the rule, ‘know your listeners’, in communications class for nothing. Although they definitely did not teach me about academic vs business writing. Or maybe the fact that the class was at an academic institution, taught by an academic professor, explains it. I rest my case.

5. Do not sacrifice the form because it works best if it has its partner substance – you know yin and yang. (Although there are exceptional individuals who best function as hermaphrodites!).

Remember, in business writing, less is more but definitely do not write less at the expense of substance because, then, your writing will be worthless.

6. Continue learning the language and review and correct your work!

Best if you can ask a (true) native English speaker to check your work because, for one, some idioms we often hear apparently do not originate from the English speakers. Over the years we have developed our own little pidgin (which sounds so much better than bastardized) English language. Always check the phrase you are using – a simple googling can be helpful.

Also, distinguishing colloquial or slang from ‘true’ words can be tricky – it requires cultural knowledge best acquired through years and years of living amongst native English speakers. Don’t use it if you are not sure or comfortable. Nonetheless, get a complete dictionary because it is very handy (especially when you are not online).

And, oh, do not forget the definitive article ‘the’. It must be an Asian thing to drop it because now I have to work at putting it back in my writing.

7. Finally, guys, if you can, take the very useful Ten Secrets to Powerful Writingcourse by Whelan (google it, sorry I don’t have a link) which naturally offers you so much more than the above pointers. I tell you it is worth it.

You know what the best part of this course is? It helped organize and structure my all-over-the-place thoughts that not only often oppose each other but also race against each other for dominion in my head. Seriously, it is hard to keep up…and remember :-(.

It not only helped me improve my writing but also my verbal articulation. For an introvert, that is a great step in the right direction.