Writing plays an important role in our daily lives. Some of us write our daily journals/ diaries, blogs or post our updates to our social media profiles. At work, we send and receive innumerable emails, build slide packs or converse using Yammer or Salesforce.
I bet you would have definitely come across poorly constructed sentences or grammar mistakes which are very common, it’s or its? It frustrates us to no end when a senior manager or a business development person writes grammatically incorrect sentences. Well, we don’t feel like furthering our relationship with either right?
A well-crafted and structured email/document that is clear and coherent is well appreciated. So, read, learn and increase your language skills.
Your daily business language may not be English but when you do have to write in English, please avoid translating directly from your native tongue or the language of the land. An incident from the past comes to mind. Someone I knew used to use the phrase “Nice happened” in her emails. She translated it directly from Hindi but it is not nice happened in English. So, be careful when thinking in your native tongue and writing afterwards in English.
Here are some quick tips for those who use English or any other language as your daily business language:-
Don’t think in your native tongue and translate directly
Learn the grammar (English/ Other language)…at least the basics
Read more as it will help you write better
Check your email/ other document(s) before hitting the send/publish button. Read it out loudly and ask yourself “Am I being clear? Does it make sense?”
Avoid overly complex sentences
And of course as always Keep It Short and Simple (KISS)
Writing coherently can help you advance your career. Your writing reveals your thinking. And senior managers always like clear thinkers and good communicators. So, it becomes important to think and write clearly.
I leave you with this famous quote by Lee Iacocca
“You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere.”
Do you agree?