Paul Jacobson

Does anyone still speak English?

I was going through my feeds and I came across this quote from an article on MyADSL:

"The aim of the Electronic Communications Act (ECA) is for industry players to work and think in a converged manner as well as build multi-stakeholder partnerships," says Dr Harold Wesso, Deputy Director-General of Policy Development at the Department of Communications.

Why can’t people speak in straightforward terms and skip the jargon.  What does "think in a converged manner as well as build multi-stakeholder partnerships" mean in real terms anyway?  It seems that officials in government and in business sometimes feel the need to take out their lego set of jargon and start putting together complex amalgams of jargon, almost in an effort to create a new language that is unintelligible to everyone who wasn’t part of the original thought process that gave birth to the new jargon.

I suppose one explanation could be the much touted practice of faking it till you make it.  Use the jargon until you understand what you are talking about enough to translate that jargon into clearer language.

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4 responses to “Does anyone still speak English?”

  1. Duncan avatar
    Duncan

    Hi Paul,

    I read that same article and couldn't believe it – it is absolutely ridiculous! I think there are two problems, (1) he has a PHD (and that is often an indicator of bad communication skills – sure there are a couple of reasons for this), and (2) he has probably been in the state department for too long.

    Anyway, luckily there are some people out there who are still trying to bridge the gap with “normal” language 🙂 Some of them hang out at http://www.theforumsa.co.za

    Check out this post specifically – http://www.theforumsa.co.za/forums/showthread.php?t=453

    Keep well,
    Duncan

    Reply
  2. Duncan avatar
    Duncan

    Hi Paul,

    I read that same article and couldn’t believe it – it is absolutely ridiculous! I think there are two problems, (1) he has a PHD (and that is often an indicator of bad communication skills – sure there are a couple of reasons for this), and (2) he has probably been in the state department for too long.

    Anyway, luckily there are some people out there who are still trying to bridge the gap with “normal” language 🙂 Some of them hang out at http://www.theforumsa.co.za

    Check out this post specifically – http://www.theforumsa.co.za/forums/showthread.php?t=453

    Keep well,
    Duncan

    Reply
  3. Duncan avatar
    Duncan

    Hi Paul,

    I read that same article and couldn’t believe it – it is absolutely ridiculous! I think there are two problems, (1) he has a PHD (and that is often an indicator of bad communication skills – sure there are a couple of reasons for this), and (2) he has probably been in the state department for too long.

    Anyway, luckily there are some people out there who are still trying to bridge the gap with “normal” language 🙂 Some of them hang out at http://www.theforumsa.co.za

    Check out this post specifically – http://www.theforumsa.co.za/forums/showthread.php?t=453

    Keep well,
    Duncan

    Reply
  4. Duncan avatar
    Duncan

    Hi Paul,

    I read that same article and couldn’t believe it – it is absolutely ridiculous! I think there are two problems, (1) he has a PHD (and that is often an indicator of bad communication skills – sure there are a couple of reasons for this), and (2) he has probably been in the state department for too long.

    Anyway, luckily there are some people out there who are still trying to bridge the gap with “normal” language 🙂 Some of them hang out at http://www.theforumsa.co.za

    Check out this post specifically – http://www.theforumsa.co.za/forums/showthread.php?t=453

    Keep well,
    Duncan

    Reply

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