Yesterday when I was browsing through kaixin001, a popular social network in China, a post caught my eyes. The post listed 100 words selected by Heritage for examining vocabulary of U.S. high school students. Unfortunately, as an English major graduated five years ago and since then keep stumbling in technical communication arena, I can only recognize 23 words, among which quite a proportion are "technical terms". The result stunned me greatly since vocabulary was once my proud and distinguish English majors from those with different education backgrounds. However, although it seems unacceptable, the result is not rootless.

 

For technical communication, simplicity and clarity are listed as top principles. No prose, no emotion, no personal inclination, technical communication always sticks to the cold fact. Some style guides even specify the words to use in technical context and rules out synonyms that are considered as "inadequate for tech comm". The purpose of using simplified language is to serve audience around world with English as Second Language (ESL). However, as technical communicator of ESL, the writing and communication habits constrict the use of the natural language and gradually results in the embarrassment in my story.

 

So the question is, as technical communicator, how to keep balance between sharpening natural language and building sound professional nerve for tech comm vocabulary?