Lost in Translation

I have had an interesting experience this semester because the themes emphasized in two of my courses (nearly) conflict. In ENGL 402, we as students are learning about technical and professional writing. As our skills become more and more fine-tuned and writing business-style memos becomes easier and easier, what is really happening is that we are being brainwashed to more readily and naturally adopt Standard English as a go-to dialect.

Reading our textbook, it seems obvious that it is necessary to write and speak this way in business settings in order to appear at all professional. Reading between the lines, you look stupid and uneducated and incompetent if you don't. Each and every one of us is guilty of at some point in our lives judging others' intelligence by the way they speak. It's hardly our fault; we are culturally trained to do so. Classes like ENGL 402 and textbooks like the one assigned for this class only reinforce our cultural norms and prescriptivism.

However, one of my other classes for the term, ANTH 350 (Speech, Thought & Culture), adopts a very different attitude. ANTH 350 emphasizes the principle of linguistic relativity: no language is inherently better or worse than another. However, people are culturally trained to think certain sounds and accents beautiful and romantic – like French – and others ugly or harsh – like, I’ve been told, Arabic.

We have also spent a lot of time studying various dialects of English, the most common of which is probably AAVE, African American Vernacular English. Previously, and in more prescriptivist communities, AAVE has also be called Ebonics or ghetto speak. AAVE is characterized by “dropping g’s” (as in talkin’ and poppin’), deletion of the copula (as in “He fast”), and unique aspect marking (as in “Why you be trippin’ all the time?”). Speakers of AAVE do not do so because they are stupid or do not understand the grammar rules and structure of Standard English. Instead, they speak AAVE as a way of demonstrating and reinforcing a sense of social unity and cohesiveness in and with their community. AAVE is no better or worse than Standard English; it does not represent ignorance or lower intelligence. It’s simply different from the prescriptive white norm.

Yet AAVE speakers are less likely to be hired and more likely to be perceived as uneducated and disrespectful. It would also be difficult for AAVE speakers to write memos that would receive a passing grade in this class. The reason is simple: the dialect that is expected in formal and academic writing is not necessarily most writers’ native dialect. Is this a problem? Is public school students attempting to write in AAVE or textese or any dialect other than Standard English an “educational crisis?” Many teachers and politicians would argue that it is. However, I think you would have a pretty difficult time finding an anthropologist or linguist who would agree with that.

I’m not really sure where I come down on this issue. I agree with linguistic relativity; I don’t think speakers of AAVE or any other dialect are innately more or less intelligent than me. I also understand that there are many socioeconomic factors influencing different populations’ way of speaking and believe that it is unfair to judge a person’s intelligence or on-the-job competence based solely on the way the speak. However, I am not sure that we can necessarily blame employers for making such judgments either; after all, they have a business to run and clients expect Standard English. In many cases, anything else would result in a negative perception of the company for which a non-Standard English speaker works.

But at the very least, it’s something to think about the next time we pound out a one-page, single-spaced memo in perfect Standard English in less than ten minutes.

Book Publishing (& free parking)

I really enjoyed Tom Sumner's lecture on book publishing. In fact, if the pay scale could just be bumped a bit, the lower tier editing positions (in which you spend most of your day reading and scrutinizing the hoards of manuscripts sent in on a daily basis) would be my dream job. But it's still a career path I'm keeping in mind for somewhere down the road (after a sojourn in international law, and years of wealth and fame, of course  =).

I was surprised to learn that there are so many different kinds and levels of editors. It's remarkable how much scrutiny the average book on the shelves at Barnes and Noble goes through. (Perhaps even more remarkable is how many typos I still find in almost every book I read. I am also still pulling for an entire class in semi-colon and comma use sometime during grade school, even if for no other reason than my own reading enjoyment).

However, editing is much more complex than finding typos and grammar errors. I'm sure editors often find themselves having to walk the tightrope of improving the author's work while not riding roughshod over the author's voice. And as we learned on Tuesday, there are so many different approaches to improving a given piece of writing. Seeing each of my classmates' interpretations and comparing it with my own was probably my favorite part of the book publishing lecture. All of the different edited passages also made me wonder how different (if at all) some of my favorite books would be if different editors had worked with them. Just some food for thought...

Wells Fargo Cares About Me!

I recently received a letter from Wells Fargo announcing the latest disbursement of my student loan. Because I have been charged with the task of crafting business documents over the course of this class, I now find myself turning a much keener eye to the letters I receive from companies of any sort. In this instance, I noticed the author's carefully balanced tone first and foremost.

The letter began, "Congratulations on your decision to further your education." Well, thank you, kind stranger. I am indeed quite pleased with my decision. The letter went on to discuss some specifics of enclosed material before noting:

"Please remember, this student loan is your debt and you must repay it. If you leave school, you must contact our office immediately to set up a repayment schedule. [...] You must always let us know of changes to your address, telephone number, and your school enrollment status. [...] As a reminder, we report payment information about your account to credit reporting agencies monthly. Late payments, missed payments, or other defaults on your account may be reflected in your credit report."

It then went on to discuss all of the possible ways one might contact them, and how they are happy to help at any opportunity. Of course, what they were really saying above is "Don't even think about flaking out, because we are going to get our money one way or another." But at first glance, you would never think this to be the case. The letter seems pleasant and congratulatory. Naturally, it discusses some of the details of our business arrangement, but it is by no means demanding. Is it?

Personally, I think asking for money is one of the most awkward tasks. For instance, when you loaned a friend $20 last weekend, but they seem to have forgotten about it. I would rather forget about it. So reading this letter reminding me of my obligation to pay them back soon, I must acknowledge the author's skilled use of you-attitude and friendly tone. Here, it seems that the author is saying, "We want to look out for your best interests, so we want to warn you of what will happen if you don't pay your loan. Please don't forget, and let us know how we can help you in any way."

Or maybe it's genuine. Maybe this class is turning me into a critic. Maybe Wells Fargo really does care.

But I doubt it. =)

Nonetheless, touche, author. I will keep my payments in mind.

Media Kits

Media Kit

Technical Writing Exercise

As I skimmed through my classmates' links to their technical writing revisions, I came across one that really stood out to me. Meadow Nelson did an outstanding job on this technical writing exercise, and I was really impressed. Her directions are clear and concise; the wording alone is a tremendous improvement on the original jumbled directions. (I give her kudos first and foremost for being able to decipher them, a task I really struggled with.) Each step is carefully numbered, more complicated steps are broken into smaller components, and important words are in bold so that they stand out from the rest of the text.

In addition to these clearly worded, carefully organized instructions, Meadow also included visual representations of each step in the process, which I think shows considerable respect for her audience. Anticipating that users might not be familiar with the system setup, Meadow made it possible for readers to know instantly if they made an error or are somehow not where they are supposed to be on the screen during or after any given step. Even I, a technologically incompetent individual, feel comfortable following her instructions for creating a shared network drive.

There is only one improvement I would recommend to Meadow if she were publishing these instructions. The alignment of each component of the numbered instructions makes it difficult at times to pick out the key step. Sub-steps listed below each numbered instruction (labeled in letter format) are right aligned farther than number items, which has the effect of making them stand out more to me because it's not the format I'm used to seeing them in. (Usually they would be indented  beneath the numbered items). Indenting these lines would make the reader's task of finding each step even easier. Additionally, because the visual depictions of each step are so large in comparison with the directions themselves, it might also help to include a line of white space between each step.

I consider it a real tribute to Meadow's work that the only recommended adjustments I could find are a matter of formatting. She did an outstanding job, and I am not only impressed, but also a little envious. Kudos, Meadow! 


A link to my own attempt at this technical revision exercise is provided below.

Click here to access Instructions for Creating Shared Drives

The Real Riff-Raff: College Graduates

Rhetoric is present everywhere, and used in every persuasive argument, even poor ones. What makes an argument persuasive is how well the rhetorical strategies of ethos, pathos, and logos are implemented. Sometimes, an argument does not sit at the surface but the three strategies are being used to establish a mock argument, using these means of persuasion so poorly that the underlying argument is actually advocating the opposite case.

Steven Colbert employs rhetoric in precisely this way. I would like to direct your attention to the following passage from his book I Am America (And So Can You):

"If there’s a bigger contributor to left-wing elitist brainwashing than colleges and universities, I’d like to see it. There’s an old saying, “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” Which means a lot of knowledge must be a really dangerous thing. And it is. Look no further that the example of Ted Kaczynski, a.k.a. the Unabomber. He skipped sixth grade, got a Bachelor’s from Harvard followed by a Master’s and a Ph.D., and then embarked on a distinguished academic career of blowing people up. Most Ph.D. biographies have similar endings.

Ted Kaczynski’s last job before he went into full-time Unabombing? Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, a.k.a. University of Blame America First, Berkeley. Yes, folks, he capped off all those years of being a student by becoming a professor. Let’s face it – he’d have been crazy not to go crazy, which only proves my point: the greatest threat facing America today – outside of flag burning, yoga, and vaccination – is higher education.”

On the surface, this is a highly controversial, albeit logical, argument. Not only does Colbert supply us with specific details, but he also draws “rational connections” with the limited amount of information provided. For example, he notes that because a little knowledge is dangerous, a lot of knowledge must be “a lot” dangerous. However, although interviews and anecdotes can be used as a form of logos, extrapolating one event to be representative of an entire population is dangerous. In this case, of course, the outrageous extrapolation is entirely intentional. Using such weak logos accomplishes three purposes: 1) it clues us in to the fact that the author is probably not serious; 2) it makes the argument appear ludicrous; 3) perhaps most significantly, it makes similar arguments, and the people arguing them, appear equally as ludicrous.

The lack of ethos in this passage is also deliberate, and assists in discrediting the argument and gross extrapolations like it. Colbert insists that everything written in his book be trusted on his authority and his alone. Although the detailed “facts” presented may make the author look well-informed, the way they are employed within the argument very much discredits both author and argument altogether.

The third form of rhetoric present here, pathos, is evident in multiple facets. Firstly, Colbert establishes a conversational tone with the audience, building a connection with his readers with the use of phrases like “Let’s face it,” and “Yes, folks […].” Secondly, Colbert appears on the surface to be making an impassioned case designed to rile readers. Thirdly, because everything in this passage is essentially a mock argument, Colbert is really employing a tricky but highly effective form of pathos: humor. And as millions of readers would agree, Colbert is highly effective in building an argument constructed almost entirely of humor.

Defining Objectives and the Importance of Tone

Worksheet for Proposal: 

My thoughts on tone come belatedly this week, as it turns out twenty-first birthdays are not conducive to remembering one's homework assignments. However, I did get a lot of birthday cards, and one in particular stood out to me for the purposes of this assignment. A friend in my MgtOp 301 class passed me a handmade card, on the front of which were twenty-one hand-drawn  roses and the words "Happy Birthday, Michelle!" The inside read: "Don't get too drunk!! =P See you bright and early Saturday Morning at 9 A.M."

On the surface, the text is friendly and playful. The use of contractions and casual banter signal a significant level of familiarity and comfortableness. Her word choice denotes us as equals, or peers, and is obviously not intended for either a superior or subordinate. However, within the context of my relationship with this individual, the tone is still friendly and joking but is also a tactful reminder of our class contract for the group project we have in that class. Our group specified that anybody who is more than twenty minutes late to a meeting must buy the entire group lunch at the next group meeting. The time of this particular meeting was adjusted to 3pm to accommodate my inevitable late night the day before. This individual takes their schoolwork (and everything, really) quite seriously, so it is expected that everyone be punctual and show up operating at their best.

Her jokes teasing me about changing the meeting time at the last minute so that I will have to buy her lunch are really her way of compensating for her otherwise reserved and matter-of-fact persona. Thus, not only does this simple birthday card of only a few words say a lot more through tone, but also reflects a much deeper kind of tone based on the context of how we have related to each other in the past.

Rhetoric

Anything and everything can be constructed into an argument with the three rhetorical strategies of ethos, pathos, and logos. Although skilled writers implement persuasive strategies in their writing deliberately, the use of ethos, pathos and logos are nearly inevitable. In fact, they surround our everyday world. Today I have come across images of Haiti, employing pathos to elicit donations, been handed a business card with a counselor's credentials, employing ethos as a means of proving credibility, and had a political debate with a close friend in which both of us had to substantiate our opinions with logical connections and facts (logos). Any kind of communication will contain some appeal to emotions, credibility or logic. However, armed with the knowledge of effective rhetorical strategies and with sufficient practice, we can use rhetoric to make all of our arguments and communication more effective. Rhetoric is the key to being persuasive in all kinds of writing, including those used in the business world.

Belated Thoughts on Writing

So, I’m not a slacker… I’m just memory challenged. This is why I keep a calendar by my side at all times. Sometimes I wonder when I became one of those people who is glued to a cell phone, day planner, and laptop (only for checking email of course. What is this Facebook you speak of?). When I really, truly, genuinely ponder when this transformation occurred, I cannot but notice that it lined up nearly perfectly with the timeline of when I stopped writing for pleasure.

I would like to describe myself as a creative individual, but in all practicality that hasn’t been true for quite some time. Between college and work I never find the time to write poetry or creative pieces. I don’t even allow myself to blog or write in a journal anymore. Until I was given this assignment, it hadn’t occurred to me just how much of a shame that actually is.

I have loved writing since I was little – more precisely, since the second grade. On Monday mornings when each student would share with the class what he or she had done over the weekend, everyone else’s stories always sounded so much more exciting than mine. So I decided to do something about it. Two weeks later, my mom was called in for a meeting with the teacher to see if everything was alright at home because I had been inventing stories about a step-sister in Sweden who came to visit me every weekend. During that meeting, they decided to enroll me in a creative writing workshop. I suppose I never stopped.

I won several poetry contests in middle school and high school and have been published in various anthologies a few times. I genuinely miss that time, when writing was still fun and not about maintaining a stellar GPA. I honestly look forward to learning about writing in the business world and how that differs from the writing we as students are accustomed to, but I think I need some balance. I think I need to remember what it was like to write expressively, for no other benefit than my own. Here is what I propose: for every blog post I complete for this class, I will write another in a separate blog to try and reconnect with what writing used to mean to me.

I’m not sure how successful I will be in this new goal, but I have high hopes – for both the class and my own writing. Wish me luck!

No more rhyming now, I mean it!

...Anybody want a peanut?