Language in Use 239-240
A crucial aspect of our complex society is the way in which we have to rely
upon the rapid and accurate transmission of messages. This unit considers the
difficulties that arise when the senders of messages assume a competence in
the receivers that they do not have. It explores some of the problems involved
in translating, spoken, nontechnical language into written technical language.
It does this by focusing upon a situation in which a message has to be taken
down accurately for someone else to act on it.
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[1] In this session the class, in small groups, should work out the details of a short sketch in which a message, such as the description by a car-owner of what is wrong with his car, is taken down by an apprentice who then passes it to the foreman. Other suitable situations include a receptionist taking a message describing what is wrong with a patient or animal, for passing on to the doctor or vet; a telephonist or shop assistant taking a message describing a fault in a domestic appliance such as a television set, electric cooker or cistern for passing on to an engineer, plumber or fitter; a teacher taking down details of work from an absent colleague who teaches a different subject, for passing on to his Head of Department.
[2] In this session, each group should enact its sketch so that the rest of the class may observe and discuss the problems involved in translating the language of the spoken message into the technical language of the written note.
[3] In this session, the focus shifts to the situation in which the
sender of the message and the person responsible for acting upon it come face
to face. Thus, the garage foreman explains to the car-owner what has been done
to the car, or the doctor or vet explains what is wrong, or the engineer explains
what was wrong with the television. Again, the class should prepare and present
sketches which will show the effects of a faulty transmission of information
through the written messages of session [1]. The discussion should include such
points as:
(a) how accurately the originator of the message described what was wrong
(b) what aspects of the written messages caused most trouble
(c) the attitudes taken up by the parties involved when they came face-to-face
and how they expressed them
(d) given that, in some of the sketches at least, each begins by thinking the
other is incompetent, how the parties
adjust to the truth as it emerges.