From elementary school, we write with a purpose. A teacher asks for periods and commas, so we work with periods and commas. For the English subject, we do not submit Dutch essays, as that would be asking for a failing grade.
The obviousness never fades. We write our first cover letters or business plans in a style that aligns as closely as possible with the image we have of an employer or financier.
Then we find ourselves in a professional field, observe the environment, and choose between informal and formal greetings. If a client does not speak Dutch, you do not email in Dutch. And when you report on an important result, you write punctually.
Although it is quite possible that you occasionally peek at online language advice or a dictionary, most choices remain unconscious. Language development occurs automatically. A person is born with the instinct to cry and draw attention to a problem. From about two years old, we learn that certain phrases and words yield more desirable results. We use our first pencil to scribble on A4 sheets - and from elementary school, we spell the alphabet, because we no longer receive a pat on the back for scribbled A4 sheets.
We learn from day one to communicate, with appreciation and understanding from our immediate environment as the goal. Language use is tailored to the needs of family, friends, teachers, and colleagues. Often, the environment shares a similar background and culture. As a result, we reach a ceiling. Our communicative ability is as limited or diverse as the people from whom we learn.
The problem
An obvious example of this ceiling is the varying proficiency in multiple languages. If your parents spoke Dutch and you were exclusively taught in Dutch, you are unlikely to write in French.
The latter is a shot at an open goal. More subtle differences can be found in the mastery of one mother tongue. Research by Textmetrics, a software developer from Arnhem, shows that the effectiveness of a text is influenced by gender. When your essays, arguments, and emails have been judged by men for a lifetime, you are more likely to choose words that resonate with men. If you write a product or job description for a female reader based on this foundation, the effectiveness leaves much to be desired.
The language levels of an environment exert a similar influence. A gifted 18-year-old student will tailor their language use to the expectations of professors and fellow students. If the student is tasked with selling the jeans of a trendy clothing brand to Facebook consumers, the chance of an effective result is small.
Options
If we rely entirely on our foundational development when writing a job description, we miss a gigantic pool of talent. Words and sentences will find little or no connection with candidates from a different cultural background. The same goes for customer recruitment.
The challenge can be approached in multiple ways. Some linguists and communication experts dedicate their entire working lives to tailoring language use. Collaborating with such professionals offers the opportunity to have important texts checked and improved. The downside is that almost every external expression is important, which drives up costs.
Personal development is option two. Communicative ability is a product of your environment. If you broaden that environment with a course or study, you will write more effectively. The time and money required remain a disadvantage. Moreover, as an employer, you are rarely the center of all external business communication. Knowledge transfer is conditional - and time-intensive, even in the long term.
Solution
Option three is the use of technology. The advent of PCs introduced digital dictionaries, word processing, and spell checks. We now live in a world where articles are written by AI algorithms.
Advancements in 'Natural Language Processing' (NLP) make the latter possible. The term refers to a field where linguistics and IT converge. The resulting technology led, among other things, to the mass introduction of spell check in Microsoft's Office 97. NLP can now be used by developers to produce grammatically, vocabulary-wise, and structurally correct texts.
One of those developers is Textmetrics. The Arnhem-based company develops a cloud tool for improving texts.
Textmetrics points out sentence lengths and provides synonyms that resonate better. The workflow is similar to collaborating with a linguist, but without the costs of a linguist.
You write or copy a text into the software, after which you receive feedback for improving readability and effectiveness.
Since the readability of a text depends on the personality and background of a reader, you fill in the language level or gender of your target audience. An understanding of your target audience is conditional for making the right choice. If you hope to reach a higher-educated, Dutch-speaking reader, language levels C1 and C2 are good options. A language level like A1 is suitable for readers with minimal understanding of Dutch.
Textmetrics' feedback takes the choice into account. The advice to split sentences will occur more frequently at levels like A1 or A2 than at levels like C1 and C2. A relatively long sentence is indeed more disadvantageous for A1 or A2 level readers than for C1 or C2 level readers.
Gender is an equally important factor. After entering or writing a text, you choose between 'Male', 'Female', or 'Neutral'. The synonyms that Textmetrics suggests are tailored to the selection.
Praise
Writing style is just one part of Textmetrics' whole. The platform simultaneously checks for SEO optimization and brings a massive amount of marketing expertise to the table. Consistent use directly translates into better-performing web pages.
The necessity of a marketer does not disappear but is supplemented. The same goes for the grammatical component. A quick and manageable overview of improvement points will also help the most experienced marketers or writers. Checks from colleagues become less necessary, and independence increases.
We use the software ourselves. Our experience is worldly. In any other case, we would not have had the courage to recommend the platform with such directness. Visit the website, thank us later.
