Many professional accountants often find that deciding how formal or informal their communication needs to be in their work life is difficult.
Awareness of language register is a vital part of presenting oneself both professionally but appropriately depending on the scenario you are in.
While most people have a working understanding of the concept, you may need to be taught specific and appropriate language relating to either formal or informal communications.
What to consider when deciding
The areas for accountants to consider when speaking or writing are; audience, purpose and location.
Once this has been identified then specific vocabulary and structures can be used to ensure the speaker sounds natural and fitting for any situation.
Let's look at each area...
Audience
Professionals need to understand that different audiences require differing types of language.
For example, the way they speak to their clients will probably differ from how they speak to their colleagues and again will change when speaking to their friends.
Similarly, when writing, accountants should adjust the formality, tone, and vocabulary used based on who the writing is intended for.
Purpose
Accountants should clearly understand the purpose of their writing or speech. Is it to:
- inform?
- argue?
- persuade?
- describe?
- tell a story?
- share cause and effect?
- some other purpose?
Once we are clear on the purpose of our writing or speech, we can more correctly select the language register to use.
Location
Location can also be important when deciding the appropriate register to use.
In a work setting, the language and formality used in the office should differ from the language used in the staff room or when at home.
The vocabulary and language structure used to answer a simple question compared to giving a formal presentation in a meeting also differs.
It is helpful for accountants and professionals to learn about register, especially if they are from culturally diverse backgrounds.
As people are communicating with each other, it is acceptable to change from one register into a closely related register without any problems or awkward moments.
However, skipping a level or even more than one level may be considered inappropriate or offensive.
Types of Register
We can breakdown register into these 4 main types.
- Formal/Academic Register: This register includes academic language from presentations, reports and formal announcements.
- Consultative Register: This register is formal and acceptable speech often used in professional settings. Some examples of this register include discussions between accountants and clients, judges and lawyers and doctors and patients.
- Informal / Casual Register: This register is used among friends and peers, and includes informal language including slang and colloquialisms. Casual register is often used among some colleagues, friends and teammates.
- Intimate Register: This register is reserved for close family members such as parents and children and siblings, or intimate people such as spouses.
What Language to Use
As professional accountants there are specific vocabulary and language chunks that can be used to navigate through these registers.
For example, in more formal communications we may use less phrasal verbs and instead use the single verb equivalent. For example when writing a report for a client rather than use “go up” we would use “increase”, rather than “teamed up” we would use “merged”.
However not all phrasal verbs are forbidden and of course there are exceptions. For example “we carried out a survey” or “all accounts are subject to thorough reviews”
How ....
How we say things is also very important.
An example might be the use of the exclamation "Shut up!" Most of us might tell a friend to "Shut up!" in a friendly informal way when chatting in a pub. We could mean "I don't believe you." and would probably be laughing and use high pitched falling intonation. If we were not smiling and used rising intonation the message would be very different and inappropriate. We would be less likely to use the same words in a friendly way to the same person at a formal dinner because the other people present might misinterpret our meaning and think we were being rude. We would not tell a stranger or someone we are not on very familiar terms with to "Shut up!" under any normal circumstances (we would of course if we positively wanted to be rude or perhaps if we thought their talking was rude). (BritishCouncil2013)
Another issue can be translating what is acceptable in your first language when speaking another language. In Spain it is uncommon to say "por favor" (please) when ordering a drink in a bar; so long as you smile, it is unnecessary. This is not true in the UK. In the same way in Czech we could ask "Nemate chleb?" in a shop, but this directly translates to, "Don't you have bread?" This sounds very direct and almost impolite to English speakers.
Conculsion
Being “appropriate” is extremely important in the professional workplace and politeness is a very important, but not the only part.
Understanding how to use this language feature, both as a speaker and a listener, is vital to your success as an English speaking accountant.
If you would like to see if I could help you advance your English communication skills click on this link to book a free consultation.