I speak law. I speak business. And I speak software. But I often tell my clients that it’s my job to learn their language, not their job to learn mine. I mean that in two primary ways:
I want to learn and use my clients’ ways of speaking about their business, from the way they describe aspects of their products and services to the names they use for various roles among their staff.
I want to keep legal, business, and computing jargon to a minimum, to make sure what I say and write is as clear as possible to as many client personnel as possible, and to make sure they’re comfortable expressing their own thoughts, questions, and criticisms in response.
Of course, there are exceptions. While specialties tend to multiply jargon unnecessarily, and even well known “terms of art” often hide a lot more ambiguity than specialists let on, certain terms can help clients make themselves understood, as well as to project knowledge, competence, and belonging. There are terms like this in law, in business, and in computing. A lot fewer than enthusiastic code talkers, who are often the least confident practitioners, let on. But some.
Whenever I can, I seek the benefits of this approach to language in the legal terms and policies I draft for clients, as well. My Flipped Form concept addresses that practice.