From Shakespeare to IM: does language still matter ? (2003)

From Shakespeare to IM: does language still matter ?

By Tatiana Andronache, I.S.P.
Published in Galt Global review

A few centuries ago, a few enlightened scholars and writers were using their feathery pens and their best language skills in order to create masterpieces for the elite of their time - and the elite of times yet to come. Today, we have a myriad of ways to create and distribute an untold amount and variety of  “communication” to a diversified audience around the globe, tuned in for the “here and now”. But what happened to the content of  this communications ? And what about the quality of the communication skills of those who devise all these wonderful technologies ? 

In the world of IM (or instant messaging, the hottest trend in communications) brevity and speed are of the essence. An impressive amount of technical work goes into creating this technology, which, among other things, enables hurried teenagers to exchange cryptical messages condensed into a few letters. No need for grammar! By contrast, those who design these systems must be able to communicate in detailed and clear English, and also master programming languages, network and wireless protocols and other technical knowledge. The use on large scale of design and modeling tools and programming languages can not eliminate the need for good skills on the natural language side. In fact, communication in natural language – written and spoken -  is prevalent and has most impact in the early stages of an IT project: if the purpose, scope, requirements and risks of the project are not well communicated and well understood, the likelihood of designing a system that will ultimately fail is great. Further down the development process, poorly communicated or poorly understood specifications can result in perfectly well written code that will have to be reworked – usually at great pain and cost. 

Despite all these facts, a certain degree of mastery of the natural language is not a prerequisite or a requirement for certification in an IT. Also, it does not seem to impact one’s ability to be hired, as long as sound technical skills can be demonstrated. It is not uncommon to see people with poor language capabilities but very good technical skills hired on IT projects, without any concern being voiced for their ability to communicate. As one IT consultant put it, “As an IT professional I prefer to work with people that know OOA&D (object oriented analysis and design) languages like UML rather than writing 3 pages of "good" English to define an interface.”

The camp of those who are sensitive to the importance of good natural language skills in information technology has no shortage of adepts either. With more people educated abroad coming to work in North America, some would go as far as to favour making the satisfactory passing of  a standard language examination mandatory for professional status in IT. However, such a move is highly unlikely until professionalism in IT gets stronger recognition.

The English language is the de facto natural language spoken or used in IT, all over the world. Most technical terms make their way untranslated into the jargon of  non-native English speaking IT practitioners. And yet problems such as loss of productivity, rework and poor team cohesion due to broken communication, do arise from some individuals’ inability to properly speak and write in the natural language of the environment; these problems do not seem to alarm IT managers, as it is mostly the technical staff that has to put up with them; the bottom line impact of this situation is also not directly measurable or measured, and those extra costs will be rolled into the usual contingencies of  the IT work.

On the other hand, in a tight market, poor language skills can easily become a differentiator factor and for sure will impede one’s career advancement beyond the strictly technical. As off-shore outsourcing seems to be an increasingly attractive alternative for IT entrepreneurs due to much lower man-power costs in other parts of the world, it is worth noting that preference is given to English speaking locations. Under these circumstances, local technical talent that do not develop their language skills and their general ability to communicate with users, clients and peers stand to lose in the IT arena.

Are natural and artificial languages competing with each other? are speed and brevity a curse or a blessing ? a fad or a need ? The world has certainly become much more complicated and richer in choices since Shakespeare put his pen down. We need to be able to engage in communication at both ends of the spectrum: hopefully, the need and ability to quickly send a message over the cell phone or look up some stock price does not compromise our need and capacity to ask ourselves: “to be or not to be ?”.

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