Lessons in Cool and Collected Writing

Do you want to get better at this writing thing? I can help!

I am convinced that better communication is the missing ingredient in what could otherwise be success stories.

In the age of tweets and meets, still, a lot of our communication is in writing. Hey, it’s no coincidence that writing made history: it gives us all at once a trampoline to propel ideas from and a safety net to save ideas in.

But most people who were not English majors in college were never really taught how to write. So, you write by feel, as if navigating your way through a maze, in the dark. I can help you turn the light on! And get GPS–that works.

Writing clearly means that your readers can effectively locate, understand, and act upon the ideas you present to them. And of course, what better way to present them than in style?

Places where I’ve been a speaker, instructor, or professor:

I can help you write better for:

Technical Writing: sharing specialized knowledge. It could be among peers who share your lingo, with specialists in other fields who want or need your expertise, politicians who need to make policy decisions, students, interested laypersons, the public, and even unwilling readers who need to become informed for safety or other reasons. Whichever your area of expertise, I will help you write about specialized information in clear and concise language.

Business Communications: sharing operative knowledge. If you are in business, you write. You write emails, text messages, tweets, reports, briefs, summaries, proposals, specs, memos, training manuals. Did you know that there are international standards for clear communication? I will get you up to speed on those. And we’ll go beyond formulas so you become the master of the page. 

Creative Writing: sharing human experiences through storytelling and poetics. We share for fun, for catharsis, for redemption, we share out of love or fear, excitement or loss. I will help you work through your piece and make sure your setting comes alive through vivid description, your characters develop in time and space, your storytelling has a point of view, and your plot unfolds at the right pace. All while paying attention to dialogue, anecdotes, figures of speech, and, of course, grammar! (No, I’m not a grammar stickler: I simply use it to ensure writing shares meaning in the best way possible!)

Health Literacy: sharing information about health and healthy choices. Although health literacy was viewed as an individual ability, a wider understanding of it sees it as a multidimensional construct that includes:
• the individual’s knowledge, intelligence, literacy, communication skills, culture, and beliefs
• the demands and complexities of the healthcare system,
• the knowledge, intelligence, literacy, communication skills, culture, and beliefs of health care and health information providers (cultural competency),
• the use of plain language in communication.
These last two are where I can help you. Let’s streamline your communication about health!

CLADE and Communication in K-12 Education: as in health, we need to provide clear information to all participants in the education process to fostering family participation in their children’s education. This plain language for those who are proficient in English and clear translation and interpretation for those who are not. Whether you are a provider, or a a teacher, staff member, or administrator, I can help you identify the jargon used by specialists, rework your content, and deliver a friendlier message. Our schoolchildren deserve the best support we can give them! 

Based on standards developed for healthcare, I have developed these guidelines:

CLADE: Culturally and Linguistically Aware Directives for Education

1. Provide effective, equitable, understandable, and respectful education and training taking into consideration diverse cultural backgrounds, preferred language, and other communication needs, as well as scientific rigor and evidence-based best practices.
2. Promote CLADE and education equity through policy, practices, and allocated resources.
3. Recruit, foster, and support with resources and training a culturally and linguistically aware leadership and workforce that are responsive to the population in the service area.
4. Inform families of the availability of language assistance services and offer language assistance to those with limited English proficiency and/or other communication needs, at no cost to them, to facilitate timely access education services.
5. Ensure the competence of individuals providing language assistance; the use of untrained individuals and/or minors as translators and interpreters must be avoided.
6. Provide plain language print and multimedia materials and signage in the languages commonly used by the populations in the service area.
7. Establish culturally and linguistically appropriate goals, policies, and management accountability, and infuse them throughout the organization’s planning and operations.
8. Partner with the community to design, implement, and evaluate policies, practices, and services to ensure cultural and linguistic appropriateness.
9. Evaluate the impact of CLADE on education equity and outcomes through quality assessment and improvement activities
10. Collecting accurate and reliable demographic data to monitor and inform CLADE services.
11. Create conflict and grievance resolution processes that are culturally and linguistically appropriate to identify, prevent, and resolve conflicts or complaints.
12. Communicate the organization’s progress in implementing and sustaining CLADE to all stakeholders, constituents, and the general public.

Translator and Interpreter Training

Basics of Translation and Interpreting:

• Types and modes of interpretation, sight translation, translation of educational content, translation of communication and planning materials, translation of official documents.
• Interpretation techniques, with emphasis on consecutive interpretation.
• Listening techniques; note-taking techniques; memory development or mnemonics.
• Roles of the interpreter: being a conduit, clarifier, advocate, or mediator.
• Preparing to interpret, managing a session, creating a report.
• Basics of plain language: principles and strategies.
• Basics of translation: meaning versus form.
• Most common translation mistakes: false friends, grammar traps, idioms.
• Self-care and professional development.
• Code of professional conduct.

The Translator and Interpreter Working in K-12 Education

• Working as an Interpreter in a multi-participant situation that includes students, parents, teachers, staff and administrators; requesting adequate tools; understanding role limitations.
• Working as a translator of educational and/or education-related content for cross-cultural readers; understanding readability from a functional perspective.
• The American School System: K-12 basics, schools versus school districts, common core standards, grades, reports, narrative comments, parent-teacher conferences, individualized education programs, parent-teacher associations and clubs, charter schools, the variety of options in home-schooling; online schools, and more.
• Understanding the larger setting: education and medical/psychological content, education and legal content, education and civics content
• Templates for frequent documents and communication materials in education such as the Individualized Education Program; school transcripts, and more.

The Impact of Culture in Translation and Interpreting

• Culture basics, diversity and inclusion.
• Cultural aspects of education in other settings; general characteristics of most frequently encountered cultures, including Hispanic and Latino, Chinese, and South Korean; Cross-border students and families; the Mexican School System; the Chinese School System.
• Spotting cultural gaps and assuming a culture broker role.