Hw R U Commn8ng?

The art of effective communication is to ensure that your message is clearly understood. Simple enough, really.

By refusing to use jargon and saving technical terms for the right audience goes a long way to creating a common ground on which you can build a solid and long lasting relationship with your clients.

According to a colleague one way to damage a business relationship is to use ‘txt’-speak instead of plain English when appropriate.

He received a report entirely in ‘txt’ written by a junior staff member from a business he’d engaged.

When he complained to his counterpart, the reaction was that ‘txt’ is considered appropriate communication.

To prove his assertion our colleague drafted a detailed e-mail all in text back to the boss. Five hours later the response was a simple: “I see your point.”

‘Txting’ is a very useful form of shorthand, however if the same way that you wouldn’t send a letter filled with the traditional Pitmans, neither is SMS-speak a suitable way to send out a message to a wide audience.

While many students – even university graduates - struggle with the most basic of English grammar, a new generation of children are being taught SMSing is an ‘English language’.