Change starts in the language.
The way we talk to people, we describe and define things, the choice of words we use, and the use of jargon all matter. Your choice of language shapes our reality. If you want to change the world, first, change your language.
Here is an example I talk about from time to time, but I realised that I have never written about it:
About a decade ago, I was working on localising the Change.org website into Turkish when the platform started operating in the country. I was a campaign strategist in the Turkish operations’ founding team; part of my job was to oversee the localisation.
There was one thing in particular that we changed at that time in the campaigning language, which, in my opinion, made a massive impact on the future success of Change.org in Türkiye.
In general, the way campaigns were communicated used this sentence approach defining the relationship between the petition starter and the petition target as: “a petition against.” However, this usage is quite antagonising when translated into Turkish and creates a win-or-lose situation.
‘Against’ vs ‘aimed at.’
That is to say, a petition against (let’s say, as an example) the government signified a conflict in which, if the government accepted the petition, it meant that they had lost and admitted they were wrong or guilty — which would never happen.
Moreover, in the Turkish cultural context, the institutions aggrandised themselves and would not have responded to individuals at the time — especially if they were antagonised and castigated.
Therefore, we saw no benefit in using the English campaigning language as it is in the localisation strategy of the Turkish platform. That would have been a self-handicapping approach and would not have created any change.
“Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
So, we discussed a lot among the team and decided to use “a petition directed to/aimed at” usage, which was more neutral and did not signify any negative or antagonising meaning for the petition target. Moreover, this approach allowed us to establish a commonground between the petition starter and petition target as both sides could get a win out of the same petition.
A minor language change can create a significant impact.
One side got to create the change they wanted to see in their world, and the other could take credit for facilitating that change and showing that they listened to their constituents. With this strategy and a minor improvement in our language, we created a significant reconciliation space between the people and institutions.
So, as you can see, the change starts in the language we use, and if we can find a way to change how we define, express, communicate and articulate things and concepts, we can start changing the world.
Nowadays, people are so focused on what they say, but it is essential to remember that how they say it is as impactful. The more I study and learn about language and culture, the more I understand the need for short, simple, concise articulation.
So, please improve the language you use in your life and inspire your organisation, brand, institution or community to think about how they communicate and what meanings they create, enhance, support or cancel with that language.
We need more meaningful and thoughtful communication in an age where we communicate a lot more yet with a lot less meaning. So let’s make language meaningful again.
