Janine M. Butler | Guest Columnist
This column features the work of individuals currently enrolled in or recently graduated from educational programs in the field. Contributors examine how theories and concepts encountered in their classes can be applied to technical communication practices. To submit a column, email the editor at STAMANTK@ecu.edu.
If our objective as technical communicators is to design usable and accessible information, then that purpose is even more essential in today’s international workplace. Some of us are members of multinational corporations that have expanded overseas; others are part of local businesses with employees who speak different languages. In all cases, we promote our organizational mission by conveying meaning through many methods to a multilingual workforce. Video-based communication methods can bridge the gap between languages and cultures. This article demonstrates the value of creating videos that use multiple means to instruct and inform diverse members of an organization.
Instructional Videos in the Workplace
Corporate videos, training videos, and safety videos are some of the channels through which businesses instruct employees on how to perform operations within an organization. However, videos that rely excessively on voice-over narration and subtitles pose challenges to the members of the organization because:
- Technical communicators need to translate both the verbal narration and subtitles from English to the language of the organization’s employees who will use the video. In such situations, mistranslations can easily arise, especially when trying to distill complicated information to concise information for videos.
- Employees who view videos with heavy use of (inadequately) translated verbal narration and subtitles will struggle to make meaning of the information and may not be able to efficiently access the information.
- The organization will suffer from failures or delays as a result of ineffectively conveyed information.
Technical communicators can actively design information in a way that prevents mistranslation and avoids concepts being lost as they cross from the originating language to the employees’ language—and thus preserve the integrity of the organization and its mission.
Instead of emphasizing verbal narration and subtitles to the exclusion of other modes of communication, we can design videos that incorporate visual animation, still images, graphics, and other methods of expressing information.
Speech Codes: A Theory of Culture and Communication
To prevent an organization’s concepts from being lost in translation, we should approach the design of instructional videos with an understanding of how cultural communication systems differ. An understanding of cultures and their speech codes, or cultural system of communication, is possible through what is known as speech code theory.
Speech code theory helps individuals understand communication practices unique to cultural groups. A leading proponent of speech code theory, Gerry Philipsen (1997), focused on understanding
- The relationship between communication and culture
- How each culture has its own way of speaking
Philipsen claimed that each culture has a distinct cultural code. Just as a code of ethics guides how we behave in a certain moment, a speech code guides what we say and how we say it. Each culture values its ethics, and each culture values its language. At the same time, the language of any one culture will reflect its communal values.
In other words, culture and speech codes are inseparably connected, and each culture has its own valued principles of communication that are unknown to individuals from outside of that culture. However, the values and codes of one culture will not necessarily translate directly to another culture and another language. For instance, instructions written in the language of a culture that values self-reliance and perseverance may become awkward when rewritten in the language of a culture that values collaborative efforts and flexible deadlines. Even a single paragraph that gives orders for a task to be accomplished promptly will not be received well by employees who expect instructions to ask them to perform collaboratively and flexibly on a task.
What can we derive from speech code theory?
- Culture, language, and values are intricately linked.
- Attempting to translate spoken narration or to use subtitles in videos may fail to adequately express meaning in another culture and language.
How can we apply the concept that each culture has its own communication codes in the workplace?
- In the age of globalization, workplaces are multicultural, multilingual spaces.
- Instructional videos should utilize different ways of expressing meaning and delivering information across cultures and languages.
Technical communicators can apply the concept of linked cultural values and behaviors in the workplace. By appreciating the differences in cultural systems of communication, we can better design effective means of video-based communication.
Multimedia Videos in the Workplace
When we realize that each culture has its own communication codes, how can we prevent the mistranslation of cultural values in the workplace? We can do so by embracing multimedia videos that integrate verbal narration and subtitles with visual animation, still images, and physical means of expressing information. We have already begun to integrate video-based communication in the workplace. In the May 2009 issue of Intercom, Barbara Giammona listed innovative directions in technical communication that include:
- Video demos embedded in user information
- Multimedia tutorials
- Video display terminals throughout the workplace to deliver information to users
The availability of informational videos in the workplace has the positive side effect of minimizing the need for print user’s manuals and the reliance on language to convey information. When we translate manuals and other instructional documents, difficulties in translating concepts across languages and cultures often occur—and we experience firsthand the speech code concept of distinct cultural communication codes and values.
Translators must attempt to transmit factually correct instructions at the same time they interpret the language in order to account for cultural, grammatical, and syntactical differences in how instructions are stated. We may be quite familiar with humorous mistranslations in signs and user’s guides, but there is no humor or value in accidentally giving the wrong instructions to our colleagues. Videos, and their use of multiple means of communication, can be a more efficient and less error-prone method of expressing information to users.
As technical communicators serve a larger role in the development of organizational knowledge, we can design informative multimedia videos that use different means of communication—sound, subtitles, graphics, and so forth—integrated in one space. Verbal narration and subtitles are not the only means of expressing information. Visual animation, still images, and physical action play a large part in expressing meaning throughout distinct communication codes.
Multimedia Videos: Minimizing Cultural Differences in Professional Communication
We can appreciate the speech code concept that each culture has its own distinct speech code and design videos for users from various cultures. Technical communicators can design multimedia instructional videos that effectively bypass language differences and effectively deliver usable, accessible, and meaningful information to users.
Speech code theory guides our understanding that culture, language, and values are intricately linked, and that instructional videos should communicate valuable information across cultures and languages. We can now realize that the most efficient multimedia instructional videos will have the following qualities:
- They minimize differences in speech codes—differences in cultural and language values—through their use of multiple modes, or methods of expressing meaning.
- They coordinate the modes of moving images, still images, written text, and narration so that users can understand the information through different means.
- Each mode conveys meaning differently. Morain and Swarts (2012) indicate that:
- Moving images are best at showing actions and events occurring through time.
- Spoken narration is effective when it announces steps right before the video visually demonstrates a task.
- Spoken narration and subtitles are not the primary means of giving instructions.
It is important to emphasize that the most efficient videos will combine narration, subtitles, visual animation, graphics, and the like. When meaning is expressed through several modes, viewers can access, understand, and use the information. For instance, Alexander (2013) found that the combination of voice-over narration and visual animation improves users’ processing and retention of information. The usability and accessibility of a video thus enhances its value to employees with diverse speech codes and to international organizations.
An organizational video that uses multiple modes to provide instructions—narration, subtitles, visual animation, images, graphics—can successfully minimize differences in employees’ speech codes. The narration and the subtitles may mistakenly include errors or imperfections, but the combination of animation, images, and other visual elements can correctly demonstrate the instruction. Multimedia instructional videos thus are an effective way to communicate an organization’s message to its international workers.
Usability + Accessibility = Meaningfulness and Value
We can agree that one of our main purposes, if not the main purpose, as technical communicators is to enhance usability. Facilitating the exchange of information between our colleagues is the value we contribute to our organization. Users value learning efficiently and quickly from instructional videos, and that would not be possible if they misunderstood spoken instructions due to differences in speech codes. When it comes to instructional videos, explicit and straightforward delivery of meaning is of paramount importance.
Employees who speak different languages deserve equal access to the instructional message of a video. When we design videos that incorporate other elements in addition to spoken narration, we allow employees who may not understand the narrator’s language to access the necessary information. We can design videos that zoom in on particular positions, use superimposed arrows to pinpoint specific sections, or demonstrate complex actions in slow motion.
We can take the speech code concept that each culture has its distinct values and codes to determine what makes an effective video. That determination is the following:
- An effective video in the international workplace will complement any necessary voice-over narration and subtitles with visual animation, still images, graphics, and other means of expressing meaning to employees. In doing so, it is usable, accessible, and meaningful.
Through our appreciation of speech code theory, we become aware of how to design usable and accessible videos that successfully share meaningful information throughout the international workplace. Such videos consolidate the value of the technical information being communicated, of the employees, and of the organization.
How We Should (and Should Not) Design Videos
An awareness of speech code theory can allow us to design more effective videos that are usable, accessible, and meaningful for employees of different cultural backgrounds. We can begin by redesigning the average—and flawed—instructional video.
A basic instructional video features a person facing the camera and giving extensive spoken instructions with minimal visual actions. Some videos may be dubbed over (with grammatical errors or cultural differences); some may include (mistranslated) subtitles. Others may feature voice-over narration providing instructions while the task is performed on camera, but the narration predominately gives the directions while the visual actions play a supporting role.
If we apply speech code theory to these conventional videos, we can see that they do not effectively deliver information across cultures and languages. Even though they incorporate visual actions, language is the primary means through which they give instructions. Since each culture has its own values and codes of speaking, the language in the videos cannot perfectly translate instructions to viewers of different backgrounds.
When we apply speech code theory to designing videos, we coordinate spoken and written language with visual images, animation, and graphics that clearly and effectively communicate technical instructions. We take advantage of what videos make possible: we use different modes to express meaning—not just spoken or written words, but also visuals. We create multimedia videos that are usable, accessible, and meaningful to every single employee in our organization. Those who may not fully comprehend (the perhaps mistranslated) spoken or written instructions can ultimately visualize the meaning through the combination of modes.
When we design multimedia videos, our colleagues can then access and make use of the instructions by performing their task within the organization. By being aware of differences in cultural speech codes when designing multimedia instructional videos, we can improve the efficiency of the organization as a whole.
Value of Video-Based Technical Communication in the Workplace
Technical communicators can design videos that express meaning in multiple ways to create accessibility to meaning across languages and cultures. When employees access instructions through spoken words, visual captions, visual animations, and physical actions, they can efficiently use that information and make meaning in different ways. Through this integration, technical communicators and our colleagues contribute to the informational value of the organization. Even more meaningfully, we in the international workplace show that we value our colleagues’ cultural and individual differences.
References
Alexander, K. P. 2013. The usability of print and online video instructions. Technical Communication Quarterly, 22(3): 237–259. doi:10.1080/10572252.2013.775628.
Giammona, B. 2009. The Future of Technical Communication: Remix. Intercom 56(5): 6–11.
Morain, M., and J. Swarts. 2012. YouTutorial: A Framework for Assessing Instructional Online Video. Technical Communication Quarterly 21(1): 6–24. doi:10.1080/10572252.2012.626690.
Philipsen, G. 1997. A Theory of Speech Codes. In G. Philipsen and T. Albrecht, eds., Developing Communication Theories. Pp. 119–156. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Janine M. Butler (butlerja13@students.ecu.edu) is a doctoral candidate in Rhetoric, Writing, and Professional Communication at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC. Her research and teaching interests include intercultural communication, accessibility and multimodality, and the construction of identity. An editorial assistant for Technical Communication Quarterly, she is building on her editing and publishing experience to explore the connections between writing pedagogies and literary studies.
