Do you think it is helpful to try to speak more “academically”? Do you sometimes feel that you don’t sound as intelligent as some of your peers? There are some amusing forums on Reddit for higher degree research candidates, teaching academics and research editors like me. While participants seem mainly to be based in the U.S., some forums have general appeal for university life more globally.
This time we are looking at different opinions on whether “talking like a PhD student” is important and, if it is, what you can do to sound smarter when you speak.
Not just a problem for researchers with English as a second (or third) language
I was faced with the problem of how to consider ideas like a researcher when I first went to university. Neither of my parents had the opportunity to go to university. Although they were repeatedly offered scholarships to continue their studies, which took them through secondary school, eventually their families needed them to go to work instead. This meant we did not sit around the dinner table evaluating research by evaluating the pros and cons of theories or looking at evidence and its context. In contrast, as undergraduate students, some of my classmates were able to discuss ideas easily, comparing various viewpoints and come to well considered conclusions while I was still struggling with a whole new vocabulary.
Opinions differ about whether it is important to imitate others’ ways of discussing academic topics so as to seem smart. You will learn this simply by being in the environment for a reasonable period of time. This is definitely true. We learn to imitate a model through repeated exposure to it. But the best approach is to speak clearly, plainly and in a straightforward way, with technical terms when needed and without a lot of unnecessary jargon.
Use the terminology
Simple ideas can be very innovative. They could be lost if we tend to stick to the well-worn paths of using jargon which has embedded assumptions, without exploring alternatives. While it’s important to learn technical words appropriate to your field, using them when needed and speaking or writing your thoughts fairly directly makes your meaning clear. I often reduce the length of sentences by deleting phrases that basically add no new information. Often these have “important sounding” terms but are indirectly phrased.
…But avoid overusing it
Some academics are well known for complex, jargon filled sentences. Imitating them does not make you more employable. Einstein has been quoted to say, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” If you know your topic, you will be able to describe it, step by step. So that sums up why it is not so important to try to sound smarter.