What to Know before Writing and Speaking

We need a language to communicate our ideas, thoughts, and feelings perfectly. However, don't we know that even good writing and speaking performance require a lot of things to consider? This rule is universal. It applies to any languages on earth, or at least any languages that I have known so far. Therefore, whether we speak Japanese, English, or Tagalog, knowing this rule is very much beneficial for our communication skills.

So what rule am I talking about now?

The rule is KNOWING WELL OUR AUDIENCE AND SITUATION. By 'audience', I may mean a recipient of our letters, or a listener of our speech, or a reader of our project reports, etc. Meanwhile, situation refers to 'the general state of things; the combination of circumstances at a given time'. 

After knowing what type of audience we are dealing with and situation in which we are expected to communicate, we are now to decide which type of tone matches our needs in dealing with a certain audience and a given situation.

Biblical

The word 'biblical' is derived from 'bible'. Thus, it has something to do with Bible. Biblical tone reads like sentences in Bible. It is cold, emotionless, rigid, somewhat archaic and poetic. Imagine a priest or a clerk is delivering a sermon during a  Sunday mass or at a mosque on Fridays. That is more or less how a biblical tone sounds like. Biblical tone is also marked by the use of old vocabularies; for example 'thou' (you), 'doth' (does), 'thy' (your), etc. It is important to note that biblical style is generally used in religious occasions.

Frozen

Literally, frozen means cold like ice. In terms of language, frozen style is associated with instruction or manuals or less personalized style of language use. Commonly, frozen language does not involve mentioning the audience verbally. Frozen tone might be found in legal writing (things related to laws and courts). It is rigid and cold like biblical tone but in biblical tone the vocabularies used are not of old use. The words are more up-to-date so we cannot find old words such as 'thou', 'doth' in frozen toned pieces of writing.

Formal

Formal is more personalized version of frozen style. Perhaps in some other way, it is still rigid and cold but there is a stronger tendency that audience existence is not ignored. Some formal address forms could be found here, e.g. 'Mr.', 'Mrs., or 'Ms.'. In business matters, formal style is often used. This style is likely to be found in conversations between two business partners, corporate meetings or diplomatic talks.

Consultative

Consultative tone has some things in common with formal one. However, consultative tone is more personalized in the way that the distance between participants (e.g. writer-reader or speaker-listener) is relatively closer. It is less rigid than formal. Some spoken language features might be found, such as contractions (e.g. 'you're', 'we're'). Consultative style could be found in conversations between two co-workers or colleagues, where some level of politeness is still maintained with less distance between both.

Casual

Casual tone is the everyday style we use in daily communication, amongst pals or workmates in non-business context. There is relatively no more distance between participants. Colloquial expressions seem easier to be found. Informal phrases (like 'ain't', 'gotta', 'gonna', 'wanna', etc) are used frequently as well.

Intimate

Intimate is the most private style of all. It is likely to be found in chats between family members (e.g. father-mother, or parents-kids). Intimate style is also reflected in love letters, in which spouses or lovers exchange and share feelings with each other.