LINGO FRANCA: Overcoming Language Barriers Within the Same Language

Are you on the same page with your customers? If not, perhaps there's simply a page missing. A page you design to help merchants, customers, clients and even co-workers speak the same language, use the same terms and communicate the same meanings.

Name That Sound!

Recently when I called my auto mechanic to complain of a new sound my car was making the conversation went something like this: "Patti, it's making a creaking noise." "Do you mean like a door with rusty hinges opening?" "No, Patti, more like wood burning in a fireplace" I told her. "Oh, Mr. Harrison, that's considered a cracking noise." She'd obviously done this before. Several questions later we identified my car's problem over the phone. Now we were clicking!

Synching Up Our Language

Let's face it. One person's grind is another person's groan. One person's whining is another's whistling. You say chirp, I say clap, but we can't call the whole thing off!
The Honda Motor Company, makers of Acuras, Accords and Preludes, created a "cheat sheet" to help Patti and other techs identify noises customers complain about. For every noise a car can make their chart lists a description of what the noise sounds like in common terms. Their tech reps play charade with calling customers, using their reference sheet to identify offending sounds.

For example, a customer complaining of_______ is asked if it sounds like _________:

BANGING.........Slamming of a wooden screen door?
CLANGING..........Cow bell or dinner bell?
FLUTTERING..........A flag flapping in the wind?
GROWLING..........Dog protecting his food?
JINGLING..........Keys hitting each other?
PINGING..........Pebbles rolling around in a tin can?
RAPPING..........Judge hitting his gavel?
WHISTLING..........Steam coming out of a tea kettle?

This cheat sheet of 50 different sounds is a wonderful tool for fostering understanding, thus saving time and money. The following week I was tending a sick Tibetan Terrier and tried to explain sounds Pierre the dog was making to a veterinary technician. Did we ever need a cheat sheet to find common ground!