Write Like You Talk

October 2015 Here's a simple trick for getting more people to read what you write: write in spoken language.

2015 年 10 月 这里有一个让更多人阅读您所写内容的简单技巧：用口语写作。

Something comes over most people when they start writing.

大多数人在开始写作时都会遇到一些事情。

They write in a different language than they'd use if they were talking to a friend.

他们使用的语言与与朋友交谈时使用的语言不同。

The sentence structure and even the words are different.

句子结构甚至用词都不同。

No one uses "pen" as a verb in spoken English.

在英语口语中没有人使用“pen”作为动词。

You'd feel like an idiot using "pen" instead of "write" in a conversation with a friend.

在与朋友交谈时使用“笔”而不是“写”，您会觉得自己像个白痴。

The last straw for me was a sentence I read a couple days ago: The mercurial Spaniard himself declared: "After Altamira, all is decadence." It's from Neil Oliver's A History of Ancient Britain .

压垮我的最后一根稻草是几天前读到的一句话：善变的西班牙人自己宣称：“阿尔塔米拉之后，一切都是颓废。”摘自尼尔·奥利弗的《古代英国史》。

I feel bad making an example of this book, because it's no worse than lots of others.

我觉得以这本书为例很糟糕，因为它并不比其他许多书差。

But just imagine calling Picasso "the mercurial Spaniard" when talking to a friend.

但想象一下，在与朋友交谈时称毕加索为“善变的西班牙人”。

Even one sentence of this would raise eyebrows in conversation.

即使其中的一句话也会在谈话中引起人们的注意。

And yet

然而

people write whole books of it.

人们写了整本书。

Ok, so written and spoken language are different.

好吧，书面语言和口语是不同的。

Does that make written language worse?

这会让书面语言变得更糟吗？

If you want people to read and understand what you write, yes.

如果您希望人们阅读并理解您所写的内容，是的。

Written language is more complex, which makes it more work to read.

书面语言更加复杂，这使得阅读起来更加费力。

It's also more formal and distant, which gives the reader's attention permission to drift.

它也更加正式和遥远，这让读者的注意力可以转移。

But perhaps worst of all, the complex sentences and fancy words give you, the writer, the false impression that

但也许最糟糕的是，复杂的句子和花哨的词语给你，作者，一种错误的印象：

you're saying more than you actually are.

你说的比实际的多。

You don't need complex sentences to express complex ideas.

你不需要复杂的句子来表达复杂的想法。

When specialists in some abstruse topic talk to one another about ideas in their field, they don't use sentences any more complex than they do when talking about what to have for lunch.

当某个深奥话题的专家互相谈论各自领域的想法时，他们不会使用比谈论午餐吃什么时更复杂的句子。

They use different words, certainly.

当然，他们使用不同的词语。

But even those they use no more than necessary.

但即使是那些他们使用的也只是必要的。

And in my experience, the harder the subject, the more informally

根据我的经验，主题越难，就越非正式

experts speak.

专家发言。

Partly, I think, because they have less to prove, and partly because the harder the ideas you're talking about, the less you can afford to let language get in the way.

我认为，部分是因为它们需要证明的东西较少，部分是因为你所谈论的想法越难，你就越不能让语言成为障碍。

Informal language is the athletic clothing of ideas.

非正式语言是思想的运动服装。

I'm not saying spoken language always works best.

我并不是说口语总是最好的。

Poetry is as much music as text, so you can say things you wouldn't say in conversation.

诗歌和文字一样都是音乐，所以你可以说出在谈话中不会说的话。

And there are a handful of writers who can get away with using fancy

有少数作家可以通过使用幻想而逃脱惩罚

language in prose.

散文中的语言。

And then of course there are cases where writers don't want to make it easy to understand what they're saying—in corporate announcements of bad news, for example, or at the more bogus end of the humanities.

当然，在某些情况下，作家不想让人们容易理解他们所说的内容——例如，在公司公布坏消息时，或者在人文学科的更虚假的一端。

But for nearly everyone else, spoken language is better.

但对于几乎所有其他人来说，口语更好。

It seems to be hard for most people to write in spoken language.

对于大多数人来说，用口语写作似乎很难。

So perhaps the best solution is to write your first draft the way

所以也许最好的解决方案是这样写你的初稿

you usually would, then afterward look at each sentence and ask "Is this the way I'd say this if I were talking to a friend?" If it isn't, imagine what you would say, and use that instead.

你通常会这样，然后查看每个句子并问：“如果我和朋友说话，我会这样说吗？”如果不是，想象一下你会说什么，然后用它来代替。

After a while this filter will start to operate as you write.

一段时间后，该过滤器将在您编写时开始运行。

When you write something you wouldn't say, you'll hear the clank as it hits the page.

当你写下一些你不会说出来的东西时，你会听到它击中页面时发出的叮当声。

Before I publish a new essay, I read it out loud and fix everything

在发表新文章之前，我会大声朗读并修改所有内容

that doesn't sound like conversation.

这听起来不像是谈话。

I even fix bits that are phonetically awkward; I don't know if that's necessary, but it doesn't cost much.

我什至修复了发音上不恰当的部分；我不知道是否有必要，但花费并不多。

This trick may not always be enough.

这个技巧可能并不总是足够的。

I've seen writing so far removed from spoken language that it couldn't be fixed sentence by sentence.

我见过写作与口语相距甚远，无法逐句固定。

For cases like that there's a more drastic solution.

对于这样的情况，有一个更彻底的解决方案。

After writing the first draft, try explaining to a friend what you

写完初稿后，尝试向朋友解释你的想法

just wrote.

刚刚写的。

Then replace the draft with what you said to your friend.

然后用你对朋友说的话替换草稿。

People often tell me how much my essays sound like me talking.

人们经常告诉我，我的文章听起来多么像我在说话。

The fact that this seems worthy of comment shows how rarely people manage to write in spoken language.

这似乎值得评论，这一事实表明人们很少能够用口语写作。

Otherwise everyone's writing would sound like them talking.

否则每个人的写作听起来就像他们在说话。

If you simply manage to write in spoken language, you'll be ahead of 95% of writers.

如果你能用口语写作，你就会领先于 95% 的作家。

And it's so easy to do: just don't let a sentence

而且很容易做到：只要不让一句话

through unless it's the way you'd say it to a friend.

除非这是你对朋友说的方式。

Thanks to Patrick Collison and Jessica Livingston for reading drafts of this.

感谢 Patrick Collison 和 Jessica Livingston 阅读本文的草稿。