I think the concern about jargon is misplaced in this context. Jargon is learned by native and non-native speakers alike as they engage with the community: it’s specifically the stuff that already knowing the language doesn’t help you with, which means not knowing the language doesn’t disadvantage you. That’s not to say jargon doesn’t have its own problems, but I think that someone who attempts to reduce jargon specifically as a way to reach non-native speakers better has probably misdirected their focus.
But a core thing that you don’t mention (maybe because you are a native speaker, and you have to not be one to realize that, not being mean here but simply stating what I think is a fact), is that jargon adds to the effort.
Not only you have to speak a flawless English and not mull over potential mistakes that potentially make you look foolish in the eyes of your interlocutor and reduce the credibility of your discourse, but you also have to use the right jargon. Add saying something meaningful in top of it: you have to pay attention to how you say things (language + jargon) and what you say.
Try handling the feeling of inferiority that inevitably arises when your interlocutor speaks a perfect English and can focus 100% on the content only on what they say while you have to handle the language + the jargon + the meaning behind and that gives you a pretty good mix to feel like a fraud, especially when you disagree with someone. Try a sensitive topic, such as prioritizing x-risk over global health, and add all that mental load. Good luck!
Ben recognizes that jargon adds effort, he is just saying it adds effort to both sides of the equation, because the nature of specialized jargon is it is not known to all native speakers:
Still, it might add more effort for the non-native speaker because a native speaker can identify something as jargon more easily. This is only a hypothesis of course, so to make progress in this discussion it might he helpful to review the literature on this.
I think the concern about jargon is misplaced in this context. Jargon is learned by native and non-native speakers alike as they engage with the community: it’s specifically the stuff that already knowing the language doesn’t help you with, which means not knowing the language doesn’t disadvantage you. That’s not to say jargon doesn’t have its own problems, but I think that someone who attempts to reduce jargon specifically as a way to reach non-native speakers better has probably misdirected their focus.
But a core thing that you don’t mention (maybe because you are a native speaker, and you have to not be one to realize that, not being mean here but simply stating what I think is a fact), is that jargon adds to the effort.
Not only you have to speak a flawless English and not mull over potential mistakes that potentially make you look foolish in the eyes of your interlocutor and reduce the credibility of your discourse, but you also have to use the right jargon. Add saying something meaningful in top of it: you have to pay attention to how you say things (language + jargon) and what you say.
Try handling the feeling of inferiority that inevitably arises when your interlocutor speaks a perfect English and can focus 100% on the content only on what they say while you have to handle the language + the jargon + the meaning behind and that gives you a pretty good mix to feel like a fraud, especially when you disagree with someone. Try a sensitive topic, such as prioritizing x-risk over global health, and add all that mental load. Good luck!
Ben recognizes that jargon adds effort, he is just saying it adds effort to both sides of the equation, because the nature of specialized jargon is it is not known to all native speakers:
Native Speaker: Content + Jargon
Non-Native Speaker: Content + Language + Jargon
Still, it might add more effort for the non-native speaker because a native speaker can identify something as jargon more easily. This is only a hypothesis of course, so to make progress in this discussion it might he helpful to review the literature on this.