“Lost in Translation: The Challenges of Communication in Conservation”

Born French-speaking, you might expect communication to come naturally to me? It is the language of diplomacy after all. Let’s just say that I still see communication as a journey and not a destination. 

In this month's write-up, I wanted to briefly share some challenges that I (and many founders/entrepreneurs) face in getting the word out. In contrast to a traditional business relationship where someone looks to address a need - a transactional exchange - conservation and philanthropy lean on people’s humanistic interests surfing on the wave of emotions and purpose. 

With today’s buzz of constant notifications, tweets, and emails, grabbing attention and making your message stick is a challenge worthy of a SAN warrior (Namibian localization). 

First you have information overload: Everyone’s inboxes and social feeds are jam-packed. Your carefully crafted message is competing with cute cat videos, breaking news, and a thousand unread emails.

Then, you have the hazard of algorithms: how to be sure of the feed your audience sees on LinkedIn or Facebook. Even if you are connected or being followed, a lot of people simply do not get the memo.  

Then comes the attention span of a goldfish (I did not localize for a Namibian context here):

People skim through most things these days. Seeking engagement, your message is hardly read from top to bottom. Most likely, the reader will grab the title and spend a couple of seconds afterwards, on the hunt for snappy headlines, eye-catching visuals and bite-sized content.

And one size rarely fits all: our readers are never one big happy family. They have got different needs, interests, and ways of communicating. So, the tone has to comply with The Goldilocks Principle: we need that just right tone.

You think you’ve more or less nailed down how to express yourself in your own language, now throw in some cross-cultural elements. I have been at work for the last 25 years learning how to communicate in (business) English. Now, I need a translator between business/International and Namibian English. A role that John M. has been volunteered to do. Born a native English-speaker (from Kenya), he has lived in Namibia and learnt Afrikaans many years ago. 

Beyond the localization (a mixture of Afrikaans, English and local languages; as well as having a shirt that matches the local tablecloth!), his knowledge of conservation - he is the author of the Atlas of Namibia - means that he adds subject-matter expertise to the form. Languages, intrinsically part of someone’s culture, influence the way people go about certain tasks: conservation, landscaping, vegetation are understood in a Namibian frame of reference.

Whereas certain cultures love small talk (e.g. France, Italy, Japan), others dive straight into business. Southern Africa falls into the second category, probably due to their Dutch, German and British colonial past. 

In a world where we can send a message from New York to Tokyo in milliseconds or browse content from the most obscure sources, communication has not become easier. We still manage to misunderstand each other and operate through trial and error.

So what have I learnt in the last few months:

• Consistency and Repetition are key

even with the best intentions, we can not assume that people always get the memo and internalize it

• Engage

especially in Conservation and Philanthropy, it is as much a question of emotions as of logic (it needs to be both)

• Know your audience

understand what makes the majority tick and pick their interests. Applying different nets and analyzing reaction guides the way forward

• Communication is an art

attention is hard to earn: effective communication is about balancing clarity, creativity, and consistency

Stay tuned: our next update will be much clear-er!