Writing for a specific discipline

When we learn a new thing, there is always a phase of acculturation. At first, we don’t feel comfortable but with time and training, it becomes better. It is especially the case when we learn a specific discipline, as I am currently doing with technical communication thanks to my master’s degree.

• ·         Identity crisis

This year, I am discovering what technical communication is. I did not realize there were so many specific rules when I applied for this master program. Even if courses started almost six months ago, I still feel lost and uncomfortable with this discipline. I still do not understand how technical communication works and I feel really incompetent.

Furthermore, technical communication is a discipline where English dominates. A lot of students are bilingual and have studied abroad during their bachelor years. I did not have this opportunity and my English is not as good as theirs. Even if I can understand when teachers speak in English, I need a lot of time to do exercises and I make several mistakes.

Also, I do not participate in class because everything that I would say would be simple and I would not be able to transcribe my thoughts as they are. I hope it is just difficult because it is the beginning and that, next year, it will be easier. In the end, this situation brings a lot of stress, accentuated by expectations of people.

•  Culture bound

Even if I am not bilingual in English, I am graduated with a bachelor of communication and I am supposed not to have difficulties with courses related to it. Nevertheless, I still need to learn things with design software for example.

Besides, I specialized in literature when I was in high school and even after for my bachelor, I was trained to do long sentences, using metaphors and lot of words to express one idea. But with writing in technical communication, we are currently learning how to use “minimalism” which consists in using the less words as possible. I think it is very hard to synthetize when we are not used to.

My academic culture is still controlling me and it will require quite some time for me to accommodate to technical communication rules.

• ·        To have a goal

I think it is very important to have a goal to stay motivate when we learn new things. It can rapidly become difficult and if we do not know why we do this, it will be easy to give up. My goal is to write in technical communication in order to obtain my master’s degree.

“Goals are your destinations in life; objectives are the stops along the way.” 
― Gerard de Marigny, The Watchman of Ephraim

Therefore, it is easier to accommodate when we have support from friends and family. Even if I do not live with my parents anymore, I often talk to them on the phone and it is very helpful when I have identity crisis. It is normal to experiment different steps during the process of acculturation and time is our best friend to go from one step to another, through objectives.

I might be an outsider in technical communication but I hope to become an insider in a few months. It is my challenge from my graduation in 2016: to be proficient in technical communication (and I hope I will be since it is supposed to be my future job!).