Communications: Saying What We Mean

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Название	Communications: Saying What We Mean
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Michele Berdy
Communications: Saying What We Mean
For many years I have attended dinner parties, conferences, meetings, and receptions in the US and in Russia, dreading the inevitable ice-breaker question: “What do you do?” / ”Чем вы занимаетесь?” The answer in English or Russian – “I’m in health communications” / “Я работаю в коммуникации в сфере здравоохранения” – almost always results in a polite, blank stare. For English-speakers I add: “I do public education programs in health,” for Russians: “То есть – Санпросвет”. If people still don’t fully understand what my work entails, at least they know my professional ball park.
If I were to simply answer in English, “I’m in communications,” this could mean I work for a telephone company, write copy (text) in an advertising firm, program computerized information storage and retrieval systems, or even work as a graphic designer. The professions and scholarly work that come under the category of “communications” in America are extremely diverse, defined and grouped in many cases more by tradition than by logic. And they are constantly changing: these areas of scholarly endeavor and professional activity have only appeared within the last twenty or thirty years, some within the last five. Each year new theoretical work and new technologies expand and redefine the subjects themselves.
To help Russian translators who come across “communications” in its various incarnations, in this paper I’ve tried to define more clearly what “communications” means in various contexts, primarily in the humanitarian disciplines. I have polled translators to provide some possible translations into Russian; these are not meant to be definitive, but rather a starting point for other translators. I also consider the meaning of “communication” in everyday American speech, and its very important role in interpersonal relationships.
Communicate/Communications

Communicate is derived from the Latin communicare, “to share, impart, partake.”

There are two main branches of communications: one that deals with human forms of information-sharing (“the art and technique of using words effectively to impart information or ideas”); and one that deals with the technical means of sharing information (“a means of communicating, especially a system, such as mail, telephone, or television, for sending and receiving messages”). There are several other meanings in medicine and the military (not considered here).
In the humanitarian spheres, “communication” can refer to a one-way transmission of information (“impart”), in which the skill is cogent articulation (умение передать информацию); two-way transmission (“share,” “partake”), in which competence is defined by both the ability to present a point of view and information, and the skills of listening, understanding, and acceptance (умение передать информацию и слушать другого); and persuasive communication, which, to be effective, requires feed-back and dialog, but in which an individual or group have the goal of persuading others (an individual or group) to accept information or an attitude, or adopt a behavior (умение убедить слушателя).
Communications as связь

An in-depth analysis of this terminology is beyond the scope of this paper, but it is helpful to know a few of the “marker” words and professions.
Often “communications” refers to what in Russian falls under the category of связь. For example, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is charged with “regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable.” This could be translated as the Федеральная комиссия связи.^¹ “Communications” is understood somewhat more broadly by the Communication Workers of America trade union, which serves a wide array of humanitarian and technical professions, among them: telecommunications (телекоммуникация), telephone systems (телефония), broadcasting (теле- и радиовещание), cable TV (кабельное телевидение, платное телевидение), journalism (журналистика), and even airline workers (работники авиакомпании). (Railway workers in the US have their own union.) This might be rendered, somewhat wordily, as Профсоюз работников в сферах связи, путей сообщения, и средств массовой информации, although translators will need to clarify what does and doesn’t come under their auspices.
“Information and communications technology” is defined as “the technology used to handle information and aid communication.” This relatively new phrase (coined by Dennis Stevenson in a 1997 report to the UK government) refers to technologies at the organizational level and is usually translated as информационная технология. The thousands – if not millions -- of companies that have sprouted up in this field within the last decade often just call themselves “communications firms.”
A related field is “technical communication,” that is, the profession of “gathering information of a technical nature and presenting it or transmitting it.” In this field specialists write and edit professional technical magazines, write instruction manuals or textbooks, provide explanatory texts for web-sites and software programs, or make educational films and videos. I have found this translated as техническая коммуникация, but a more apt translation might be представление технической информации or simply техническая информация.
Communications in the humanities

Webster’s Third International Dictionary defines “communications” as “an art that deals with expressing and exchanging ideas effectively in speech or writing or through the graphic or dramatic arts and that is taught as an integrated program at various levels of education in distinction to traditional separate courses in composition and speech.” The Association for Communication Administration defines the field of communication in this way: “The field of communications focuses on how people use messages to generate meanings within and across various contexts, cultures, channels, and media. The field promotes the effective and ethical practice of human communication.”^²
That is, the field of communications is an interdisciplinary field that has developed in response to new technologies (such as internet) and media (such as multi-media presentations), as well as to advances in traditional academic disciplines. It examines the full range of human verbal and non-verbal communication: everyday (such as speech, body language), persuasive (such as advertising techniques), and applied artistic (such as graphic design). Communications specialists come from various branches of linguistics, semiotics, pragmatics, psychology, behavioral science, sociology, anthropology, ethnography, journalism, public relations, advertising, television, radio, cinema, video, photography, as well as the graphic arts.
There is, of course, no umbrella word in Russian that encompasses all these disparate disciplines and professions. Among academic circles the discipline is usually translated as коммуникация/коммуникативные науки, although some specialists call it общение and advocate for this translation. ^³
To confuse matters, there are a number of American universities, schools and departments that call themselves “communications” but teach different subjects. Some aspects of communication are taught in the various traditional academic departments, such as linguistics or psychology. Communications Departments or Communications Programs at colleges, universities, and post-graduate educational institutions might teach some of the same subjects found in traditional disciplines (the same kind of course in organizational communications might be taught in a psychology department or a communications department). But American Schools of Communication (university-level) usually teach only television and film, journalism, advertising, and public relations. Some add to the mix marketing, graphic design, multi-media design, and photography.^⁴
So, unfortunately the translator cannot possibly know from the name of a communications department or school what disciplines it teaches. In the case of Schools of Communication, the combination of disciplines is so at odds with traditional Russian academic and ministerial combinations, that an inclusive translation (such as Институт по массовой информации и прикладному искусству) is misleading, and a descriptive translation (such as Институт по телерадиовещанию, кино, журналистке, рекламе, связи с общественностью и фотографии) is awkward and strange, since the concept of “communication” that binds together all these disciplines is missing from the translation. If the translator avoids these traps, he or she can fall into another: since this kind of educational institution doesn’t exist in Russia, the tendency is to “name” it something like Институт коммуникативных наук/технологий и искусств. This translation has the benefit of no associations with other Russian educational institutions, and adequately covers the disciplines taught. But it has one fatal flaw: it is utterly meaningless. This kind of translation would be appropriate if the task of the translation were to name the institution and then define the nature of the curriculum in a footnote or within the text.

The translator will also be tried sorely by the Association for Women in Communications (Ассоциация женщин, работающих в областях/области коммуникации), which unites women in print and broadcast journalism (печатные и электронные СМИ), television and radio production (производство теле- и радио-продукции), film (кино), advertising (рекламный бизнес), public relations (пиар и связи с общественностью), marketing (маркетинг), graphic design (дизайн печатных материалов), multimedia design (производство мультимедийной продукции), and photography (фотография). It describes itself as “the premier association of women communicators worldwide.”
What are “communicators” in this context? They are people who make their livelihood in the communication professions: специалисты в области коммуникации or специалисты по созданию медийной продукции. I don’t like either option, because I think the reader would immediately ask, “What kind of professionals do you mean?” Here the translator would do well to rework the text so that the professions are clearly understood.
The communication spheres cited above represent two of the three types of communication: one-way (the skill of presenting information cogently and clearly through a reader-friendly page lay-out, a photograph that conveys a particular emotion or “story,” an understandable text, or through a video or radio show), and persuasive (public relations and advertising, which are designed to convince the reader, viewer or listener to change attitudes or behavior).
“Communicator” often has the connotation of “someone who is persuasive, who can sway an audience to his side.” In the US, President Reagan was described most famously as the Great Communicator. In conversations, in speeches or at press conferences, he had the ability to present his point of view in a way that was both appealing and convincing. This is something between великий оратор and великий пиарщик, with a bit of the notion of победитель -- someone who always comes out on top. (He was also called the Teflon President, because “no criticism stuck to him.”^⁵) I have seen this translated as виртуоз общения, мастер слов and even великий коммуникатор (on NTV, whose news-writers should win an award for using more calques than all the other Russian TV stations combined). Here it’s back to the drawing board (начинать всё с начала); none of these translations quite capture the sense of the English.

Communication Arts

An ancillary communications field is the sphere of “communication arts,” that is, all the forms of applied art that are used in the communication fields. This includes graphic design, advertising images, web design, corporate image (logos, corporate style in letterhead and business cards), photography, art journalism (cartoons, caricatures), packaging, film and video arts, and illustration.
The Non-Communication Arts

Although the definition of communication embraces virtually any form of transmission of information or emotion (one Russian source defines it as «передача информации от одной системы к другой посредством специальных материальных носителей, сигналов»^⁶), it is traditionally used in reference to the applied arts or professions in which the medium – or the act of transmitting information – is perceived to be the key skill. In the US it is traditionally not used in reference to the performing arts (acting, music composition or performance, performance art), fine arts (painting, sculpture, drawing), applied arts that are not connected with cognitive messages (furniture design, architecture, clothing design), or to other professionals such as teachers and lawyers, despite the fact that “the art of communication” is an important part of their professions. Translation and interpreting also do not usually fall within the realm of communications (although logically they should), except in some academic spheres of communication studies.
Cause marketing, behavior-change communication and health communication

Cause marketing is defined by one of its American founders and practitioners as “using the skills of advertising to effect social change, to benefit individuals or society at large… cause marketing can also help create or change public policy… Advertising which (sic) does that is also widely classified as ‘social marketing’.”^⁷ In other words, cause or social marketing “sells” ideas, policies and behaviors (such as voting, using seat belts, passing environmental protection laws) by using the same techniques that the advertising industry uses in order to sell products. It is commonly referred to as “conducting a communication (public service/information) campaign.” All this is variously translated as социальный маркетинг, проведение коммуникативной кампании/программы, проведение социальной кампании в СМИ, проведение кампании в СМИ по социальной тематике, проведение пиар-кампании (or рекламной кампании) по социальной тематике. (A public service announcement – PSA – is социальный ролик or социальный клип.) While not entirely precise, these terms are entering the language, and seem to be comprehensible by analogy with other phrases, such as социальная программа, социальная ответственность бизнеса, etc.
When a campaign is directed at an individual (to use his seat belt, refrain from drinking and driving, practice safe sex), it’s often called behavior-change communication. This is usually translated by the somewhat clumsy, but more or less comprehensible phrase, проведение кампании (в СМИ), рассчитанной на изменение поведения (людей/аудитории). It is my sense that this concept and phrase appeared in the US in response to criticism that communication campaigns were successful in informing people, but not in persuading them to change their behavior. Now it is bandied about (“We ran a BCC campaign”) almost as a synonym for “an effective communication campaign.” In these cases the more common социальная кампания may be a more graceful translation choice.
“Health communication” is cause marketing when the “cause” is improved health. However, it may include additional “campaign elements” (компоненты кампании), such as counseling (консультирование) as a form of interpersonal (persuasive) communication (межличностная коммуникация), or using entertainment for educational purposes (“enter-educate”): создание и распространение развлекательно-просветительских продукции/включение просветительской информации в развлекательных продукциях. The latter might be a pop song that advocates safe sex, or a soap opera that models behavior (моделировать поведение), such as using seat belts. Depending on the audience, I call health communication просветительская работа в сфере здравоохранения, проведение социальной кампании в сфере здравоохранения, or even Санпросвет (санитарно-просветительская работа).
“Health communication” and “health promotion” are sometimes used as synonyms in English, but, as defined by the World Health Organization, health promotion involves a broader range of activities, including those which are not strictly communicative, such as reforming health systems, advocating for changes in legislation, and mobilizing communities. Health promotion programs in Russian are commonly translated as программы по укреплению здоровью. One model of health promotion consists of three main forms of intervention (вмешательство): education (просвещение), prevention (профилактика), and protection (здоровье-сберегающие меры/программы).
We Just Can’t Communicate

In everyday American speech, “communication” has come to mean a specific speech act “which manifests mutual self disclosure, positive regard for the unique selves of the participants, and openness to emergent, negotiated definitions of self and other.”^⁸ That is, when an American says, “My husband and I don’t communicate anymore,” “There’s a breakdown in communication with my children,” “The basis of a good marriage is communication,” they are referring to a special kind of talking in which all parties are open, truthful, revealing, exhibit a profoundly self-reflexive understanding of themselves, listen attentively to one another, accept the emotional validity of others’ statements, and support one another. The goal of this kind of communication is deeper intimacy; an enhanced sense of self; acceptance of the points of view of others, and an affirmation of the validity of those points of view (“I hear where you are coming from”); and, if not resolution of interpersonal problems, then at least a willingness to keep communicating (“talking it out”) until a solution or resolution is found. This kind of communication exhibits all three communication paradigms: it is articulate one-way transmission of information, a dialog, and persuasive. It is also something of a balancing act, in which the uniqueness of the individuals is confirmed, each persuades the others of the validity of his point of view, and yet the needs of the individuals and group are integrated.
The researchers Tamar Katriel and Gerry Philipsen have noted that talk shows like “The Oprah Winfrey Show” or “The Phil Donahue Show,” where guests “communicate openly” about any kind of intimate problem, from addictions to sexual dysfunction to criminal acts, has made this kind of communication something of a national religion, or a national panacea, that cures all that ails Americans spiritually, psychologically and emotionally. “Turning inward and brooding over a problem,” they note, “is not considered a step towards its solution.”^⁹
This is, in many ways, similar to the Russian phrases and speech acts of выяснение отношения (talking about our relationship, solving problems in our relationship) and разговор по душам (a heart-to-heart talk). However, there seems to be an important difference: Americans regard this kind of communication as a “skill” or “work”: “we need to work on our relationship,” “we need to work on communication in our marriage,” “I need to work on my communication skills.” While выяснение отношения or разговор по душам may be difficult, emotionally trying or draining, these speech acts don’t seem to be perceived as requiring skills. Rather they are often spontaneous and relatively effortless. However, the results – enhanced intimacy, resolution of a problem, emotional validation of the speakers -- appear to be similar.
Clarity of Translation and Definition

The task of this paper was to clarify some aspects of the word “communications” that Russian translators might encounter in American texts. However, the Russian field of communications is itself developing rapidly, and the questions of “naming,” “defining” and “translating” are becoming critical. As the Russian fields of communication develop, Russian terms borrowed from the English have come to have distinct and separate meanings, sometimes varying among separate fields, such as sociology and advertising.^¹⁰ For example, public relations in the US can include not only promoting a person, event, or institution, but simply providing information to the public. The public relations director of a city museum may answer questions about exhibits, or send out a press release on a public talk. This is closer to the “old” Russian term связи с общественностью than пиар, which I think is currently understood by non-specialists in Russia as “promotion,” and is often imbued with negative connotations. (I’ve noticed that the phrase черный пиар is found less frequently now than, say, five years ago; today it would seem that most пиар is largely perceived as черный.) The Public Relations Association in Russia and other groups are trying to “reclaim” the meaning of public relations, but, given the practices of many PR companies and specialists, it is an uphill battle (Сизифов труд).
The Russian Communications Association (called – misleadingly to my ear -- Российская Коммуникативная Ассоциация) has plans to develop of glossary of terms that would standardize the lexicon. This is a good idea in principle, but will need to be done carefully so that American or other Western definitions are not imposed on terms that already have different meanings in Russian. However, a glossary that everyone agrees to use may clear up some of the ambiguities one now finds in Russian texts. Recently I found the phrases медицинская коммуникация and коммуникация здоровья and could not determine from the contexts if they were translation variants of “health communication” or meant something else entirely.
Until there is uniform terminology in Russian, communication is a difficult process. It is a rich irony indeed that these fields should be plagued with such breakdowns in communication.

1 B.N. Klimzo has noted helpfully that in translation from the Russian, Министерство РФ по связи и информатизации is rendered in English as the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications of the Russian Federation. Cвязь (радио, телевидение, телефония, спутниковая, кабельная) is often translated as telecommunications in English. For example, Государственный комитет связи is the State Telecommunications Committee. Коммуникации can be translated as communications (in the context of military operations), or as utilities when used as a synonym of инженерные сети и системы (sewerage and water, gas and power supply). Here the potential for confusion and mistranslation is quite evident.

2 National Communication Association, http://www.natcom.org/ComProg/new_page_1.htm

3 Tolstikova-Mast, Yulia, and Keyton, Joann, “Communicating About Communication: Fostering the Development of the Communication Discipline in Russia,” Russian Communication Association, http://www.russcomm.ru/eng/rca_biblio/t/tolstikova-mast01_eng.shtml

4 For more detailed descriptions of US Department of Education definitions of communication programs, see http://www.natcom.org/ComProg/Stats/instruction.htm and http://nces.ed.gov.pubs2002/cip2000/ciplist.asp?CIP2=09

5 I recently found this headline and text on a Russian web-site:

«Где Путин поцарапался?
Социологи заметили: тефлоновый рейтинг президента начал пригорать.
Американского президента Рейгана прозвали «тефлоновым президентом» — какую бы глупость ни сделал, на его популярность эта глупость никак не влияла. Как жир не пристает к тефлоновой кастрюле, так критика не приставала к Рейгану». For the full article, see: http://2004.novayagazeta.ru/nomer/2004/48n/n48n-s12.shtml

6 Osipova, G.V., ed, Entsiklopedicheskii sotsiologicheskii slovar’ (Moscow: RAN, 1995) quoted in Dmitrieva, E.V., Sotsiologiya Zdoroviya: metodicheskie podkhody i kommunikatsionnye programmy (Moscow: Izdatel’stvo “TSENTR,” 2002), p. 181.

7 Earle, Richard, The Art of Cause Marketing: How To Use Advertising to Change Personal Behavior and Public Policy (Chicago: NTC Business Books, 2000), p. 3.

8 Katriel, Tamar and Philipsen, Gerry, “What We Need is Communication”: “Communication” as a Cultural Category in Some American Speech.” In Cultural Communication and Intercultural Contact, ed. Donal Carbaugh (Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, 1990), p 91.

9 Ibid, p 87.

10 Tolstikova-Mast, Yulia, and Keyton, Joann, “Communicating About Communication: Fostering the Development of the Communication Discipline in Russia,” Russian Communication Association, http://www.russcomm.ru/eng/rca_biblio/t/tolstikova-mast01_eng.shtml

Communications: Saying What We Mean

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