Keeping Jargon Out of a Question
Launch library · evergreen read
Technical language borrowed from a subject's own field can make an interviewer sound informed, but it often narrows the answer to match the jargon rather than opening it up. A plain question, asked in ordinary words, tends to invite a plain and more widely understandable explanation in return. Borrowed vocabulary can make an interviewer sound informed while quietly narrowing what the subject actually explains.
There is a place for precise terminology, particularly when confirming a detail that only the correct term can capture accurately. But as a default habit, plain phrasing serves the interview better, since it forces the subject to explain rather than simply gesture at a term everyone in the room already accepts. Precise terms still have their place, particularly when confirming a detail only that exact word can capture.
The discipline also protects the eventual reader or listener, who may not share the subject's specialised vocabulary. A question asked in plain language usually produces an answer that plain language can carry too, which is worth more than sounding fluent in a borrowed dialect. A reader unfamiliar with the field usually benefits most from whichever answer a plain question happens to produce.