OUR KIND ENGLISH: Avoid superfluous expressions in your report; journalism isn’t court poetry!

In our reportage, journalists are duty-bound to be truthful, unbiased and uncompromised. That must be our guide as we go about informing our audiences, be it through the print media or electronic media.

We must avoid sounding like we’re bent on pleasing our sources or the persons we’re reporting about, for journalists can’t afford to be anybody’s court poet. Praise singers! Delivering a text that smacks of a desire on your part to decorate sources—more so in news reporting—will paint you as one who’s in league with this late-day section of our society that has earned itself the despicable moniker, machawa!

We’ll pick portions of a July 3 story (some details of which we’ll conceal for ethical reasons) that provoked the sentiments we’ve expressed above. Here we go…

“The latest cohort brings the total (sic!) number of scholarships granted by….to an IMPRESSIVE 216, underscoring the company’s ROBUST commitment to cultivating a HIGHLY skilled local workforce…”

The scribbler continues: “The MOMENTOUS inauguration ceremony, held in Tabora yesterday, was a HIGH-PROFILE gathering…”

He goes on: ESTEEMED attendees included community leaders, officials from VITAL regulatory bodies such as ….”

Our colleague writes further in relation to what an official purportedly said: “He elaborated that this initiative is METICULOUSLY designed… (to) lay FUNDAMENTAL groundwork for comprehensive future national development, PERFECTLY aligning with Tanzania’s broader aspirations...”

At the end of his longish news story, our colleague informs his readers: “Dr… conveyed his PROFOUND appreciation for the collaboration effort….”

Phew! Now, our word of advice: If you’re so keen on impressing (whoever), use quotation and let sources praise themselves to high heavens… if time and space permit that. Don’t allow yourself to sound like you’re playing someone’s praise singer or court poet. Chawa!

Having thus lectured (bah!) let’s now proceed to deliver linguistic gems picked up over the past week. So, here we go…

Page 3 of the Thursday, July 3 of the tabloid associated with this columnist has a story headlined, ‘Surprises mark CCM nomination deadline…’ Therein, the scribbler purports to report on the President’s response to MP Luhaga Mpina’s claim that her Government hasn’t done enough for his constituency, so he writes: “President Hassan accused Mr Mpina of simply seeking popularity, saying the ISSUES he was ASKING for could addressed in Parliament.”

While the President rightly said in Kiswahili, “mambo aliyoyaomba (Mbunge)", our colleague lost it in his translation, for in English issues are not asked for; if anything, issues are ADDRESSED. You may also ask for THINGS. Which is to say, the English version of the report should’ve been translated to read, for instance, “…the DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS he was asking for…”

The scribbler further reports: “She further said that Mpina was not fit to be a constituency MP, highlighting his failure to mention key DEVELOPMENTS DONE at the CONSTITUENT level by the Government.” Another case of “lost in translation!”

We say, “…key DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS IMPLEMENTED at the CONSTITUENCY (not constituent) level. Why, ‘constituent’ means a citizen within a constituency. Word of caution: beware direct Kiswahili - English translation trap!

Page 4 of the Friday, July 4 edition of the huge and colourful broadsheet carries a photo whose caption reads: “Cyclists of Twende Butiama 2025 began their journey yesterday JULY 3 heading to Butiama as part of honouring the LATE Father of the Nation Mwalimu JK Nyerere…” Drop “the late” adjective when naming historic figures, e.g. Jomo Kenyatta, Kwame Nkrumah or Mwalimu Nyerere.

And then, why say “yesterday July 3” when your story, written on this date, was meant for the next day’s (July 4) readership? Simply say, yesterday.

Ah, this treacherous language called English!