avoiding the elks on the rough road to plain language · 2020-01-02 · avoiding the elks on the...

Avoiding the elks on the rough road to plain language

Dr Neil James, Executive Director

Klarspråkskonferansen 2012

Avoiding the elks on the rough road to plain language: Klarspråkskonferansen 2012 © Plain English Foundation

Nice weather for flies…

Bondi beach

Sydney Harbour


No flies


The romance of Norway…


Return to Australia

1960s and 1970s

No plain language

‘In accordance with your

request, and in consideration

of the fact that significant time

has elapsed, it is incumbent

upon you to facilitate the

identification of the certificate.

It would be appreciated if you

would ascertain this

information in a timely

manner.’


Return to Australia

1960s and 1970s

No plain language

‘In accordance with your

request, and in consideration

of the fact that significant time

has elapsed, it is incumbent

upon you to facilitate the

identification of the certificate.

It would be appreciated if you

would ascertain this

information in a timely

manner.’

‘To meet your request, and

because of the delay, we need

you to find and send us a copy of

your certificate as soon as

possible.’


The Australian journey

1960s and 1970s

Additional repayments are able to be

deposited by the Mortgagee in

accordance with the terms of this

mortgage agreement provided that

said repayments do not reach a level

in excess of $10,000 in any given

calendar year, such year to begin at

midnight on 1 January.


The legal sector led the way

Centre for Plain Legal Language

University of Sydney

• Research

• Publications

• Training


The legal sector led the way

Family Court case study

•Completion rates increased

from 52% to 86%

•Rejected applications fell from

30% to 7%

•Errors fell from 1.74 per

application to 0.14

•Processing time fell from 12.3

minutes to 10.5 minutes


Redrafting legislation

(5) This diagram shows when,

under section 203A and this

section, invitations can be made,

during the transition period, for

applications for recognition as the

representative body for a particular

area.


Victorian Law Reform Commission

1984 Plain Language and the Law

•Revised a court summons, which reassigned 26 staff and

saved $400,000 a year. (NOK 2,400,000)

•Tested two versions of an act with two groups of

lawyers. The lawyers with the plain language version

completed advice in one-third to one-half of the time.


Office of the Parliamentary Counsel

2010 survey

•Evaluated 16 plain

language features

•Surveyed judges,

lawyers and civil

servants

•12 of 16 features had

net satisfaction of 70%

or higher, and up to

85%

Feature 1. Commencement provisions

Feature 2. Overviews

Feature 3. Guides

Feature 4. Decentralised tables of contents

Feature 5. Objects provisions

Feature 6. Examples

Feature 7. Notes

Feature 8. Use of asterisks

Feature 9. Use of tagging of concepts

Feature 10. Questions as headings

Feature 11. Subsection headings

Feature 12. Use of tables

Feature 13. Diagrams

Feature 14. Method statements

Feature 15. Use of the second person

Feature 16. New format including indenting


Australian Government

Milestones in plain language

•1983: Plain English and simpler

forms program

•1990: International Literacy

Year initiatives

•1990: Robert Eagleson’s Writing

in plain English

•1993: Corporations law

simplification program

•1996: Putting it plainly report


Australian Government 1996-2012


The private sector carried on

NRMA 1976-1986

When our first Plain English policy wording was released,

Mr Justice Reynolds in an address the Australian

Insurance Institute suggested [it] might be at the expense

of legal exactitude or, put in another way, might give rise

to litigation over particular wordings which would not

have arisen had traditional wordings been used. No such

increase has occurred—on the contrary litigation has

been reduced in this regard.

—Company solicitor


The transformation of banking documents

Traditional style

Additional repayments are able to be deposited

by the Mortgagee in accordance with the terms

of this mortgage agreement provided that said

repayments do not reach a level in excess of

$10,000 in any given calendar year, such year to

begin at midnight on 1 January.

Contemporary style

You can make extra repayments of up to

$10,000 each year toward your home loan.


The marketing value of plain English


The Plain English Foundation

• An independent advocate of plain English

• Promotes plain language in media and events

• Funded through consulting work

• Active internationally

• Employs 10 staff


Our track record 2000-2012

• Worked with over 80 organisations

• Trained over 10,000 professionals

• Edited 1,000s of documents

• Developed an document evaluation

system

Do 100

interviews and

articles a year


Survey of 30 agencies

Critical success factors

1.The example of a related agency

2.Training of staff

3.Evaluation of program from the start

4.Internal champions

5.Executive support

6.Reform of templates and procedures


It is not enough!

Before

The proposed gates are required to remain in the open position

during the course of the approved operation hours for the

childcare centre and they must not adversely impact on vehicular

movements into and from the approved car space located

immediately adjacent to the proposed front fence.

Translation The gates must be open during

the childcare centre’s operating

hours. They must not prevent

vehicles from parking in the car

space next to the front fence.


So where is the government? ‘I’ll be issuing a memorandum to

the entire NSW public sector

stressing the importance of plain

English, particularly in publications

and documents intended for public

use.

I want that memorandum to set

the tone and establish the

benchmarks for agencies in

promoting the use of plain English.

I want plain English to become an

essential part of how the public

sector does business.’

Nathan Rees

NSW Premier

October

2009


The Commonwealth Ombudsman

One of the key issues my office

encounters is the gulf between how a

policy is framed and how it is delivered.

I believe that to a great extent this comes

down to poor communication, which

underlies many of the complaints we

receive. This is partly because many

agencies see the way they communicate as

a side issue to the services they provide,

whereas the two are inextricably linked or

indeed the same thing…

A project I have been interested in for

some time is a long-term, Government-

wide plain language program.

Alan Asher

Ombudsman

August 2011


Balancing central and individual action


South Africa and plain language

Plain language, the law and the right to information

‘People have a right to understand the laws that

govern them, to understand court proceedings in

matters that affect them, to understand what

government is doing in their name.’

Dullah Omar

Justice Minister, 1995


The South African model

Plain language through statute

• Access to Information Act

• Bill of Rights

• Companies Act

• Constitution of the Republic of

South Africa

• Consumer Protection Act

• Long-term Insurance Act

• National Credit Act

• Short-term Insurance Act


The National Credit Act

64. (1) The producer of a document that is required to be delivered to a

consumer in terms of this Act must provide that document-

(a) in the prescribed form, if any, for that document; or

(b) in plain language, if no form has been prescribed for that document.

(2) For the purposes of this Act, a document is in plain language if it is

reasonable to conclude that an ordinary consumer of the class of persons

for whom the document is intended, with average literacy skills and minimal

credit experience, could be expected to understand the content,

significance, and import of the document without undue effort, having

regard to-

(a) the context, comprehensiveness and consistency of the document;

(b) the organisation, form and style of the document;

(c) the vocabulary, usage and sentence structure of the text; and

(d) the use of any illustrations examples, headings, or other aids to reading

and understanding.


Implementation of the laws will be difficult

‘The legislative process appears to

have been more dogmatic than

consultative, more based in theory

than on practice, and international

legislative drafters unfamiliar with

South African common law were

imported to help local drafters.

Although these drafters were highly

conscientious, it means that our

complex linguistic background has

been ignored. In turn, this means

implementation of the laws will be

difficult.’

Candice Burt

Simplified Communications


Problems with ‘statute-only’ approach

Four problems

• Multilingual complexity

• Regulatory burden

• Lack of guidelines

• Enforceability

And a fifth

• Mixed standards from ‘plain

language’ practitioners

Candice Burt

Simplified Communications


United States Plain Writing Act

To enhance citizen access to

Government information and

services by establishing plain

language as the standard style

for Government documents

issued to the public.

… Beginning not later than 1 year after

the date of enactment of this Act, each

agency shall use plain writing in every

covered document of the agency that the

agency issues or substantially revises.


The growing plain language family

Europe

Scandinavia

Netherlands

Portugal

UK

Asia, Africa, Pacific

Japan

South Korea

Australia

South Africa

North America

United States

Canada

Mexico


Is plain language ready?

• Where will practitioners come from?

• How and where will they be trained?

• What standards will they work to?

• How will their work be regulated?


Who is best equipped?

Sweden


What will it take?

1. State support at a central level

2. Institutional support in public and private sectors

3. A sound disciplinary structure


Our plain language institutions.

International

• PLAIN

• Clarity

National

• Some public: Center for Plain Language (USA)

• Some private: Plain English Foundation (Australia)

• Some professional: ESS (Sweden)


International Plain Language Working Group

Representatives from 11 countries Belgium

Sweden

Portugal

United Kingdom

Mexico

United States

Canada

Australia

New Zealand

South Africa

Hong Kong


Options paper and 7 elks

Professionalising plain language

1.A common definition

2.International standards

3.Training

4.Research

5.Advocacy

6.Certification

7.A governing body


1. The definition of plain language

‘Outcomes’ versus ‘elements’


The current hybrid definition

‘A communication is in plain

language if its wording,

structure, and design are so

clear that the intended

audience can readily find

what they need, understand

it, and use it.’

International Plain Language

Working Group


2. Standards

Testing versus techniques

• Should a standard be based on ‘techniques’?

• How would we adapt it for different languages?

• Should testing with readers be part of the standard?

• Is a hybrid standard possible?


3. Training

Knowing what to teach

• What is plain language practice?

• What does a practitioner need to know?

• What training already exists and what is needed?

• Where should it sit within the academy?


IC Clear project

• Funded by the EU through the

Erasmus program

• Involves a consortium of

universities and organisations

in Belgium, Sweden, Austria,

Portugal and Estonia

• Developing the first curriculum

to train clear language

practitioners at a postgraduate

diploma level


4. Research

Problems with the research base

• Limited (but growing) plain language studies

• Multidisciplinary base

• Scattered and fragmented research

• Bias toward English and developed countries

• Lack of specificity and applicability


5. Advocacy

The Mexican experience

The support Mexico received from other

countries and international organisations

meant that in 2004, the initiative known as

‘Lenguaje Ciudadano’ (Citizen Language)

was implemented successfully.

Undoubtedly, the enthusiasm of Sweden,

the United States, Australia, the United

Kingdom and, in particular, the Spanish

Academy, was not only a source of

inspiration, but a shortcut to advancing a

couple of decades research into best

practice. Carlos Valdovinos

Simplificado Punto


6. Certification

Benefits

• Raise professional status of plain language

• Guarantee employee can do the job

• Public protection, assurance and accountability

Risks

• Damage if certified professional does a poor job

• Disputes between practitioners and agency

• Sun may not come up tomorrow


7. Institution

International Plain Language Federation

• ‘One step’ forward from existing working group

• Legal entity able to seek funding

• Initial members Clarity, PLAIN, Center for Plain

Language and possibly ESS

• International focus

• Probably based in Europe


Return to Norway


How are we faring?

Action at three levels

• At a centralised State level

• At an organisational level

• At a disciplinary level


At a State level

Growing influence and success

• Research: policies, case studies and conferences

• Resources: networks, publications and training

• Incentives: awards, promotion and exposure

• Direction: directives, reporting and laws


At an organisation level

The critical success factors

1. Example of related agencies

2. Training

3. Evaluation

4. Internal champions

5. Executive support

6. Reform of templates and procedures


At a disciplinary level

Our 7 elks

1. A common definition

2. International standards

3. Training

4. Research

5. Advocacy

6. Certification

7. A new federation


The journey continues…

Questions?

Contact details

E: [email protected]

T: @drplainenglish

W: www.plainenglishfoundation.com

www.plainenglishfoundation.com

follow us @drplainenglish

avoiding the elks on the rough road to plain language · 2020-01-02 · avoiding the elks on the...

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