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Plain Language | Saylor Academy | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: Plain Language
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Video Summary
Summary
Core Theme
This lesson introduces the principles and importance of plain language in communication, emphasizing clarity, reader comprehension, and accessibility, particularly in legal and governmental contexts. It argues that plain language is essential for effective communication with all audiences, not just those with lower literacy skills.
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hello and welcome to our plain language
and readability lesson my name is
Jessica Bullock Frank and I am the
program coordinator here at the Center
for access to justice and technology at
chicago-kent on our agenda today we have
an introduction to plain language the
definition of plain language the history
of the plain language movement some
statistics steps to plain language and
readability and a couple practice exercises
exercises
for an introduction to plain language we
look to the northwest literary councils
plain language handbook right for your
reader the literary council is a
canadian organization that works with
individuals and groups to promote and
support literacy and other essential
skills they develop this plain language
handbook as a guide as you write for
your readers plain language means that
you think about your readers and pay
attention to first how you organize the
information that means you tell your
readers what the document is about you
help them find the information they need
you pay attention to what you write you
include only the information your
readers really need you pay attention to
how you write you use words and grammar
your readers understand you speak
directly to your reader and finally you
think about how you present the
information you use design techniques to
help people read more easily they also
found that there were two myths about
the plain language movement first that
plain language is simple minded and
talks down to people when in fact plain
language includes and respects people
people understand what they read they
get the information they need and not a
lot of extras the second myth was that
plain language isn't necessary for
people who read well when in fact plain
language helps everyone understand what
they read people with good literary
skills still skip over information
understand less or just won't read a
document that is too complex wordy or technical
technical
professor eagleson from the University
of Sydney has directed numerous projects
for private and government organizations
to rewrite documents in plain English he
defined plain English as clear
straightforward expression using only as
many words as are necessary it is
language that avoids obscurity inflated
vocabulary and convoluted sentence
construction it is not baby talk nor is
it a simplified version of the English
language writers of plain English let
their audience concentrate on the
message instead of being distracted by
complicated language and they make sure
that their audience understands the
message easily in the 1990s the Clinton
administration was determined to make
the government more responsive
accessible and understandable in its
communications with the public because
of that they dictated that the federal
government's ratings must be in plain
language by using plain language we send
a clear message about what the
government is doing what it requires and
what services it offers the Clinton
administration defined plain language as
documents that have logical organization
are easy to read with design features
and use common everyday words except for
necessary technical terms that use you
and other pronouns the active voice and
contains short sentences in 2010
President Obama signed the plain writing
app its purpose was to improve the
effectiveness and accountability of
federal agencies to the public by
promoting clear government communication
that the public can understand and use
it required federal agents used to use
plain language in every covered document
of the agency that the agency issues or
substantially revises let's watch a
short clip from ABC News marking the
announcement nothing Republicans and
Democrats can both agree on the need for
government documents to make some sort
of sense if you've ever tried to fill
out an income tax return you know how
confusing federal documents could be so
Congress has now stepped in and out
John Berman quite literally has both
sides of the story the aquatic
vertebrate propels forwarded
manipulating its complex musculature in
other words the fish is swimming yes
there is something to be said for
simplicity even in Washington so last
week President Obama signed the plain
writing Act of 2010 the idea is that
government documents should be written
in clear understandable language it's
been a problem since the time of the
honeymooners and who willfully fails to
pay site estimated tax or attacked make
such return keep such records or
supplied such information why Ralph it
sounds like you are in trouble trouble I
don't even know what I'm talking about
what will the new law mean for you a
Medicare letter that used to say
investigators at the contractor will
review the facts in your case and decide
the most appropriate course of action so
on and so forth if the practice
continues the contractor may conduct
special audits of the providers medical
records now it reads we will find out if
it was an error or fraud 53 words 211 a
win for those against wordiness John
Berman on behalf of my employer of the
american broadcasting company which is
the division of the walt disney company
signing off from the west side of 66
tree in the borough of manhattan in
other words John Berman ABC News New
York the cry for plain language has even
arisen in court opinions a bankruptcy
judge in Texas denied the defendants
motion because quote the court cannot
determine the substance if any of the
defendants legal argument nor can the
court even ascertain the relief the
defendant is requesting the defendants
motion is accordingly denied for being
incomprehensible the judge then quoted
this game is seen from Billy Madison in
his footnote what you just said is one
of the most insanely idiotic things I
have ever heard at no point in your
rambling incoherent response were you
even close to anything that could be
considered a rational thought everyone
in this room is now dumber
for having listened to it I award you no
points and may God have mercy on your
soul in 2002 the National Center for
Education Statistics completed a 5-year
14 million dollar study this was the
most comprehensive study of literacy
ever commissioned by the US government
over 90,000 adults were interviewed and
the National Center found that nearly
fifty percent of adults are functionally
illiterate that means they cannot
balance their checkbook they cannot read
a drug label and they cannot write an
essay for a job 21 to 23 percent of
adults were not able to locate
information in text could not make
low-level inferences using printed
materials and were unable to integrate
easily identifiable pieces of
information 41 to 44 percent of those US
adults with the lowest level of literacy
we're living in poverty the study also
showed that more than twenty percent of
adults read at or below a fifth-grade
reading level that is far below the
level needed to earn a living wage 21
million Americans cannot read it all 45
million are marginally illiterate one in
five high school graduates cannot read
their diploma and they noted that there
are almost 750,000 words in the English
language but one-third of all of our
writing is made up of only 25 words so
how do we deal with this when we are
creating our ADA Jake I two interviews
first you write for your audience
consider their age education culture and
language as you script and create the
questions use familiar words and
phrasing if you have to use specialized
terms explain them that is what the pop
ups and learn more czar meant for avoid
foreign archaic and noun heavy phrasing
use the active voice and direct address
eliminate surplus words and omit
unnecessary detail boil the information
down to what your reader actually needs
to know
to complete the form and aim for a fifth
grade reading level the next five slides
are a series of practice exercises you
can see here on the left a list of eight
legalese words I'm going to pause for 10
seconds so that you can translate those
words into plain language if you need
more time feel free to pause this video
and resume when you are ready to see my suggestions
instead of conceal think about using the
word hide or cover up instead of consent
try agree allow or okay instead of
enjoying ordered or commanded instead of
expenditures try costs or expenses
instead of injunction try a ban an order
or a ruling instead of a modification it
is a change or an adjustment instead of
the parties try the people involved or
you and the person you are suing or you
and the person that is suing you and
also shall can become must will or going
to let's try another exercise by making
LAN accessible again I will pause for 10
seconds before displaying my suggestion
do you need more time please pause the video
so let's make latin accessible instead
of using EG spell it out and say for
example set of IE that is instead of the
roman numeral 14 use the number 14
instead of the phrase in propria persona
say you if you are referring to the pro
se litigant and instead of the phrase
subpoena duces tecum say a court order
to come to court with a specific
document this exercise focuses on
translating common legal phrases into
plain English I will now pause for 10
a way to translate at the present time
with just me to say now the effective
date of termination of order is the date
the order ends if you set the matter for
hearing you set a hearing date with
regards to is about a true and correct
copy is just a copy if it isn't true and
correct then it isn't a copy so you can
just say copy if you found a loophole
with which to circumvent the truth you
lied if you made a statement that you
said and to supply an explanation that
is satisfactory is simply to explain
let's do one more set of legalese
translations in 10 seconds i will show
instead of saying appear in person you
could tell someone to come to court set
of a dissolution of matrimony it's a
divorce instead of each party shall
retain records of all expenditures you
could say keep records of all your bills
if someone is not seeking relief they
don't want anything an unfavourable
decision in your legal matter means you
lost on this final exercise let's
practice using the active voice by
reworking these phrases again after 10
the enjoyment against canceling
modifying terminating assigning any
insurance policy becomes you cannot
cancel change terminate or assign any
insurance policy program eligibility
determination becomes this will decide
if you are eligible for this program the
appeal procedures information is here is
how to appeal an attendance requirement
means that you have to show up in a
firearms possession prohibition becomes
you cannot have a gun
when working on readability it is
important to remember that shorter isn't
always better the definition of a legal
guardian on the top is at a college
level it states that a legal guardian
has the authority and duty to care for
the personal and property interest of
another person however by reworking this
definition we can hit a seventh grade
reading level that's much closer than
the 13.5 to our fifth-grade reading
level goal and it isn't shorter but it
is clear a legal guardian acts as a
parent for another person the guardian
must care for and make decisions for
that person give them examples for
example the guardian must make sure the
person is properly fed clothed house and
goes to school the guardian has the
power to make property medical care and
schooling decisions for a person this
section on order doesn't matter and
organize to serve your reader is
especially important to remember when
you are creating your a2j guy to
interview the form doesn't have to
dictate how you gather your information
from your end user on the screen on the
left you can see an example of what I
mean this is a table of contents from a
regulation that tells you how to appeal
an administrative action put yourself in
the role of the pro se appellant think
about what questions they might have
what information does this rule will
acquire does this apply to me our
decisions final do I have to file a bond
to appeal well I get noticed that you're
reviewing my appeal who decides the
appeal can I get an extension of time
think of your end user and all of the
things that they might be thinking about
as they complete the form some other tips
tips
make sure to set aside time to revise
and proofread avoid throat-clearing
clauses you don't need to say that is
important to note that or that it goes
without saying that just say it watch
out for nominalization nominalization
czar zombie nouns they suck the life out
of adjectives and they cannibalize
active verbs for example the company was
in violation of the statute just say the
company violated the statute watch your
sentence length Brian Gardner says the
maximum should be 20 words and use names
use variable macros to add in the names
the end user has already given you in
the a to j guide interview so you can
ask what is your name what is the
defendant's name and in the future when
you're talking about the appellant or
the defendant or the pro se litigant use
the names that they have already given
you for those people
finally make plain language a part of
proofreading microsoft word lets you do
a spell check and a grammar check but it
also gives you your readability
statistics if this doesn't automatically
display when you do a spell check you
can enable it in the file options
proofing section and it will tell you at
what reading level your paper is at and
it will also tell you a percentage of
sentences that are passive if you still
need help you can go to plain language
gov or the Center for plain language org
or write clearly that work it has a
great online plain language gadget and
it also has a cali lesson written by one
of our legal aid attorneys that uses a
dejay guide interviews on plain language
specifically thank you for coming today
if you have any questions feel free to
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