Repositioning clear communication in the minds of decision-makers
Plain language has evolved to become a product, or a business, or an industry. This development promises benefits for all: greater access to justice, improved efficiency and effectiveness, and increased respect for the rule of law.
Now that plain language has come of age, we need to see it afresh. How?
If you attend breakfast meetings, luncheons, trade shows, or social gatherings, you need to have a ready-made answer to the question “What do you do?” For plain language professionals, it's not always easy to come up with a snappy answer. At the end of this interactive workshop, participants could develop a 30-second commercial that clearly described what their company does and how their products or services can benefit customers.
With the growing popularity of readability formulas, it is important to appreciate what they are good for and not good for. Handled properly, they can produce marvellous results. Not handled properly, they can actually reduce comprehension. Like other forms of testing, the formulas find problems. Finding solutions requires a writer's skill.
Poppy gave a brief history of how and why Simplified English (SE) was developed, and an overview of the SE rules for vocabulary and grammatical style. A before-and-after analysis of cautions and warnings showed the benefits of SE to an industry in which quick and clear understanding of maintenance procedures is a vital safety consideration.
Tim has applied his creative writing experience to his position as a precedents manager. He describes how his use of humour and fictional characters in his regular newsletters have made the firm's writing culture less pompous and more conscious of good writing.
Sana examined the impact of slang on international business communication, offering examples of current business slang and possible misinterpretations. Her presentation included a historical perspective and a discussion of how slang terms arise, and provided techniques to decipher many current slang expressions.
A panel of colleagues, from the Plain Language Association International (PLAIN) Fourth Biennial Conference, report the challenges and prospects for change they see in the nine nations where they do their plain language work.
South Africa has 27 spoken and 11 official languages, and no uniform level of proficiency in English. Yet education, access to information and transparency are basic human rights, according to the new constitution. Plain language therefore plays a vital role in attaining these goals.
The goal of Public Health is to promote and protect health and prevent disease. Jamie explained how, at Halton, clear language is one component of a larger “Equal Access Strategy” that aims to remove barriers to public health services.
Professor Lantzy presented a workshop in the Triage Technique for perfecting legal documents. This technique breaks down the process of document development into separate, ordered stages. She used legal materials to illustrate common problems and explain how this approach helps the writer to solve them.
