5th International PLAIN Conference, Washington, D.C.Busting Bureaucratic Language
Since the beginnings of the plain-language movement in the 1970s, the language of bureaucracy has been a favored target. On November 3-5, 300 plain-language experts and advocates from around the world descended on the foggy bottom of bureaucratic language: Washington, D.C. The gathering represented a vast wealth of knowledge and skills. They talked about reducing bureaucratic language in law, government, health care, education, industry, and business. The conference was sponsored by the Plain Language Association International and co-hosted by the Center for Plain Language and the Plain Language Action and Information Network. The following describes just a small sample of the presenters. Language-Relief Efforts
Bryan Garner is an authority on legal language and the editor of Black's Legal Dictionary. Following a long tradition, he uses humor and ridicule in fighting bureaucratic language. Attorneys, he says, use it to maintain social status. He shows them, instead, how plain language actually increases their credibility. Ex-attorney Christopher Balmford, above right, leads the effort to bring plain language to legal documents in Australia. Other speakers on plain law included Christine Mowatt, author of A Plain Language Handbook for Legal Writers. Daphne Meirmaridis spoke about creating legal publications in Ohio for people with disabilities. National Heroes
Joe Kimble, above left, is a law professor and a leader of the plain-language movement in the U.S. He shared his experiences as the primary drafting consultant for the U.S. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Annetta Cheek, above, works for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Ever since President Carter's executive orders of the 1970s requiring plain language in federal agencies, the FAA has taken the lead. The FAA's new Administrator, Marion Blakey, has recharged the agency's commitment to plain language. Her first step was to sign the FAA Writing Standards Order 1000.36 on March 31, 2003. It said: "...It is critical that we communicate clearly, effectively and in plain language that is readily understood by all. Over the years, much of our writing has become dense and needlessly complex." Cheek, an anthropologist, is now a key member of Blakey's office. She had previously served as the plain language expert for the National Partnership for Reinventing Government. In 1995, Cheek founded the Plain Language Action and Information Network for federal employees in all agencies. In 2003, she helped set up the non-profit Center for Plain Language in Washington, D.C. She is one of the conference organizers. The Health Literacy Gap
There were several presentations on health literacy. Harvey Fineburg, above, is the former Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health and now President of the Institute of Medicine. He spoke on the urgent need for clearly communicating health information. Burkey Belser, considered the "Father of Legal Advertising," spoke of his struggles getting the new U.S. food label approved. Other presenters on health literacy included Rima Rudd of the Harvard School of Public Health. Husband-and-wife team Cecilia and Leonard Doak, authors of the landmark book Teaching Patients with Low Literacy Skills, also spoke. Doublespeak Busters
Two of the more popular presenters were William Lutz and Bill Sabin. Lutz is professor of English Department at Rutgers University and author of Doublespeak: The Language of Business. He led discussions on bringing plain language into financial disclosures. Bill Sabin for 40 years has edited The Gregg Reference Manual and is a leading authority on American usage. Always entertaining, he explained how he navigates a middle path between tradition and change. Cynthia Glassman, a Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), also addressed need to improve the readability of financial disclosures. She noted that writers of disclosures, concerned with limiting liability, fail to communicate with investors. See
her talk online: Plain Language in Large Organizations
Ronald Wohl, above, is a management-and-communications consultant. He and several others, including Audrey Riffenburgh and Neil James, discussed how plain language improves the bottom line and internal performance of organizations. Maurizio Gotti of Bergamo, Italy, Donald Revell of Ontario, Canada, and John Strylowski of the U.S. Department of Interior showed how plain language solves problems and creates efficiency in multi-lingual environments. Karen Heij, above, came from the Netherlands with her colleagues Inge Leenders, Wessel Visser, and Ashra Sugito. They spoke of developments in their country and the European Union. One was the Common European Framework for the References of Language, a tool for establishing literacy standards for different languages. The tool uses six levels of language proficiency. The same group in the Netherlands has developed a tool for testing the readability of texts in different European languages, Texamen. Cristina Gelpi, above center, teaches translation and lexicography at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. She spoke of her experience in translating French documents into Castillian and Catalan. Her current project is applying plain language to online legal bilingual dictionaries. Salome Sierra Flores, above right, is a leader in bringing plain language, el lenguaje ciudadano, to federal agencies in Mexico. The Web site for the federal effort supporting plain-language is: http://www.lenguajeciudadano.gob.mx/ The speakers on plain-language translation emphasized the need for close cooperation between the original authors, the translators, and members of the target audiences. There is no reason, they claimed, that a text cannot get more focused and clear as it goes through successive translations. Moving Mountains
If you think turning around an ocean liner is difficult, try changing the way the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) does business. Susan Kleimann, above center, and Ann Gelineau talked about improving the way the IRS communicates with taxpayers, one notice at a time. Gelineau works for the IRS's Office of Notice Improvement. Kleimann is the Executive Director of the Center for Plain Language and a co-chair of the conference. She is President of Kleimann Communications Group in Washington, D.C. and has worked over 30 years with government agencies in developing and testing consumer information. Writer-activist Gary B. Larson, above left, maintains the Web site and the news group of Plain Language Association International, the organization sponsoring the conference. He also maintains Garbl's Writing Center online. Susan Milne, above right, is chair of Plain Language Association International and a co-chair of the conference. She has 20 years experience bringing plain language to financial-services in Canada. To these and many others we owe a debt of gratitude for this extraordinary meeting. It was a pivotal event in the plain-language movement. The success of the conference, like the plain-language movement itself, is the result of a handful of people with great determination and know-how. Bureaucratic language wastes billions of dollars a year and costs countless lives. Plain-language workers, like those at the conference, have produced enormous results, benefitting millions across the world. The following are a couple online reports about the conference: The
Baltimore Sun: Baton
Rouge Advocate: Adult Literacy and Life Skills SurveyHow Reading Skills are Learned and Lost
The first report from the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALL) is entitled Learning a Living: First Results of the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey Learning a Living and Earning Skills. The ALL study follows up the International Adult Literacy Survey (1994-1998) reported in our last issue. It looks at the literacy gaps faced by countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The study also looks at the factors that affect the formation and loss of adult skills in various settings—at home and at work. It documents the effects of formal adult education and informal learning on reading skill. It also looks at how technology has increased inequality in both productivity and wages. Good readers bring large domains of knowledge to their families, their jobs, and their communities. Improving one's reading skill is one of life's best investments.The study supports the following conclusions:
For a brief report of the ALL study, download: Highlights
from the 2003 International Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey: For the longer report, download: Learning
a Living: First Results of the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey:
Plain Language in the NewsJuries
prefer new California instructions: Easy
voter guide for Californians: City
building permits too complicated: Plain
English Campaign finds English howlers: Multiple-language
workplaces becoming common: County
prepares for flu pandemic: The
new Medicare drug plan confusing: Use
of plain language and IQ: Euphemism
vs. plain speech: Ballot
measures voter-resistant: McDonald's
move to plain-language calorie disclosure: Plain-English
guide for shareholder activists: Buyers
don't want gobbledygook: New
dictionary of gobbledygook: Accountants
consider new international clarity standards: Fighting
illiteracy in Niagra Falls:
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