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Clarity Number 67 May 2012

Journal of the international association promoting plain legal language

In this issue

Neil James Advocating plain language in the media 5 Miriam Vincent and Kathryn Catania Plain language: no budget—no problem! 10 Catharina Nyström Höög How do public authorities address the citizens? An attempt on a new understanding of textual categories 13 Anne Kjærgaard A campaign for plain language in the municipality of Copenhagen—from textual effects to organisational context 17 Jennie Spetz and Eva Olovsson The Swedish Language Act—impact, experiences and challenges 22 Víctor González-Ruiz A plain perspective on legal translation 27 Hakkie Jang The Korean initiative for easy-to-understand laws 32 Asbjørg Westum Language Consultancy Training in need of interaction between universities and practitioners 37 Editor in chief: Clarity and general news Julie Clement This issue 3 Guest editor for this issue: Contributing to the journal 21 Anki Mattson How to join Clarity 26 Member and other news 39 Guest editors for Clarity 68: Conference news 41 Christopher Balmford and Meet the Clarity committee members 43 Annetta Cheek Message from the President 47 Patrons The Rt Hon Sir Christopher Staughton; The Honorable Michael Kirby AC CMG; and Sir Kenneth Keith, ONZ, KBE, and QC Founder John Walton Committee President: Candice Burt ([email protected]) Members: Country Representatives plus Simon Adamyk, Michèle Asprey, Peter Butt, Sir Edward Caldwell, Richard Castle, Annetta Cheek, Julie Clement, Gerald Delabre, Robert Lowe, John Pare, John Walton.

Country representatives Argentina Israel Portugal Maximiliano Marzetti Myla Kaplan Sandra Fisher-Martins maximiliano.marzetti@ [email protected] [email protected] erasmusmundus-alumni.eu Italy Slovak Republic Australia Christopher Williams Ing. Ján Rendek Christopher Balmford [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Japan South Africa Bangladesh Kyal Hill Candice Burt A.K. Mohammad Hossain [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Lesotho Spain Belgium Retsepile Gladwin Ntsihlele Cristina Gelpi Oliver Beaujean [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Malaysia Sweden Canada Juprin Wong-Adamal Helena Englund Hjalmarsson Nicole Fernbach [email protected] helena.englund@ [email protected] Mexico sprakkonsulterna.se Chile Salomé Flores Sierra Franzoni UK Claudia Poblete Olmedo [email protected] Daphne Perry [email protected] The Netherlands [email protected] Finland Hélène Butijn USA Heikki Mattila [email protected] Prof Joseph Kimble [email protected] New Zealand [email protected] France Lynda Harris Zimbabwe Jenny Gracie [email protected] Walter Zure [email protected] Nigeria [email protected] Germany Dr. Tunde Opeibi Other European countries: Siegfried Breiter [email protected] Catherine Rawson [email protected] Peru [email protected] Hong Kong Ricardo León-Pastor All other countries: Eamonn Moran [email protected] Please contact the USA [email protected] Philippines representative India Victor Eleazar Dr. K.R. Chandratre [email protected] [email protected]

Honor roll of donors to Clarity Clarity is managed entirely by volunteers and is funded through membership fees and donations. We gratefully acknowledge those financial supporters who have contributed to Clarity’s success: $2,500+ Plain English Foundation, one anonymous donor, Christopher Balmford $1,000+ Joseph Kimble, Julie Clement $500+ Nicole Fernbach $100+ None

2 Clarity 67 May 2012 An international association promoting plain legal language www.clarity-international.net

Clarity … the journal This issue Published in May and November In June 2011, the PLAIN conference came to Stockholm, Sweden. It was the first time we hosted an international plain-language conference of this magnitude, and we were thrilled to welcome so many prominent plain-language practitioners and advocates. In spite of Sweden’s international reputation as a pioneer country when it comes to plain official language, many Swedes were surprised by the keen interest in our methods and results. The fact is that most Swedes have no idea that we are successful in this area, but rather find the everyday plain language work both hard and tiresome. So our President native participants learned not only a lot about Candice Burt plain language from an international perspec- [email protected] tive, but about their own success as well. A Editor in chief pleasant but unexpected twist for many. But the conference was not about Sweden; it was a Julie Clement truly international event. PO Box 13038 Lansing, Michigan 48901 The theme of PLAIN 2011 aimed to highlight Fax: 1 517 334 5781 the framework—or the five cornerstones—of [email protected] plain language, i.e. elements in society or in an organization that are necessary to make plain language happen. The framework was defined as subject matters for the seminars: practicing Advertising rates plain language, research on plain language, educa- Full page: £150 tion and training in plain language, laws and Smaller area: pro rata regulations about plain language, and plain lan- Minimum charge: £20 guage organizations. In this issue, some of the Contact Joe Kimble, [email protected] speakers of PLAIN 2011 elaborate on the seminars they gave at the conference. They Copyright policy represent the different subjects to give an Authors retain copyright in their articles. overview of the framework. Anyone wanting to reproduce an article in whole or in part should first obtain the Neil James of Australia writes about the impor- author’s permission and should acknowledge tance of advocating plain language in all Clarity as the source. available media. He gives useful advice on how to really get across in a broad sense, in order Submissions to get the attention we need to find patrons We encourage you to submit articles to be and resources. We can’t do it all by ourselves; considered for publication in Clarity. Send we need external powers as well. How to get submissions directly to editor in chief Julie along almost without resources is the subject Clement. Please limit submissions to approxi- matter of Miriam Vincent and Kathryn Catania mately 1,500 or 3,000 words. Clarity 67 May 2012 3 of the U.S. Plain Language Action and Infor- Finally, this issue addresses the question of mation Network (U.S. PLAIN). They give us how to ensure the availability of plain lan- the inside of how to make the whole of the U.S. guage knowledge and competence to the governmental plain language work without “cause”. Sweden was the first country that we almost any resources, but with their wit and know of that started a university programme ingenuity. for plain-language consultancy to supply the market with a competence it was just barely But how do we define plain language, and aware it needed. But things have changed since what are the results of our efforts to achieve it? the 1980s, when about 20 plain-language con- There are two articles on this subject. Professor sultants graduated every second year. Until a Catharina Nyström Höög of Dalarna University few years ago, Stockholm University was the lets us in on her attempt to map the voices only university to offer the programme. Now within the discourse of public authority in the first two classes of Umeå University have Sweden, and Anne Kjeargaard, PhD of the Dan- graduated, and this fall Gothenburg University ish Language Council, writes about the results will start its first class. And it doesn’t stop there; of a plain language project at a municipality in Lund University will start its programme in Copenhagen. The results and discussions 2013. So in the light of a growing market, it is found in a scientific approach to plain language interesting to read the article by Asbjørg Westum, and communication can be of great use when PhD and programme coordinator for the practicing, teaching, learning and arguing for Swedish Language Consultancy Programme plain language. at the Department of Language Studies, Umeå But we also need our society to support us and University. supply us with enough muscles to be able to This is what this issue of Clarity offers from stand firmly on the ground of research, experi- PLAIN 2011. If you are interested in the other ence and our own conviction. The most explicit speakers (there where almost 70 of them), you way to provide this support is for society to can find their Powerpoints and handouts at issue plain-language laws. And laws are be- plain2011.com. ginning to be passed. But what happens then, once you have your Plain Language Act in Stockholm, March 2012 place? Sweden got its Plain Language Act in the summer of 2009, and Eva Olovsson and © Anki Mattson Jennie Spetz of the Language Council of Sweden [email protected] write about supervising the law, and its effects Plain Language Consultant, Sweden so far. Managing Director at Språkkonsulterna And speaking of laws. There are two very different articles in this issue about making laws more comprehensive for the public. I find it interesting how plain language in spite of great variation in circumstances is both applicable and desired universally. One of these articles is by Victor Gonzales-Ruiz of University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain). He talks about how to teach students who are training to be legal translators to take a plain perspective. The other article, by Hakkie Jang of the Korean Ministry of Government Legislation, presents a different kind of problem, but still the same old story. He writes about solving the problem that Korean legislation is so strongly influenced by Chinese and Japanese characters that it is hard for the public to understand.

4 Clarity 67 May 2012 Advocating plain language in the media

Neil James present plain language in the media? Which media channels are most receptive and which Executive Director Plain English Foundation have the greatest impact? What are the costs Australia and benefits of media advocacy and should plain language practitioners develop a media Next time you are travelling in a taxi, try a little presence? test. Start a conversation with the driver and see if I will use as a sample base the 100 media pieces it elicits the question: ‘So what do you do?’ Say the Foundation placed in 2010. Even a break- that you work in plain language. The conversation down of how we fared in different media will probably proceed like this: channels provides some immediate answers: ‘Plain language? What’s that?’ • Traditional print media 10% ‘Do you ever get a letter from a bank or a • Radio 58% lawyer or the government that you don’t fully understand?’ • Television 2% ‘Yeah, sure.’ • Internet publications 25% 1 ‘Well, we’re the people trying to fix that.’ • Blogs 5% ‘Really? You can do that?’ Traditional print media In recent decades, plain language advocates The Foundation initially targeted print media have been lobbying bureaucrats, lawyers, by writing opinion pieces for newspapers, bankers and doctors to reform their communi- briefing journalists and contributing longer cations. We have established plain language essays and articles to periodicals. policies, programs and laws. Yet as the taxi test can show, the public is far less aware of We expected our main outlet would be the our work. broadsheets: quality newspapers such as the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian and the While our focus on the writers and policy- Age. And we certainly did succeed in these makers is justifiable, perhaps it is time we publications. But our first surprise was how simultaneously strengthen the public demand receptive the tabloid press was to plain lan- for plain language. At the very least, greater guage. In fact, newspapers such as the Herald public awareness would lower the tolerance Sun, the Daily Telegraph and the Courier Mail for poor prose and accelerate reform. And with proved even more enthusiastic than the broad- growing success at the policy level, we can in- sheets. creasingly prioritise marketing it to the public that stand to benefit from it. But the tabloids had a narrower topic range, centred around political and financial lan- In Australia, the Plain English Foundation has guage, particularly during elections and after been experimenting with general media advo- the global financial crisis. The broadsheets cacy since 2004. It now places around 100 stories, picked up on those topics as well, but were interviews and articles in the media every year, also interested in education and the impact of reaching a combined audience of 4 to 5 million technology on language. Table 1 summarises people in a country of 22 million. some of the advantages and disadvantages of This paper draws on that experience to exam- placing plain language in the print media. ine several questions. What is the best way to

Clarity 67 May 2012 5 Table 1: Traditional print media • Legalese Pros Cons • Lost in translation Attracts prestige Short lived • Mixed metaphors Generates ongoing Time consuming to • Police speak coverage write • Silly signs Reaches an influential Harder to break into • Tautologies audience • The most annoying phrases Has a wide readership Often has tight deadline • The word of the year2 Overall, we found that traditional print media brings prestige and can reach a wide audience, Table 2: Radio but it takes a lot of work to do well unless you Pros Cons already have a media background. Initially, the payoff was limited to the day of publication, Easier to break into Short lived unless recorded or podcast which was at times a low return for the effort. Increasingly, however, newspapers are moving Can reach a large audience Generally short online, which means stories have continuing (5-7 minutes) life on the web. So print media remains part of Takes less time and effort Often done on short our media strategy, but increasingly as a gate- notice way to online publication. Leads to regular segments Relentlessly needs to Radio feed the beast!

Our second major finding is that radio is by Television far the easiest and most effective media to spread the plain language message. It accounts Not surprisingly, television was a much harder for around 60% of the Foundation’s coverage media channel to crack, but not impossible. each year. Not surprisingly, the print-world And it certainly brings greatest recognition in dynamic is echoed in the airwaves. Both qual- the mainstream. Ironically, being on television ity radio and the tabloid ‘shock jocks’ are somehow conveys more authority despite pro- interested in plain language. The main differ- viding the shallowest coverage. The main ence is timing: a quality station might allow 7 drawback of the medium is that, without so- to 12 minutes and as much as 20–30 to cover a phisticated images, it’s very hard to convey any topic. The commercial stations have nowhere depth on the TV. Even when you do so, it’s often near that attention span, so you have to en- a mixed blessing. gage quickly, condense your message and get In 2010, the Foundation put together a list of the off in 3–5 minutes. Seven minutes is a luxury! ‘worst words and phrases’ of the year, an end of Very quickly the challenge with radio becomes year story modelled on the ‘Word of the year’ feeding the beast. The Foundation was soon initiatives around the world. The story was so approached to comment on news stories and successful that it was picked up by a big quiz invited to present regular segments. This meant show, ‘The Million Dollar Drop’. The show coming up with fresh angles almost weekly to asked: ‘What did the Plain English Foundation make plain language humorous, engaging and judge as the worst word or phrase of 2010?’ The purposeful. Our topics were as varied as: contestants had to put a stack of money on four options, and the wrong answers ‘dropped’ the • Business jargon cash and reduced their prize.3 • e-language Coverage yes. Audience yes. Depth no. We • Election language console ourselves that each time hundreds of • Fancy pants job titles thousands of people hear the words ‘plain English’ or ‘plain language’, it raises aware- • Food speak ness of our work. • Language and the global financial crisis

6 Clarity 67 May 2012 Table 3: Television Blogs Pros Cons The blog figures in our survey represent the Potentially enormous Short lived unless recorded Foundation’s media pieces mentioned on vari- audience ous blog sites. We have not written a blog ourselves, largely because we prioritised writing High impact Generally short for mainstream media, which we then posted (5-7 minutes) on our own site. Carries mainstream Fairly shallow content To assess the value of blogging, we asked three credentials practitioners with more extensive experience in the genre: Cheryl Stephens, Michelle Black The Internet and Frances Gordon4. Their combined com- A quarter of the Foundation’s coverage comes ments suggest that successful blogging: via online publications and five percent from • requires a serious time commitment, with as blogs on related language sites. But our expe- much as one piece a week rience is that the distinctions between online and traditional print publications are rapidly • needs to maintain high quality disappearing. • links often with other practitioners more While there are a number of dedicated Internet than the general public publications in Australia, such as the Punch or • can position you as a leader in the field Crikey, most are either the online sites of print publications or feeding off those publications. • is being overtaken by social media With the rise of smart phones and tablets, news- • can be hard to control your intellectual papers and periodicals will increasingly supply property their readers online. • builds a body of work that you can use This means that placing stories in traditional elsewhere print will continue to be important, but in- 5 creasingly because they will end up on the web. • requires investment in an adequate platform. And that’s when they can go viral, turning up Table 5: Blogging in the most unexpected places. Pros Cons For example, when the Foundation put out a Christmas media release featuring traditional Can lead to wider Is time intensive Carols in gobbledygook, requests for republi- opportunities cation ranged from church groups in the United Easy to circulate through Is difficult to control Kingdom to mining companies in the north of many channels intellectual property Canada. All from a piece in the tabloid Daily Telegraph. Internet pieces are often republished Is useful general Is being overtaken from a story written elsewhere, making them promotion by social media the easiest coverage to obtain. Permission and quality are harder to control, and the copy A key theme seemed to be that, despite the needs to reflect search terms users might enter potential impact of blogs, social media is to find the piece. becoming even more influential. To put some numbers around that, one study estimated Table 4: Internet publications that by 2014, there will be 150 million blog readers in the United States alone. That’s im- Pros Cons pressive, but it is already being dwarfed by Very long lived Quality control social media. varies Social media Potentially broad Control over intellectual audience property difficult The growth of social media has been so rapid that any observation is likely to be out of date Easy to circulate through Can be republished before publication. There is no doubt that sites further channels without permission such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn Potential to go viral Need to write with and Wikipedia are revolutionising the way we searchable keywords Clarity 67 May 2012 7 communicate, as the sheer weight of numbers Let’s look at Twitter. It’s still a new format, but shows: already studies are mapping the content patterns in those 140 characters. There is certainly Table 6: Approximate growth of social media6 plenty of banality along the line of ‘I’m having Usage my coffee’ or ‘I’m grumpy today’. But a close measure 2010 2011 Early 2012 second are the Tweets that share a link to information of interest to the user’s network. Twitter Usually a professional network. users 75 million 100 million 140 million The Foundation experimented by setting up Tweets the Twitter account @drplainenglish in 2010. per day 27 million 95 million 340 million Given the 140 character limit, we haven’t LinkedIn included our Tweets as ‘media pieces’ in the users 50 million 100 million 150 million above breakdown, but we analysed our first year’s worth of Tweets to see what we had Facebook been posting. The breakdown was: users 350 million 640 million 800 million • Sharing information 40% Mobile Facebook • Post about an event 21% users 65 million 200 million 425 million • Correspondence to other users 13% Wikipedia • Work status update 12% articles 3.5 million 3.8 million 3.9 million • Comment on current event 12% The problem with these figures is that social • Personal topic 2%8 media companies are reluctant to give sophis- ticated breakdowns and tend to oversell their These figures would likely match that of most numbers. Rarely do they tell us, for example, professionals on social media. It has become a how many users are active, or for how often, tool for sharing information with your profes- or how many are just playing the games. But sional network. We see it as a traffic cop in the while the breakdown of the numbers can be media mix, directing people to content stored questioned, the growth is undeniable. So what elsewhere. does this mean for plain language advocacy? LinkedIn is another rapidly growing form of Firstly, we need to recognise that while social social media that is proving adept at informa- media is new, it is as much a professional as a tion sharing, but with additional benefits of teenage phenomenon. When you look at the more space to post and respond to comments, demographics of social media, the dominant particularly within its groups. The Plain Lan- users are 35 to 50, employed and highly edu- guage Advocates group started by Cheryl cated. Stephens is a perfect illustration, growing to a membership of 1,385 people in a couple of Table 7: Some social media demographics7 years.9 Feature Facebook Twitter Of course, there is nothing new in a Listserv discussion, given the PLAIN forum on Yahoo Age 59% 35+ 58% 35+ has been operating since 200110. But already Gender 46% Male 48% Male the number of posts are comparable on the 54% Female 52% Female two sites, while LinkedIn has netted a larger audience. Education 80% post 86% post secondary secondary Table 8: Social media Income 55% $US 50k+ 52% $US 50k+ Pros Cons

So why would middle-aged professionals be Growing influence Short format the ones to embrace a format that limits what Enormous reach Tiny time window you can say to as few as 140 characters? The answer is that it’s about sharing information. Information sharing Often banal content Educated audience Huge competition

8 Clarity 67 May 2012 Costs, benefits and tips ‘That’s right, you’re that bloke from the radio. Now that’s one do-good organisation I’d join.’ This brief and inadequate survey does not pre- And he didn’t even ask me what plain language tend to be authoritative or fully representative. meant. We offer it rather as some opening thoughts for practitioners about the evolving media envi- © N James 2012 ronment and the role we can play in promoting [email protected] plain language to the widest possible audience. Our conclusions would be: Endnotes 1 • Radio is still the easiest and most cost For a selection of the Foundation’s recent media, see http://www.plainenglishfoundation.com/ effective way to get started. index.php/publicprogram/articles-and-speeches • Print media will remain relevant, but move 2 To hear a selection of the radio pieces, go to http:// gradually online where it can reach a wider www.plainenglishfoundation.com/index.php/ audience. publicprogram/podcasts 3 The clip is available at http://www.youtube.com/ • Social media will have a growing influence, watch?v=YoIwtu5jNk4. Some other television particularly in sharing information that is segments are at http://www.facebook.com/ posted elsewhere. plainenglishfoundation/videos. 4 See http://plainlanguage.com/buildingrapport/, But what are the costs of advocating in the http://simplyread.wordpress.com/ and http:// media? Mostly the time it takes. When many www.simplified.co.za/ of us are already busy making a living, finding default.aspx?link=blogs_example the time to devise a media strategy and write 5 Summarised from correspondence with Cheryl some content can be daunting. Stephens, Michelle Black and Frances Gordon in June 2011. With many thanks for their generous Fortunately, against this there are benefits, but input. mostly for plain language as a whole. Every 6 Figures drawn mostly from the home pages of time we place a media article or do an interview, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Wikipedia in 2011 we raise awareness of poor communication and 2012, and provided as a rough guide only. and of the need to change. When policy mak- 7 http://blog.kissmetrics.com/social-media-by- demographic, viewed in June 2011. ers see their customers and clients reflecting this, they are then more likely to act. 8 The entire history of Tweets is at https:// twitter.com/#!/drplainenglish But for practitioners seeing the media as a 9 Statistics on the group are from http:// marketing opportunity, be aware that it is any- www.linkedin.com/ thing but a cash cow. It pays poorly if at all groups?groupDashboard=&gid=158634&trk=anet_people- and rarely generates work in response. It can an-lr-0, viewed on 22 March 2012. benefit an organisation by strengthening repu- 10 See http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ plainlanguage/ for statistics on PLAIN’s Listserv. tation, but you need to approach it for its public rather than private benefit. Dr Neil James is Executive Director of the Plain English Finally, what’s our major tip for placing plain Foundation in Australia, which language in the media? We found the stories combines plain English that succeed have at least two of three elements: auditing, editing and training • currency with a campaign for more ethical and effective public • everyday experience language. • humour. Neil has a doctorate in English and has published four books The problem with plain language is that it’s and over 70 articles and essays very important but rather abstract and earnest. on language and literature. His latest book Modern The trick is to link what we do to current events Manglish was published in December 2011, and and real scenarios in people’s lives. And the includes much of the material written for his regular more humour you can leaven it with, the better. segments on ABC radio. I can report that after several years of media Neil co-convened the PLAIN 2009 conference with Dr effort, I took a taxi last year and had the inevi- Peta Spear and is currently chair of the International table conversation about what I do. When I Plain Language Working Group. mentioned plain language, the driver said:

Clarity 67 May 2012 9 Plain language: no budget—no problem!

Miriam Vincent and Kathryn Catania • Oversees the website, www.plainlanguage.gov Miriam Vincent, web manager, www.plainlanguage.gov Each month, agencies volunteer meeting space Kathryn Catania, co-chair of U.S. PLAIN so we can discuss best practices for plain language within the federal government. An Most people associate volunteering with weekend work helping community organizations, charities, or places of agency representative will often volunteer to worship. How about volunteering to help the entire U.S. speak about a topic at the meeting that can government use plain language in print and web docu- cover anything, including ways to promote ments? Sounds unbelievable, right? Well, it’s actually plain language, how to improve the clarity of what both of us do in addition to our normal nine-to-five federal websites, and how to use new tech- jobs. We are the co-chair (Kathryn) and web manager nologies to teach plain language. Our members (Miriam) of the U.S. Plain Language Action and Infor- mation Network (U.S. PLAIN), the U.S. government’s can also join our listserv. The listserv acts as a interagency working group for plain language. PLAIN forum for plain language discussions within consists of volunteer federal employees from many the U.S. federal government. We also use it to different agencies and specialties who support the use of send out updates about seminars, agency com- clear communication in government writing. We pliance highlights, and clear communication operate without a budget or a dedicated staff. news.

Plain language responsibilities but no We train the trainers to be a plain funding language resource Originally called the Plain English Network, In October 2011, the Plain Writing Act of 2010 PLAIN has been meeting monthly since the went into effect, requiring federal agencies to mid-1990s. Our goal is to promote the use of train their employees to use plain language in plain language in all government communica- all print and web documents written for the tions. We believe that using plain language will public. Before the passage of the Act, we had save federal agencies time and money, and will monthly requests for training from agencies. provide better service to the American public. Now, we are completely inundated with train- Recently the U.S. Office of Management and ing requests and are actually scheduling Budget named PLAIN the official working trainings three months in advance. All of our group to help agencies comply with the Plain trainers work for different federal agencies and Writing Act of 2010, a law which requires fed- get permission from their supervisors to train eral agencies to use plain language when outside of their agency. We offer two free half- communicating with the public. This new day classes: (1) an introduction to plain responsibility did not include any federal language techniques, and (2) how to apply funding. Despite a lack of funding, we provide plain language techniques to an agency many services solely through the help of en- website. The introductory class covers how to thusiastic volunteers. PLAIN: use key techniques such as logical organization, • Holds monthly meetings common words, short sentences, pronouns, active voice, and headings to improve the clar- • Offers federal agencies free, half-day classes ity of any document. The web-focused class on plain-language techniques combines best web practices with key plain- • Provides agency trainers with free classes on language techniques. We try to teach classes of how to teach plain language 25 to 30 students at a time to maximize class participation and agency resources. • Maintains the Federal Plain Language Guidelines

10 Clarity 67 May 2012 Of course, PLAIN does not have the resources Word or PDF format. We encourage agencies to teach the entire federal government. Plus, to download the Word version and replace our the Act did not provide funding to agencies. To examples with agency-specific examples. This comply with the Act, many agencies are looking allows agencies to have a pre-made plain lan- at their internal trainers to teach employees. guage handbook that relates directly to the types The problem lies in how do these trainers— of documents they write. We are the keepers unfamiliar with what plain language is—know and editors of the Federal Plain Language what or how to teach? To educate agency Guidelines. Since that document is living, and trainers, we developed a “Train-the-Trainer” because plain language itself is growing and workshop for trainers and volunteers from evolving, we make sure it reflects what we agencies wanting to learn how to teach others know about plain language and how to use it. to use plain language. With minimal time away We solicited comments on specific sections from work, agency trainers attend a workshop from experts and then incorporated the result- on training best practices, watch a veteran ing comments into the Guidelines. In past years, trainer teach a class, shadow that trainer, and we’ve taken the paper document and passed it co-teach a class. Once new trainers are com- around for comments, making changes as we fortable with their skills and have received went. Using email and computer software that positive class feedback, they are ready to teach tracks changes certainly simplified the process their own classes. over passing a paper document back and forth, but it’s still not as efficient as we would like. We Even before the law passed, we experienced are hoping that we can use a wiki (which we an increase in requests for training. We wanted need to set up) to get comments and suggested a way to automate the sign-up process as much changes throughout the year rather than relying as possible, since cloning ourselves is not yet an on email responses within a short time-frame. option. Luckily, we had access to a powerful Obviously, we’ll still need real people to go database through the website already. We through the comments, but those editors would combined the database with special program- all be using the same online source and not ming to create a form that agency officials can trying to aggregate email comments. complete online. After completing the form, the user gets an immediate response from the sys- Developing a functional website tem and we have immediate access to the training request through the database. Over- The other project that takes up our time is our night, we went from having to respond to each website: www.plainlanguage.gov. The site request and trying to find the information started as an almost-random collection of pages among a sea of emails to having easy access to in 1996. By 2004, that collection of pages had the information. Plus, we did not need to spend grown considerably, but we had no plan, archi- a significant amount of time sending our initial tecture, or inventory of what we really had. response. From this new web application, we Luckily, we were able to tap into the expertise can also assign classes to our trainers and track of an information architect and several classes pending and completed class data. We have of graduate students. Over the next year, we also made all of our class materials available worked on figuring out what we had, what we on the website, so anyone can take our basic should get rid of, and what we needed. We classes and customize them without having to worked on branding the site and making sure specifically request them. we presented a uniform look and feel. Our main focus (and the main focus of our users) We are the keepers and editors of the was explaining what plain language was, ex- Federal Plain Language Guidelines plaining why it was a good idea to use it, and providing examples and other assistance for Besides our training classes, another resource people trying to get their agencies to use plain for agencies is the Federal Plain Language language. Miriam worked on that redesign Guidelines. The guidelines cover the funda- and formally took over the site in 2005, at its mentals of plain language and web writing, launch. We used many more hours of volunteer and even touch on usability testing. They in- time a year later, when we added a searchable clude explanations and government examples examples database. We provided the code and of each writing technique. Agencies can structure and relied on others to add the hun- download the guidelines from our website in dreds of examples we have available.

Clarity 67 May 2012 11 One of the drawbacks to not having funding is tions on web-writing and site design, which is that we do not have a dedicated email address more challenging than you’d think! We have a @plainlanguage.gov. That’s a big reason we lot of work left to do, but we’re aiming for a soft don’t have a contact email address available on launch in Spring 2012, and we’ll continue to our site. Instead, we’ve used the available rely on our host of volunteers to get us there. technology (in this case ColdFusion) to target © M Vincent and K Catania 2012 certain volunteers based on the subject in our [email protected] “Contact Us” form. This means when we get [email protected] new volunteers with new email addresses, we only have one change to make. The process is At PLAIN’s Stockholm seamless and doesn’t cause confusion for our conference, Miriam Vincent users. We’ve also automated the meeting- (web manager of www.plainlanguage.gov) and confirmation process, and we’ve added an Kathryn Catania (co-chair of online evaluation form so people we’ve trained U.S. PLAIN) presented Plain can easily submit evaluations (saving a few Language—No Budget, No trees in the process). Problem. They shared how the U.S. Plain Language and While we had plans to upgrade the site, finding Action Network (U.S. PLAIN) the time and the volunteers with the right skills was able to support the plain- and understanding has been an issue, so we language effort and the Plain kept putting off the big things. That all changed Writing Act of 2010 with no when the Plain Writing Act of 2010 became law. budget, relying on volunteers. The law shifted our entire focus. We were now They are able to tap into the fielding inquiries directly related to imple- enthusiasm of federal menting the law. People were no longer as employees who believe in plain language and who can concerned with why it was a good idea; argu- translate that enthusiasm into ments for using plain language now started agency support. with, “Well, it’s the law,” which tended to trump the other reasons. Overnight, our focus shifted from convincing people to like plain language to telling agencies how to use plain language. Our site architecture no longer made sense. We required a re-inventory of our content to find out what was still relevant and what information we should add. We had to find out what our users really wanted and needed. And we needed to do that NOW; we couldn’t wait for our one-person web team to find the time to do the research, the testing, and the redesign. Luckily, we were able to use a testing program provided by the General Services Administra- tion. They provided us with participants and feedback for our initial usability test of the current site. That gave us clear direction. Our next step was to get clearance to use non-federal volunteers (even though we are a volunteer organization, federal ethics laws still apply). Once again, we were able to get graduate students to volunteer to help with the site. This help included coding, analyzing the current structure, and user testing. Thanks to countless volunteer hours, we have a new overall structure and are now working on the content. We also have a new look and feel. We try to follow our own recommenda-

12 Clarity 67 May 2012 How do public authorities address the citizens? An attempt on a new understanding of textual categories

Catharina Nyström Höög Pensionsmyndigheten). These texts have been chosen as representative examples, and it is merely Professor, University College of Dalarna coincidental that the choice fell upon these two au- As society changes, we see corresponding changes thorities. For publication purposes, the letters from in the textual patterns of public discourse. And the Swedish Social Insurance Agency have been changing textual patterns calls for revision of the translated into English by an authorized translator. tools we use, within plain-language practices and The English version of the pamphlet is accessibly 1 within linguistic research, to describe and charac- on the web page of the Swedish Pensions Agency . terize texts. In this paper, I will address two aspects of textual categorization, based respectively on types Categorization of written texts of texts and types of voices displayed within the Textual categories are the tools we use to find texts. patterns in the textual universe. Textual categories are of interest to plain language, too, In a recent issue of Clarity (No 64, November 2010), since there are hardly any general recommen- there was a discussion on the need for research dations for plain writing, at least not beyond grounding for plain language. One argument was the trivial, so we need to relate plain language that plain language might be more trustworthy if recommendations to specific categories of text. based on current research. Another argument, and What kind of categorization is best to use is a one that I would like to stress here, is that plain matter of discussion, and I will start this paper language needs further input from linguistic re- with a closer presentation of the three most search. That is particularly important if it wants to frequent ways to organize texts into categories. leave the necessary but not sufficient advices on These are genre, text type, and discourse mode. wording, syntax, and sensible paragraphing that In the following, I will be using text examples dominate plain language today, at least in the to illustrate how these categories work, starting Swedish context, and arrive at more genre-specific with genre. advices, which also take the context of communication into account. Example 1

So there seem to be reasons for plain language to Review of a decision on erroneous search for cooperation within linguistic research, payment of sickness benefit not in the least because grounding linguistic advice in research might add to the trustworthiness of No change is to be made to the decision by plain language. But why would researchers be Försäkringskassan made on November 19, interested in plain language? Well, one aspect of 2010. linguistic research is to map and describe the textual On November 19, 2010, Försäkringskassan universe, and public discourse is an important— decided that you had to repay the excess possibly increasingly important—part of that amount of SEK 3 495 that you had received universe today. That is one reason why we need to between August 5 and September 21, 2010. pay attention to texts from public authorities. The grounds for this decision was that you had been living abroad without the consent My reasoning within this paper is based on a study of Försäkringskassan. of several texts, on paper and on the web. In this article, I quote a limited number of texts, letters from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (in Example 1 is a decision sent from The Swedish Swedish, Försäkringskassan), and a pamphlet Social Insurance Agency to a citizen. In terms from the Swedish Pensions Agency (in Swedish, of genre categorization, it represents the genre

Clarity 67 May 2012 13 decision. People that are part of the same lin- discourse mode and genre are needed as cat- guistic community can normally identify, egories to describe texts within this discourse. describe, and label the different genres that are So starting with these three tools of textual frequently used within the community. Typi- categorization, how can we arrive at an accurate cally, genres are anchored in institutions or description of texts from public authorities? organizations. On the web page of the Swedish The concept of genre is problematic for plain Social Insurance Agency, there is actually an language, because it doesn’t capture the lin- icon labeled decision, which illustrates how we guistic features in enough detail. Texts within use the tool of genre when we organize the the same genre might differ from each other due textual worlds of daily life. In this respect, the to different circumstances of communication. concept of genre might be the most powerful tool we have when it comes to categorizing The context of communication is an texts. important mean for categorization of texts Text types are based on extralinguistic categori- Let’s consider example 1 once again. This is a zation. This is typically the layman’s perspective. text that contains a negative message if you take We distinguish between gothic novels, books the addressee’s point of view. The Swedish So- about horses, books for children, and so on. cial Insurance Agency states that “no change is More relevant for plain language is a categori- to be made”. We may compare this text with zation based on business or activity; we may another text that represents the same genre, want to distinguish between texts concerning decision. The text quoted in example 3, how- e.g. social insurance or pension. Text-type ever, is a different type of decision. From the categorization may be relevant to plain language Agency’s point of view it is more a matter of since different problems of comprehensibility routine. In this text, someone is informed that are related to different areas of activity or to he or she is entitled to child allowance. These different institutions. are two instances of the same genre, but does Discourse mode is the linguist’s way of categoriz- that mean that the texts pose the same type of ing texts. We tend to base such a categorization plain language problems? on distinctive linguistic features, usually verb Example 3 types or cohesion. In many descriptions of discourse modes, four different modes are distinguished: narrative, descriptive, expository, and Försäkringskassan has decided that you argumentative discourse. If we look at another will receive a child allowance of SEK 1.050 quote from the same decision as example 1, and per month for the child with the civic particularly at the cohesion (bold in the quote), registration number 20101005-9999 from we see that an opposition is constructed between and including November 2010 the actions recommended by the authority and the actions taken by the addressee. I would If one means that the texts in examples 1 and 3 consider this a stretch of argumentative dis- illustrates different kinds of plain language course. problems, than we have arrived at the conclusion that genre is not a good enough tool for Example 2 categorization to support plain language efforts. What is needed is a kind of categorization that You said that you contacted your doctor distinguishes between these two texts. Drawing but that you could not wait for on research from Conversation Analysis2, we Försäkringskassan’s consent. Your doctor may compare the written communication in was supposed to inform Försäkringskassan. these particular decisions to conversations To be entitled to retain sickness benefit between two parties: the agency and the while staying abroad you not only have to respective citizens. From studies of spoken inform Försäkringskassan but also receive language, we know that each turn in a conver- its consent. sation consists of an initiative and a response. Every initiative has a preferred response and a More elaborated genres, like the ones we meet dispreferred response. And in this respect there in communication from public authorities, are is a big difference between the decision on child generally made up of different discourse allowance and the decision on erroneous pay- modes, according to specific patterns. So both ment.

14 Clarity 67 May 2012 The decision on child support is a response from commercial discourse. Example 4 shows turn, a preferred response to a request from a a quote from a pamphlet called the orange en- citizen, while the decision on sickness benefit velope, an annual report on pension value. In is, obviously, a dispreferred response. The ini- this case the reader is addressed through a car- tiative in this particular communication came toon, a piggy bank. In this guise it gives the from the agency who requested that money addressee a piece of advice that resembles the should be paid back. The response to that kind of advice a parent would give to a child. request must have been another request, from This voice then, displays another type of the citizen, that the request for return payment authority than the traditional impersonal should be annulled. The text quoted here thus authority, which many readers expect to hear represents the third turn in a communication from public authorities. between the two parties. These differences in context of communication constitute a consid- Example 4 erable difference to the addressee. Such aspects of the context of reading ought to be relevant to plain language discussion. Review your savings at The differences in context of communication regular intervals, for instance also affect the texts, when it comes to wording. once per year. The decision on child allowance is extremely short and unproblematic. It is hard to think that anyone could have trouble reading this! It is brief, impersonal and contributes no explanation to why this decision has been made. The decision on erroneous payment, on the other hand, has to achieve a much more complicated communicative act. That text is longer and more elaborated, and it contains different discourse Another voice, which is present in today’s modes. As I have already pointed out, it has a communication between public authorities stretch of argumentative discourse, but there and citizens, is the voice that is directing our are also elements of explanation. So complexity ways of communication towards the web and in situation goes together with complexity in away from written letters or telephones. It is a text formulation. This concludes my first argu- voice that is always positive and cheerful, and ment that the overall context of situation has it is present with increasing frequency on the to be taken into account when we categorize web pages of public authorities. I would sug- texts for plain language purposes. gest that the type of voice that speaks to us has an impact on our attitudes as readers, and thus The voice of the public authority on the comprehensibility of texts, and that is what is in focus of plain language. My second argument is that there is a pattern of different voices speaking to us in texts from In an ongoing attempt to uncover the voices of public authorities, and that those voices cut public discourse, I am using the theoretical across traditional textual categories. I use the framework appraisal, a subsystem of Systemic term voice here, as a kind of metaphor for the Functional Linguistics (SFL)3. The purpose of way in which the authority presents itself to appraisal is to study attitudes that are displayed the addressee. in texts, and one theoretical starting point is that attitudes need special tools to be cap- The voice that speaks to us in the decision on tured, since they tend to saturate texts, to be erroneous payment is a voice that we are fa- spread across different linguistic categories in miliar with in texts from public authorities. the texts. Thus, attitudes affect the entire text. It is an authoritarian voice; it demands some- thing from us. But texts from public authorities If we look at the decision on erroneous payment are not only about providing and requesting, once again, we see that the text starts with a as in the decisions shown above. Quite a few negative statement—an explicit instance of texts from public authorities are informative negative attitude (erroneous payment). In the text and addressed at a general audience. Such texts there are repeated instances of negative attitude. seem to be more prone to merge with voices Let’s look at the part with reported speech

Clarity 67 May 2012 15 here: “You said that you contacted your doctor.” Endnotes The phrase may be analyzed as an attempt to 1 http://www.pensionsmyndigheten.se/ construct a distance between the perspective Welcome_en.html of the agency, which may or may not believe 2 For an introduction to Conversation Analysis, see that the client has actually contacted a doctor, for example Sacks, Schegloff & Jeffersson 1974: A and the perspective of the client. These instances simplest Systematics for the Organization of Turn- of negative attitude and of distance may set taking for Conversation. In: Language, Vol. 50, No 4, 1974. the reader in a negative state and contribute to 3 For an overview over Systemic Functional distrust between the communicating parties. Grammar, go to Halliday & Mathiessen: An In this perspective, voice also contributes to Introduction to Functional Grammar, 2004. The system the situation of context. of appraisal is dealt with in Martin & White: The Language of Evaluation, 2005. So far, I have presented three different types of voices that might be distinguished in texts from Catharina Nyström Höög is public authorities. In the decisions, particularly a professor of Swedish Language at the University the more elaborated decision on erroneous College of Dalarna. Her thesis payment, we meet a traditional authoritarian was on writing in upper voice. In the pamphlet on pension, with the secondary school, and her early piggy bank cartoon, we meet a voice that re- research concerned writing in sembles a parent. And, in those many texts that school contexts. She is also guide us to a given channel of communication, involved in the education of we meet what might be called the happy helper, teachers. In the year 2000, she which draws on a personal relationship with participated in an evaluation of comprehensibility of texts from the addressee. This mapping of voices within public authorities in Sweden. Since then, she has taken the discourse of public authority is, of course, active part in the linguistic research that explores only a starting point for a full description of communication between public authorities and citizens. the range of voices that are present within texts from public authorities. The point that I wish to argue here is that how the addresser presents itself, which voice it chooses to use, affects the attitudes of the addressee. So far, the impact of reader’s attitudes on reading comprehensibility has been greatly overlooked. In my opinion, it would improve the plain language efforts if a wider concept of context of communication, including reader’s attitudes, would be taken into account. Grounding plain language advice in research is a matter of trust. And plain language activities, as well as public authorities, need to be trustworthy. If linguistic research may contribute to such trust, it is a worthwhile challenge for linguistic researchers to go ahead and map the textual universe of public discourse. © C Höög 2012 [email protected]

16 Clarity 67 May 2012 A campaign for plain language in the municipality of Copenhagen—from textual effects to organisational context

Anne Kjærgaard The aim of the campaign was to improve the quality of letters from the committee to pri- The Danish Language Council, post doc vate citizens by making them more polite and As is the case in many countries, the Danish and easier to understand. The core activity plain language tradition is primarily practice was a 1-day writing course offered to all em- oriented, and focus has traditionally been on ployees. They were taught in smaller groups drawing attention to problematic texts: texts of around 20–30 employees at a time (a rather from public institutions and private compa- typical core component in Danish language nies that are hard to understand; the campaigns). The course was taught by an ex- identification of linguistic and textual guide- ternal language consultant. Its content was, lines that could help employees improve their among other things, based on a comprehen- writing skills; and the dissemination of these sive text analysis of the quality of letters to guidelines to employees to make them write external recipients. texts that would be easier to understand and The campaign also included a site on the more polite to private, lay citizens. intranet on plain language and good letter Within this tradition research is scarce. For ex- writing and different kinds of attempts, from ample, very few studies address the textual the working group gathered by the communi- effects of language campaigns (what happens cations director, to draw attention to written to the texts in continuation of a language cam- language in the committee, e.g. articles in the paign?), and the reasons why a specific staff magazine. language campaign may (or may not) result in Each of the centres in the committee was en- particular textual effects within a particular couraged (but not forced) to undertake a range organisation. These are the two questions that of tasks such as revising the text templates I am going to address in this article by that were used in the particular centre, and analysing an example of a language campaign identifying important technical terms and in The Technical and Environmental Commit- their non-technical equivalents to help em- tee, The Municipality of Copenhagen. ployees substitute technical terms with In this committee, a language campaign took everyday words that were assumed to be place between 2005–2007. The language cam- easier to understand for citizens without any paign was initiated by the communications particular technical expertise. director of the committee who, with the support of the managing director, gathered a How to examine the textual effects of a working group of employees already working language campaign with, or at least with a sincere interest in, lan- To examine the textual effects of the language guage use and texts in the committee. The campaign, I made a comparative analysis of Technical and Environmental Committee con- letters written before and after the language sists of a number of centres working with campaign (also referred to as old and new let- issues such as the administration of parking ters). The analysis included 72 old letters and rules, churchyards and the (re)building of 67 new letters, a total of 40,273 words. The let- houses in Copenhagen. The campaign was ters were written by two case officers who both mainly funded by these centres that had vol- worked at the Centre for City Design. Based unteered to finance the campaign after the on observations, interviews and readings of a working group had convinced them of the ne- broader selection of letters from the commit- cessity of a language campaign. tee, I chose these two case officers because I

Clarity 67 May 2012 17 found that the letters they had written repre- all rather typical in Danish language cam- sented some typical trends in the organisation. paigns. However, my sample is far too narrow to be Each analysis was based on one of the guide- statistically representative; i.e. it is impossible lines that the employees were taught at the to make generalisations on the textual effects writing course. On the basis of these guide- of the language campaign in the centre or the lines (such as “formulate headings as full committee as a whole. sentences”, “avoid the use of passive voice”) I My text’s analytical approach consisted of two formulated a success criteria for each analysis. different strategies: a top-down approach (fo- In the analysis of passive voice, for example, cusing on whether the writers had done what the success criteria was that there should be they had been recommended to do) and a less use of the passive voice in the new letters bottom-up approach (focusing on which other than in the old ones (a more qualitative analy- changes had taken place in the texts, e.g. if the sis, not included here, focused on the different case officers had changed features of their contexts in which the passive voice appeared, texts other than the recommended changes). i.e. the text analysis did not solely focus on the Top-down and bottom-up approaches were frequency of certain text features as the table combined to ensure that substantial changes below could be taken to suggest). in the letters were not overlooked. CO1 and CO2 (in the top row) are abbrevia- tions for each of the two case officers included Results of the text analysis—effects of the in the analysis. “No” in the table indicates that language campaign? the success criteria in question was not ful- The table below shows a selection of my re- filled, i.e. that the analysis did not show any sults and gives an impression of the overall differences between the old and the new let- results of the text analysis. The analyses in the ters. “Yes” means that the relevant success table include the use of headings, passive criteria was fulfilled, i.e. that there was a dif- voice, the so called “kancellisløjfer” (a certain ference between the old and the new letters. syntactic construction in Danish consisting of The results were tested for statistical signifi- a definite article followed by one or more cance with the level of statistical significance prepositional phrases followed by an adjective set to 0.01; that is, there is a 1 in 100 chance and a noun), sentence length, officialese that the differences between the old and the phrases and superfluous words and phrases, new letters are coincidental. verbal nouns and pronouns—topics that are

Linguistic feature Success criteria CO1 CO2 Headings • More headings constitute a full sentence in the new letters compared to the old ones No No • More headings indicate semantic roles (i.e. who does what to whom) in the new letters compared to the old ones No No • Fewer headings contain the word “concerning” in the new letters compared to the old ones No Yes

Passive voice • Less use of the passive voice in the new letters compared to the old ones No Yes

”Kancellisløjfer” • Fewer ”kancellisløjfer” in the new letters compared to the old ones No No

Officialese phrases • Fewer officialese phrases and superfluous words and phrases and superfluous in the new letters compared to the old ones words and phrases Yes Yes

Verbal nouns • Fewer verbal nouns in the new letters compared to the old ones No No

Pronouns • When referring to the sender there is a larger frequency of the pronouns “I” and “we” and a smaller frequency of “one” in the new letters than in the old ones No Yes

Number of fulfilled success criteria 1 4

18 Clarity 67 May 2012 On the basis of this table two points can be This leads to the question of what motivates made: first, there seems to be a difference be- these interpretations. Why is it, for example, tween the two case officers in that case officer that some employees interpret the language 1 has adopted less of the textual and linguistic campaign as irrelevant while others find it ex- guidelines in his letters than case officer 2; sec- tremely important? My analysis is guided by ond, neither of the two has changed the texts the assumption that individual interpretations substantially. This second point may not come are motivated by three factors: across as clear as case officer 2’s new letters do • Cultural factors, i.e., assumptions and beliefs fulfill 4 of the 8 success criteria above. How- about how things are or should be that are ever, even though case officer 2 has changed shared by groups of employees. some features in his letters, the changes do not appear overwhelming. For example, I am far • Structural factors, i.e., the way tasks and from sure that a reader of a selection of case work flow are organised. officer 2’s old and new letters would be able to • Individual factors, i.e., elements such as distinguish the old from the new ones. Fur- individual employees’ personal interests, thermore, taking into account all the changes beliefs, experiences and education. suggested to the employees during the writing course, neither of them has picked up the sug- The two case officers’ interpretations of gestions to a very large extent. the language campaign Why these textual effects? In the interview, case officer 1 came across as a rather resistant writer. His overall interpreta- On the basis of these results, I will focus on tion of the campaign could be paraphrased as the questions why neither of the writers has “the language campaign is not my problem—I changed the letters substantially and why case of- keep writing the way I’m used to”. This inter- ficer 2 has adopted the linguistic guidelines to a pretation is mirrored in his letters that larger extent than case officer 1. The questions underwent very few changes in continuation are answered on the basis of an analysis of the of the language campaign. organisational context in which the language campaign took place, i.e. an analysis based on Case officer 2, on the other hand, may be interviews with different types of employees, characterised as a more hesitant writer. His documents about the language campaign and overall interpretation could be paraphrased as my observations of the committee. The analy- “I do not think that all the recommendations sis is conducted by means of the following are relevant to my letters. However, I try to framework: write in line with the language campaign, because I think that this is how we are supposed to write now”. Accordingly, this case officer Individual interpretations changed his letters to a larger extent than case officer 1—even though it is important to un- derline that his letters have not undergone any radical changes in continuation of the language campaign.

What motivates these interpretations? To explain why the writers produced such in- Cultural Structural Individual terpretations of the language campaign, I will factors factors factors pin down some of the cultural, structural and individual factors contributing to them. The starting point is individual interpretations Even though the two interpretations in some produced by employees in the committee. aspects seem quite different, the two case of- Thus, the question is, how do employees in ficers share at least one cultural assumption the committee interpret the language cam- underlying their interpretations. On the one paign; in other words, what do they think of hand, they both acknowledge that the letters the language campaign? in the committee are not perfect. However, they share the assumption that we, the case

Clarity 67 May 2012 19 officers, know better than the group who initiated the managements of the different centres in the campaign how to address the citizens. Conse- the committee (e.g. the management of Centre quently, the case officers were rather hard to for City Design where the two writers were convince that they should change their writ- employed). A thorough analysis would take ing style, and as far as my analysis shows, this up too much room, but I will suggest how cer- basic assumption was not affected by the lan- tain factors in the management of Centre for guage campaign. City Design affected the individual interpretations of the two case officers. One of the structural factors that played an important role for both case officers was the Among the managers in Centre for City De- organization of writing tasks. In Centre for sign the language campaign was interpreted City Design, where the two case officers were as a relevant project that had the intended ef- employed, writing letters generally means fects. This interpretation was, among other writing on your own. In other words, writing is things, based on the assumption that the the an individual task and there is no systematic writing styles of the writing staff were rela- evaluation or discussion of the letters that the tively easy to change. By “relatively easy” I do case officers write. This structural factor sup- not mean that it was considered a trivial task. ports the cultural factor mentioned above: the However, it was considered easier to accom- assumption that the case officers are fully ca- plish than was actually the case—at least pable of writing acceptable letters to lay when it came to case officers 1 and 2. citizens is on the whole left unchallenged as That the management of Centre for City De- long as their letters are typically not evaluated sign did consider the language campaign or discussed. relevant is supported by the fact that the man- These cultural and structural factors are agements of the centres in the committee shared by the two case officers and play a cen- (including the management of Centre for City tral role in explaining the lack of major Design) funded the majority of the campaign. changes in the letters. However, the two inter- However, the management of Centre for City pretations are obviously not identical. Both Design seemed to think that the 1-day course writers are critical towards features of the lan- the employees were offered was sufficient to guage campaign, but whereas case officer 1 in make them change their writing styles—and many aspects rejects the language campaign, thus underestimated the importance of more case officer 2 thinks that he should write in explicit, non-financial support from the centre line with th campaign. These differences rely management. on individual factors: case officer 1’s interpre- Consequently, the campaign, to a large extent, tation was, among other things, based on his appeared as an issue between the individual personal conviction that plain language guide- employee and the project group who initiated lines are a trend and that in 10 years he will be the project; or maybe the campaign was even told to write in a different way. Case officer 2, an issue between the employees and the pri- on the other hand, had experienced that his vate consultant who taught the writing letters had been corrected by one of his man- courses: the consultant tended to be seen as an agers. I found no sign that there had been any outsider among the employees, i.e. a person systematic attempts to change his writing that did not know enough of the demands style by commenting on his letters. However, that case officers must take into consideration the feeling that his writing style was in focus when writing letters on behalf of a municipal- among his managers made him rather focused ity. on writing in a way that he thought they would approve. Furthermore, the writing course was not followed by a reorganisation of the writing Beyond the two case officers processes in Centre for City Design. After the campaign, writing was still an individual task, The language campaign was obviously not and no systematic feedback was given on the initiated by these two case officers, and a com- letters that were written. Accordingly, the as- prehensive analysis of why the language sumption among the case officers that their campaign had certain effects would have to letters were fully acceptable was left unchal- include at least two other groups in the com- lenged. In this light, case officer 2’s feeling mittee: the group that initiated the project, and that the management of Centre for City De-

20 Clarity 67 May 2012 sign was paying attention to his writing style Anne Kjærgaard, is a adds another perspective to the analysis: what postdoctoral student at The could actually make this case officer change at Danish Language Council. Her least some features in his letters seems to have PhD thesis, on which this article is based, reports from been the conviction that he was under obser- two case studies investigating vation. This suggests that the effects of the language campaigns in The language campaign could have been more Municipality of Copenhagen convincing if the management of Centre for and in The Courts of Denmark, City Design had been more involved in the while approaching them as campaign. organisational change projects. The study shows that the Conclusion—effects of the language cam- impact of the language campaigns was limited. Her postdoctoral project tests whether traditional plain- paign? language guidelines actually result in better The text analysis showed that the two case of- understanding by readers by combining functional text ficers’ letters did not change a lot as a result of analyses with reception analyses. This project draws on data from the Danish tax authorities who have made a the language campaign, even though one of large effort to revise their letters to private citizens. the case officers changed his letters to a larger extent than the other. In the analysis of the organisation, I pointed out a range of cultural, structural and individual factors explaining these results. It is important to keep in mind that my study is not based on statistically representative data, that is, that the results cannot be Contributing to the journal generalised for all the letters and employees in the Centre for City Design or to the committee Clarity often focuses on a specific theme as a whole. On the other hand, the cultural (like conferences or drafting or standards), and structural factors identified above apply but we also publish articles on a variety to all the employees in the Centre for City De- of other plain language topics. Please sub- sign. Accordingly, the results are likely to be mit your articles to the editor in chief for rather typical for this particular centre, and consideration. may possibly illustrate some of the problems in the committee as a whole. Would you like to be a guest editor? Our guest editors gather articles, work with Do these results imply that nothing changed the authors, make layout decisions, and in the committee as a result of the language edit and proofread a single issue. If you campaign? As far as I can see, this is not the would like to guest edit an issue of the case. The language campaign worked as a Clarity journal, send an email to the editor kind of ”catalyst project” in the sense that it in chief. was not only a project that was supposed to change the writing style in letters to private Finally, if you have ideas about improv- citizens. The communications director, who ing the journal, the editor would like to originally initiated the language campaign, hear from you, as well. Our editor in chief had as one of her tasks to make the various is Professor Julie Clement, with the Tho- centres in the committee work closer together. mas M. Cooley Law School. Email her at In this respect, a language campaign was a [email protected]. suitable project because it gathered the various centres in the committee around a common project. Accordingly, the campaign was also supposed to strengthen the connec- tions between the centres in the committee, and in this respect the language campaign did seem to have the desired effects. © A Kjærgaard 2012 [email protected]

Clarity 67 May 2012 21 The Swedish Language Act—impact, experiences and challenges

Jennie Spetz and Eva Olovsson and use the Swedish language while at the same time working actively to ensure that The Language Council of Sweden Sweden remains a multilingual country. Work- The Swedish Language Act came into force three ing for multilingualism can for example mean years ago, in 2009. What impact has the Act had, providing instruction in mother tongues other and how has it been received? In this article we than Swedish or translating official informa- sum up the cases reported to the Parliamentary tion to other languages on websites and in Ombudsmen, and present some of the results of the information materials of various kinds. analysis carried out on the application of the Act. In 2000, two conventions of the Council of Eu- Finally we discuss the possible significance of the rope for the protection of minority rights came Act for language policy in future. into force. Five languages were then given official minority status in Sweden: Finnish, The Swedish Language Act is a result of many Meänkieli (Tornedal Finnish), Yiddish, Ro- years of investigation. Discussions whether to have many Chib and Sami. At that time, however, a Language Act were carried out for more than a Sweden had no official principal language. decade before the Act finally came into being in 1 The need to establish in law that Swedish is 2009 . The reason it took so long was not so much the principal language in Sweden had been the actual content of the Act; rather, the hesitation put forward in government commissions of concerned primarily the necessity to regulate the inquiry since the middle of the 1990s, but it status of the languages in law at all. took over a decade before agreement was reached on this issue. When the five national Sweden—a multilingual country languages were finally given official status, Sweden has traditionally regarded itself as a the question of regulating the position of the monolingual country where the role of the languages was brought into focus. Even Swedish language has been obvious. This though Swedish has been one of the EU’s offi- view has slowly been revised during the last cial languages since Sweden joined in 1995, it few decades. Sweden has, in fact, never been did not become the official principal language monolingual, since other languages have al- in Sweden until the Language Act came into ways been spoken inside its borders, for force in 2009. example Sami and Finnish. In the last few de- There were three major reasons to establish cades, more and more languages have also Swedish as Sweden’s principal language. The come to be spoken as a consequence of immi- first was the growing insight that Sweden gration. Today it is estimated that 150 to 200 was, in fact, multilingual, and the second was different languages are spoken in Sweden. the recognition of the five minority languages. Even though Sweden has always been a multi- A third reason was the influence of English in lingual country to some extent, it is only Swedish linguistic society, which had in- recently that full insight into this fact has been creased during the last few decades. In higher achieved and has also been explicitly stated education and research, for example in the officially. It has now been established in law natural sciences, English has assumed such a that Sweden is a multilingual country with dominant position that it is generally believed Swedish as its principal language. to be threatening to impoverish the Swedish The most important change brought about by language, as new Swedish words and terms the Language Act is that all official bodies were not being created alongside the English now have a legal responsibility to cultivate ones in these areas.

22 Clarity 67 May 2012 The content and objective of the Act pose of these guidelines is to explain the content of the Act in more concrete terms, in order The Language Act has far-reaching scope. It to make it more directly relevant to the activi- contains provisions on the Swedish language ties of the authorities themselves2. and the status of other languages, on language in the public sector and on the individual’s ac- The fact that the Language Act contains no pe- cess to language. The Act applies to public nal provisions does not mean that we are free authorities, local authorities, decision-making to contravene it. The Parliamentary Ombuds- assemblies and other official bodies, including men,3 who have the task of checking that universities, schools and courts. But it does public agencies and their officials are follow- not apply to private people or the private sec- ing laws and other ordinances in their tor. activities, can criticise the actions of a specific authority regarding a particular issue. Such The overall objective of the Language Act, criticism is considered very serious, and the apart from establishing the position of Swed- error in question is usually promptly put ish and other languages in Sweden, is to right. promote linguistic diversity. The Act clarifies and highlights the responsibility of public The impact of the Language Act bodies to ensure that the provisions on language and use of language dealt with in the We are often asked what effect the Language Act are complied with. Act has had, sometimes with the underlying assumption that a framework law containing When the Language Act was put forward, it general principles and goals but no scale of met with a certain amount of criticism for be- penalties can hardly have any real effect. Lan- ing drawn up as a more generally conceived guage specialists and language consultants framework law that merely states principles have requested a more stringent and detailed and guidelines for the status and use of lan- law. Others, for example those in the business guages in Sweden. It does not stipulate any sector, find the formulation of the Act advan- detailed regulations about language or use of tageous in certain cases, as it implies that in language, and it does not contain any sanc- special cases, principles other than those con- tions for those who contravene the Act. cerning language policy can be given greater However, it is important to point out that the weight. This may, for example, allow for a de- Language Act is a law of obligations that parture from the principle that documents of stipulates the obligations of society and public central importance in public administration bodies. It is not a law of rights that describes should be available in Swedish. Since the Act which rights individual citizens have. is “only” a framework law, the interpretation The Language Council has the task of provid- in certain circles has been that its content need ing information on the Language Act and not be viewed so strictly. following up its application. We do this by in- The fact that the Language Act is a framework vestigating and highlighting various areas law means that other laws and ordinances affected by the Act. We have, for example, per- which either strengthen or contradict what is formed a quantitative survey of the languages stated in the Act may have priority in certain of dissertations at Swedish universities and cases. One example of this is the Act pertain- university colleges, a review of the degree of ing to National Minorities and Minority access to sign language for children in pre- Languages, which stipulates a greater and school and a survey on multilingualism on the more far-reaching responsibility for the minor- Internet. Other areas to be investigated in the ity languages than what is stated in the near future are school instruction in mother Language Act. Another example is the school tongues other than Swedish and translation ordinances, which restrict the Language Act and interpretation in the public sector. obligations concerning access to mother We are also following the application of the tongues other than Swedish by imposing con- Act from the perspective of public authorities. ditions under which school students are to be In order to assist public authorities in their in- given language instruction in other mother terpretation of the various rather vaguely tongues. formulated sections of the Act, the Language Because the Language Act has a very wide Council has published guidelines. The pur- scope, and because it is difficult to foresee all

Clarity 67 May 2012 23 the areas in which the Act can be applied, the central position in Swedish society, the Parlia- legislators chose to formulate the Act as a mentary Ombudsmen found that the use of framework law. Provisions on language and English e-mail addresses was not compatible use of language were already present in other with the special responsibility of the state re- legislation when the Language Act originated, garding language, and that it conflicts with and this had to be taken into consideration. It the provisions of the Language Act. The gen- is possible to say that the Language Act is pri- eral public has both questioned and expressed marily a clarification and reinforcement of irritation at the fact that these changes have provisions regarding language that were al- taken so much time. ready a part of Swedish legislation. The During the first year the Language Act was in difference is that the Language Act summa- force, a number of reports were made by pri- rizes the provisions in a single law, providing vate people regarding English names and a clearer framework for language policy. slogans. For example, Stockholm Municipality Even though imprisonment or fines are not was reported for using the English terms imposed for contravention, the Swedish Lan- “Stockholm Visitors Board”, “Stockholm Busi- guage Council has noted that the Act has had ness Region”, “The Capital of Scandinavia”, a significant effect. Plain-language work has etc. In these cases, the Parliamentary Ombuds- been given a boost thanks to the Language men established that there is no general Act. More and more authorities have opened prohibition against using English slogans, but their eyes to their obligation to work with that the public authority or local authority in Plain Language. Public authorities are increas- question should consider that “public institu- ingly interested in translating texts into the tions have a special responsibility for ensuring national minority languages. Sign language is that Swedish is used and developed”. now also recognised in legislation as a proper Two cases reported in 2009 and 2011 were of language with the same protection as that greater importance. They concerned the given to the national minority languages, higher-education sector. One of these con- which is an important step forward for the cerned a state research council Formas, which hearing impaired. Even though the Language required applications for research grants to be Act is not a law of obligations for individuals, written in English. The other was a similar it constitutes an important argument for sign- case in which a university demanded that ap- language users in their efforts to get access to plications for employment and promotion be sign language, for example at school and pre- written in English. In both cases, the Parlia- school, in eldercare and in contacts with mentary Ombudsmen ruled that Formas and authorities. the university had acted wrongly. An important principle is that it should always be Reports to the Parliamentary Ombuds- possible to communicate with Swedish public men authorities in Swedish. In other words, appli- The public has generally viewed the Language cations and other documentation in English or Act mainly as a law to restrict the use of En- other languages cannot be demanded. This is glish in Swedish society—judging by the not an entirely uncomplicated principle as reports to the Parliamentary Ombudsmen con- Swedish universities often have close interna- cerning breaches of the Language Act. The tional collaborations and are dependent on reported cases given the most medial attention specialized knowledge from international uni- concerned the government’s use of English e- versity circles that have English as their mail addresses. Two such reports were made common language. immediately after the Language Act came into force in July 2009. The Parliamentary Challenges—obtaining broad support for Ombudsmen’s decided that the form of public language and language policy authorities’ e-mail addresses lies outside the As we mentioned, Sweden has for a long time area covered by the Language Act. The fact been regarded as a monolingual country with that an e-mail address is written in English is Swedish in an unthreatened position as the not considered a threat against the ability to country’s main language. While language communicate with the authority in general. policy goals have been formulated in the EU But because the Government Offices have a and in the Nordic community, Sweden did not

24 Clarity 67 May 2012 have any officially formulated language policy of patent translation. A Government Commis- until 2005, when the Riksdag—the Swedish sion of Inquiry is currently working on Parliament—decided on goals for language ascertaining whether there is sufficient reason, policy4. Language and politics have, therefore, from a business policy perspective, to depart rarely been linked together, and language is- from the requirement to translate national pat- sues have not been regarded as a policy area. ents in their entirety, or if it would be In our neighbouring countries, Finland and sufficient to have a translation requirement Norway, the situation is completely different. only for parts of a patent. An amendment to These countries have been more expressly the translation requirements of patents would multilingual, and language issues have been mean a deviation from one of the principles of discussed in a more obviously societal context. the Language Act—that legally binding documents in Sweden have to be available in The language policy goals decided on by the Swedish. Riksdag in 2005 and the introduction of the Language Act in 2009 were starting points for It is easy to see the advantages, particularly language policy in general. But it will prob- the economic ones, of not having to translate ably take a long time before language policy is the patents in their entirety. Few outside par- widely accepted in Sweden. It is important ties ever demand to see patent documents, that language policy becomes an integrated and the vast majority of citizens will never be part of the operations of public agencies. The concerned with this type of documentation. public sector must become aware that linguis- Patent documents are quite simply texts on tic conditions can, and should be, influenced the periphery of the perspective of usual citi- through political decisions. Allocating a spe- zens. But as a question of principle, it is still cial budget to working with Plain Language, important. or providing information in sign language on It is logical that the principles of the Language a website are some examples of concrete mea- Act should meet most resistance in the areas sures in language policy. There must be an in which they are not obvious, for example in increase not only in the public sector’s aware- the courts, where there is a long-standing ness of its obligations under the Language written tradition that is not always compatible Act, but also in pressure towards public au- with Plain Language principles. Another ex- thorities to meet these obligations. In addition, ample is in the university sector where the the general public must understand the politi- demand and need for internationalization in cal dimension of language issues. most cases has greater weight than the respon- Even if many public authorities are working sibility for developing the Swedish language. with Plain Language, terminology, and multi- It is within these areas that the Language Act lingual accessibility, this is often done in will be put to the greatest test and put into project form, on the initiative of individual en- conflict with other principles and interests, for thusiasts and without any specially allocated example compelling arguments of an eco- funds. Few Plain Language projects are fol- nomic nature. For this reason, it is also within lowed up and evaluated, and virtually no areas where language policy has traditionally estimates are being made as to the effects of not formerly been taken into account that the work on Plain Language. Many people would Act has a chance of contributing towards a like to see more research in this area. change in attitude. In areas where English has a strong position, there are also the economic Making the Language Act better known out- and practical arguments for maintaining side the circle of language usage experts and things as they are. language consultants working at public authorities and other public bodies is a There may be a risk that the principles of the challenge. Demands regarding language Language Act could be eroded as a result of policy must be as self-evident as demands in economic arguments. The discussion on patents other policy areas, and language policy must could also be transferred to other areas in which be part of public bodies’ day-to-day work. translations may be difficult, time-consuming and costly, for example in the higher-education As the Language Act is a framework law, it is sector. But it is difficult, if not impossible, to also conceivable that its scope may be re- weigh economic and language policy arguments stricted in one direction or another, at least in against each other. theory. This has already happened in the case

Clarity 67 May 2012 25 The future success of the Language Act evaluating and investigating complaints from the general public, by making inspections of the The Language Council is often asked what various authorities and by conducting other forms significance the Language Act has had and of inquiry that they initiate themselves. will have in the future. Many people who 4 “Best language—a concerted language policy for Sweden” http://regeringen.se/sb/d/8398/a/ work with language issues in public authori- 131605 ties or in the education sector, or who are just interested members of the public, have great Jennie Spetz is an investi- hopes that the Language Act will help make gator with special responsibility the minority languages more visible in Swed- for language policy issues at the Language Council of Sweden ish society. There are also expectations that (Språkrådet). She has a Swedish will assume a stronger position in re- master´s degree in political lation to English and that instruction in science. Previously she worked Swedish sign language will increase. To a cer- with news monitoring and tain extent, their questions have already been evaluation in the public sector. answered. We have seen that work on language usage has been given a stronger focus and status on the part of public authorities. Parents who wish their children to be given Eva Olovsson is a language instruction in sign language use the Language adviser with special Act to support their arguments to their school responsibility for plain or local authority. The question of translating language issues at the civic information into Finnish and Sami has Language Council of Sweden been brought into focus at more and more (Språkrådet). She is a certified language consultant and public authorities. previously worked in the But the future success of the Language Act Government Offices as a cannot be guaranteed merely as a result of the language expert. initiatives that are being undertaken around the country today. If the Act is to be effective, it must be able to stand its ground in the for- mal examinations that are expected in the future. New laws and ordinances will throw light upon the question of language and language use, as questions concerning language are of central importance in society. The significance the Act will have for language policy in future will primarily be determined by how much weight is given to the principles of the Language Act in such examinations. © J Spetz and E Olovsson 2012 [email protected] [email protected] How to join Clarity Endnotes The easiest way to join Clarity is to visit 1 Language Act (2009:600) http:// http://sites.google.com/site/legalclarity/, www.regeringen.se/content/1/c6/13/81/02/ complete an application, and submit it with 3cf6b7f0.pdf your payment. You may use PayPal or a 2 “The Language Act in practice—guidelines on the credit card to pay. interpretation of the law “ http:// www.språkrådet.se/12609 Prospective members in Canada, Italy, and 3 The Office of the Parliamentary Ombudsmen, is the the United States may also pay by bank draft. supervisory body of the Riksdag—the Swedish If you prefer to submit a hard copy of the ap- Parliament. The Parliamentary Ombudsmen are plication, you may contact your country chosen by the Riksdag to examine whether public representative for submission instructions. authorities and their staff comply with the laws and Country reps are listed on page 2. other statutes governing their actions. The Ombudsmen exercise this supervision by

26 Clarity 67 May 2012 A plain perspective on legal translation

Víctor González-Ruiz documents in both languages, with the principle of clarity in mind. Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain I am convinced that translators can greatly 1. Introduction benefit from the plain-language approach. Freed from having to mimic the unnatural For the past ten years, I have been lecturing conventions of legal writing, they can focus on my legal-translation students on how to write the genuine technicalities of their documents target versions of legal texts in a plain style. and deliver texts which follow, unless other- Every year, this has brought about some con- wise required, the ordinary grammar and lexis troversy in the classroom, since writing in a of the target tongue. Translation trainees, in plain style runs counter to two unwritten particular, can involve themselves in the intri- principles of legal translation: first, that trans- cacies of the law without having to submit to lators should translate literally, almost the obscurity of its language. In all cases, how- word-by-word, in order not to ‘interfere’ with ever, translators must carry out a great deal of the legal content of the source text; and sec- research to confidently apply a plain-language ond, that they should copy the conventional strategy at any point in their activity. To this style of parallel texts in the target language. In end, I strongly advise my students to further a standard legal-translation class, this means specialise in the field of law and to carefully that students will not be able to deviate from study any available bibliography on the sub- the convoluted and redundant style of English ject. texts (in this case, English is the source language), and that the resulting Spanish 2. Plain translation strategies translations will resemble the equally elaborate and unclear Spanish legal documents. Based on plain-language techniques, I provide students with a set of plain translation strate- So when, at the beginning of the term, I ask gies aimed at the critical analysis of the source my students to examine all texts involved in a text and its rendering into a clear and precise given translation task from the critical per- target text. First of all, however, I remind them spective of plain language, they frequently that plain language is not equivalent to over- react by casting some doubts on the accept- simplified or simplistic language, but rather to ability of plain translations. I reply to these straightforward and precise communication. doubts by using many of the arguments found This starting point will demand from transla- in the literature on plain language, and by tors the use of all resources in the target making them consider the absurdity of em- language as wisely as possible if they are to ploying an obscure language on purpose. deliver reasonable target texts. By ‘reason- They are soon persuaded that by writing in a able,’ I mean translations which are carefully plain style they can also deliver acceptable written, appropriate to the particular commu- translations in which the whole load of legal nicative acts, and attentive to the needs of information in the source text is still faithfully sensible ordinary readers, whether lawyers or rendered. From that moment on, I encourage lay people. them to ‘deconstruct’ complex documents in the source language and to ignore parallel In accordance with these ideas, the strategies I texts overpacked with archaic formulas. That use in the classroom do not move far from the is to say, I ask them to read and analyse all basic principles of good writing. In particular, source and target texts, as well as parallel they address two of the maladies which tor- ment translators of legal texts more frequently

Clarity 67 May 2012 27 than those in other areas: the use of very long When cutting up long sentences, translators and complex sentences, and the abundance of should always keep the ‘thread of sense’ of the rare and ceremonial expressions. Contrary to source text (i.e. how the diverse meanings in popular belief, it is the former which affects the source text are interconnected). To achieve comprehension in the greatest degree: the this, (a) the punctuation marks which are meaning of archaic formulas and terms can be newly inserted in the target text should not traced through research, but the sense behind tamper with the ‘progression of meaning’ of an ambiguous sentence will always remain the source text, and (b) linking words and uncertain. phrases should be added to fill possible gaps of sense and to reinforce this progression. What follows is a brief description of this set of strategies, which are rooted in the multiple (c) Rearrange long modifiers and parentheses suggestions contained in the literature on A further difficulty awaits translators within plain language. When facing problems that the now shorter sentences. In the style of a are not covered by these strategies, students ‘matryoshka’ doll, these often contain a suc- are encouraged to survey the latter body of cession of modifiers nested inside one another. work to find a feasible solution. As has been Guided by the principle of clarity, and always said, students (as translators-to-be) are asked respectful of the ‘thread of sense’ of the source to deliver clear and comprehensible transla- text, translators can put some of the informa- tions by applying the following (or, if tion conveyed in the modifiers in a separate appropriate, other) techniques. sentence. Let us use a complex piece of legal (a) Identify the key elements of a sentence drafting as an example. In this sample from a separation agreement, a fairly simple sentence It is not within the scope of a translator’s with a clear meaning (‘the parties waive their work or ability to rewrite a legal text from rights’) is drowned by its author in a sea of scratch. But translators, when preparing the modifiers and parentheses. source text for translation, can still manipulate and rearrange its more complex pieces to ease Example 1 the process of rendering them into a foreign Each party, individually and for his or her language. To do this, it is essential to first heirs, executors, administrators, successors and identify the key elements of long sentences assigns, hereby waives, releases and and paragraphs by answering the question relinquishes any and all claims, rights or posed by Wydick (2005: 15)1: ‘Who is doing interests as a surviving spouse in or to any what to whom in this sentence?’ The answer property, real or personal, which the other to this question should lead us to clearly party owns or possesses at death, or to which enunciating the actor, the action, and the the other party or his or her estate may be object of the action. By doing this, we are un- entitled. veiling the pillars of long and ill-punctuated sentences. If we know their internal structure, By applying the procedure to find the key ele- we will be more aware of the meanings we ments of the sentence, we would come up must convey later in the process of translation. with the following structure: ‘Each party’ (actor), ‘waives, releases and relinquishes’ (b) Cut up long sentences and use punctua- (action), ‘any and all claims, rights or inter- tion marks properly ests’ (object). All the other words amount to Once we have disclosed what lies at the heart various kinds of limitations on how to inter- of the sentence, we are in a better position to pret these key elements. On the one hand, rearrange the sense of the source text in a ‘individually and for his or her heirs, execu- plainer and clearer fashion. In the case of very tors, administrators, successors and assigns’ long sentences, translators should start by modifies the actor. On the other hand, the ob- dividing them into shorter bits. In conjunction ject of the action is restricted by a list of with this, translators should use punctuation successively modifying phrases and relative marks in the target text abundantly and clauses: (a) ‘as a surviving spouse’; (b) ‘in or to adequately, and irrespective of whether the any property, real or personal’; (c) ‘which the source text is improperly punctuated (or punc- other party owns or possesses at death’; and tuated at all). This makes reading easier and (d) ‘to which the other party or his or her es- meanings flow more naturally. tate may be entitled’. Following the principle

28 Clarity 67 May 2012 of rearranging sentences by cutting them up the same spirit, any false term of art found in in pieces, and placing some of the non-key target parallel texts should be cast aside. information in a separate sentence, we could The same also applies to Latin and rare for- prepare this agreement provision for transla- eign words with no technical meaning, and to tion as follows: redundant coupled synonyms. Example 2 (e) Replace ceremonial forms of expression Each party waives, releases, and relinquishes with plain alternatives any and all claims, rights or interests which Taking into account the premise that many le- they may have as a surviving spouse in or to gal formulas are fossilised and meaningless any property. This property refers to any forms of expression, plain-language transla- property, real or personal, which the other tors are expected to search for the sense party owns or possesses at death, or to which behind the formulas used in the source text the other party or his or her estate may be (i.e. unveil its function within the whole text), entitled. The parties waive these claims, rights and then translate this meaning into the target and interests individually and for his or her language in plain words. For example, ‘Know heirs, executors, administrators, successors, all men by these presents’ is only a convention and assigns. which signals the beginning of the document Although the resulting sentences may be where it appears, with no technical meaning longer than the original provision in the num- attached to it. If we were to translate it, the ber of words, they also result in a much clearer heading of the target text (revealing the title of piece of text. They present the information in the document) would suffice to fulfil the func- an ordered manner (most significant message tion of this formula, that is, indicate to the first, ancillary details last), and the reader is recipients that they are about to read a certain made well aware of what modifies what in type of text. each sentence. In target cultures featuring a conservative (d) Identify authentic terms of art stance on language similar to that shared by English-speaking countries, translators should Beyond the syntactic level, rare words and for- also discard any old-fashioned formulas avail- mulas also populate the nightmares of legal able in conventionally drafted parallel texts. translators. Not all of these words and formu- This strategy should be followed even when a las have a technical meaning, and many of formula with a similar function exists in the them do not provide any real sense at all but target language, which is likely to happen if simply a ceremonial sound or connotation. To the relevant legal cultures are close to each give lexical words their fair share of signifi- other. cance in the target text, translators analysing the source text should devote enough time to Ceremony in legal language, however, is not distinguishing authentic legal terms of art, or limited to the use of formulas. Redundant and terms with a high degree of legal precision, stiff forms of expression occur everywhere in from merely pompous words. The former are legal communication. As a final example, I hardly ever (if at all) replaceable with ordi- will suggest how redundancy can be avoided nary words, and should be treated with in the following sentence from a separation special diligence. In these cases, the translator agreement: is transferring genuine legal meanings across Example 3 languages, and these should be conveyed as accurately as possible. Each party shall have the right to dispose of the property of such party by last will and However, many of the seemingly technical testament in such manner as such party may words employed by legal practitioners are not deem proper in the sole discretion of such party, real terms of art, and they can be substituted with the same force and effect as if the other with plain words with no loss of meaning or party had died. validity. In these cases, translators should ‘deconstruct’ the traditional term in search of To start with, redundant coupled synonyms its true significance (if there is any!), and then (‘last will and testament’, and ‘force and ef- simply render this plain meaning into the tar- fect’) should be reduced to single words (‘will’ get language by using target plain words. In and ‘force’). Next, the repetition of ‘such

Clarity 67 May 2012 29 party’, which adds not precision but dullness the entry should be incorporated: does it have to the text, could be replaced with appropriate a genuine technical meaning? Is it normally pronouns or phrases equivalent to ‘this par- used because it is necessary, or only because it ticular party’, depending on its position and is conventional? Can it be replaced with a the restrictions of the target language. Finally, plain alternative with no loss of meaning? the reiteration of ideas present in ‘in such It is also worth considering any feedback that manner as such party may deem proper in the translators may have received from clients or sole discretion of such party’ is far from being readers of their translations with respect to the technical; in this case, a simple ‘as each of use of plain language. In this regard, they them wishes’ would do. Once it has been should always defend the plain language stripped off its redundant features, the source choices they make in their translations, for ex- text can be more easily rendered into the tar- ample, by using some of the arguments get language. presented in the literature on plain language. (f) Just focus on the language, do not meddle By defending the case for plain language with with the arrangement of lists or paragraphs well-grounded explanations, translators will be contributing to a change in their clients’ Even though the rearrangement of wearisome rigid views on legal language. layouts may be tempting for translators, we should confine our endeavours for clarity to 3. The view of the translators’ potential the language we use in the target text. We may clients: the lawyers find that the source document is poorly organised, but we should also be aware that As far as Spanish lawyers are concerned, the usually the original piece of writing is already use of plain language is not even a matter of a finished and operational text when we get concern. For them, language as it is guarantees hold of it. If we divide the paragraphs in the professional success, and any call for reform is source text into several shorter paragraphs or dismissed as synonymous with legal uncer- add new bullet-point lists to rephrase a com- tainty. However, as I have found out in plex inventory of legal circumstances, the successive surveys, Spanish lawyers think that resulting target text will differ in its surface plain-language translations are more efficient from the original document and, as a result, in terms of language, and convey the legal the client will not accept it as a valid render- content of source documents more properly ing of it. For example, a process of negotiation than conventionally drafted translations. This between several parties handling the source is a view that contradicts their routine text text and a rearranged target text on the same production (crammed with overlong sentences table would be doomed to failure, basically and highly unusual expressions whose literal because the participants in the discussion meaning they sometimes ignore), which, in would not be dealing with corresponding my opinion, is only prone to change if State or documents. When it comes to complex legal professional regulations requiring the use of drafting, efficient translators should devote plain language are imposed. themselves to conveying a target text with a In any case, whether lawyers are expressly clearer language, never to restructuring the prepared to accept plain language or not, poor or confusing layout of the original piece. translators should take a step forth and take (g) Compile information about the technical part in the process of language reform. Like or redundant nature of words in your glos- private lawyers and legislative drafters, trans- sary lators provide the legal system with texts that become part of that system. Their texts (i.e. When compiling their bilingual glossaries, their translations) influence, and are influ- translators should pay particular attention to enced by, all other texts which, belonging to whether an apparently technical word is a real that system, are in contact with them. When term of art or just an instance of ceremonial translators write translations in a clear style, expression, both in the source and the target they are introducing samples of simpler lan- languages. Then, apart from other particulars guage into the network of documents that about how and when the word or phrase in make up the workload of lawyers or judges. question is used, commentaries about the This is advantageous in two ways: firstly, in a form and relevance of the word or words in system with such a high degree of

30 Clarity 67 May 2012 intertextuality, legal practitioners may follow Víctor González-Ruiz is a suit and apply some of the plain language lecturer in the field of legal strategies to their own documents; and, sec- translation at the Universidad ondly, lay clients can understand (at least to a de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, where he moderate extent) the translations they are pay- obtained his PhD degree in ing for. Translation in 2002. For the past 16 years, he has also © V Gonzalez 2012 worked as a part-time [email protected] traductor-intérprete jurado (an official translator and Endnotes interpreter in Spain). He is 1 Wydick, R. C. (2005) Plain English for Lawyers. 5th particularly committed to achieving clarity in legal ed. Durham, North Carolina: Carolina Academic translations, and has made it the focus of his teaching. Press. Plain language is also the subject of a great part of his research, which he has reported in several international conferences and publications.

Clarity 67 May 2012 31 The Korean initiative for easy-to-understand laws

Hakkie Jang terminology and expressions, as well as viola- tions of language norms. General Legislative Affairs Division Ministry of the Government Legislation, Korea To achieve the rule of law, the public must be able to understand the laws easily. However, Background and purpose of initiative due to the reasons stated above, Korean laws are extremely difficult to understand, even for Background those who have completed mandatory educa- Korea has long used hanja, or Chinese charac- tion. Given this background, many have ters, in its literary system. In particular, the suggested that the country must enact laws legal language contains a great deal of Chi- that are easy for the public to understand. nese characters. Following modernization of Purpose the country, the wide use of hangeul, Korea’s native alphabet, has made it difficult for the The purpose is to make laws that are easily general public to understand laws that are read and understood by anyone who has com- predominantly in Chinese characters. pleted mandatory education (graduating from middle school or higher). Hangeul was promulgated by King Sejong, By replacing difficult Chinese-character and the fourth monarch of the Joseon Dynasty Japanese-style words and expressions with (the dynasty was ruled by the Yi royal plain Korean language and improving sen- family for 519 years from 1392 to 1910), in tence structures, the ultimate goal is to move 1446. Before the invention of Hangeul, the away from a culture of law overseen by legal Korean language had been written in and public-administration professionals to- logographic Chinese characters, which ward one where the public can be a key were difficult for the common people to player. learn. The phonetic Hangeul symbols were designed so that even a commoner could Initiative update learn to read and write easily. Initiative for easy-to-understand laws Following the nation’s liberalization from 36 • Initiative for Easy-to-understand Laws Five- years of Japanese colonial rule, Korea’s mod- Year Plan (2006-2010) ern laws were enacted in large part based on • Plans are being established and Japanese laws. This resulted in preponderance implemented to make about 4,000 existing of Japanese-style legal terminology in Chinese laws easily understood by the public. characters and of Japanese-style expressions in Korean laws. • Acts: Over the last five years, from 2006 to 2010, about a thousand of 1,100 or so Moreover, it was often the case that new laws current Acts were re-written and their were enacted using translated versions of for- drafts submitted to the National Assembly eign statutes, resulting in ungrammatical for approval terms and wording that contravened the rules of common Korean usage. • Subordinate statutes: From 2006 to 2013, about 2,600 of 2,900 or so current In the process of enactment, lawmakers and subordinate statutes will also be republic officials were more prone to rigid writ- written. ing, giving no consideration to the norms. This practice led to laws fraught with difficult

32 Clarity 67 May 2012 Initiative outcome (as of May 2, 2011) Types of re-writing and examples • Acts 1) Spelling out Chinese characters in Korean • From 2006 to 2010, 976 Acts were rewritten alphabet and their drafts submitted to the National • Chinese characters must be spelled out in Assembly. Korean alphabet. • As of April 30, 2011, 697 Acts were passed • If the use of a word in Korean, which is by the National Assembly, promulgated phonetic, renders the meaning ambiguous, and have gone into force. At present, 178 then the word’s equivalent in Chinese drafts, excluding 101 drafts that were characters must be given inside parentheses abrogated when the National Assembly for clarity of meaning. term ended, are pending at the National Assembly. Example 1: Spelling out Chinese characters in • Subordinate statutes Korean alphabet • From 2006 to 2010, about 1,100 or so subordinate statutes (Presidential Decrees, Prime Minister Decrees, Ministerial ordinances) were re-written. In a public opinion survey conducted in 2010 to analyze the effects of the initiative, about 70% of respondents found that expressions in 2) Replacing difficult terminology with plain post-initiative statutes were easier to under- terminology stand than those in pre-initiative statutes. • Chinese-character or Japanese-style Criteria for re-writing and examples Chinese-character terms that are hard to Criteria for re-writing understand must be replaced with plain, familiar Korean words. In 2006, the “Criteria for Re-writing Easy-to- understand Laws” was established after • Equivalents in the Korean language must be collecting views of legal professionals and Ko- actively identified and used. If no equivalent is available, then the meaning must be rean language specialists, and in consultation with the National Assembly. written out for better understanding. General Principles Example 2: Difficult Chinese-character words • Plain: Difficult Chinese-character or Japanese-style Chinese-character words, technical terms, and foreign words must be replaced with plain Korean words. • Clear: Expressions must be clear and logical, The words on the left and right sides above and have meaning that can be understood both mean “delete (a text in whole or in part) on the first read. by crossing a red line through it”. However, the Korean expression on the right is much • Correct: Korean spelling rules, standard easier to understand than its Chinese-charac- language regulations, notation of foreign ter equivalent on the left. words and other language norms must be faithfully followed. • A public opinion survey on the above example showed that a majority of • Common: Literary styles and translated respondents found the new version easier to styles must be re-written in a commonly understand, with 59.3% of respondents used, familiar, and fluid style. answering, ‘New version is much easier to understand,’ and 29.2% answering, ‘New version is easier to understand’.

Clarity 67 May 2012 33 sively long will be reorganized with umbering Response on example 2 in percentage for clarity and readability. Old version is easier to Old version is much easier Example 4, Easy sentence 1: From passive sen- understand, 1.8 to understand, 1.7 tence to active sentence No difference, 8 Before In case the exclusive possession is jointly owned by several persons, the joint owners shall designate a person to execute voting rights at the assembly of manager groups. After

New version is easier to New version is much In case several persons jointly own the understand, 29.2 easier to understand, 59.3 exclusive possession, the joint owners shall designate a person to execute voting rights at the assembly of manager groups.

Example 3: Japanese-style words For example 3 above, in which an awkward passive sentence (before) is changed to an active one (after), 83.8% of respondents said the new version was easier to understand.

Response on example 4, Easy sentence 1 in • The words on the left and right sides above percentage both mean “applicant.” However, Korean people find the Korean word on the right to Old version is easier to understand, 1.7 Old version is much easier be much more conventional and easy to to understand, 0.7 understand than the Japanese-style word on No difference, 13.8 the left. • In a public opinion survey on the above example, 96.0% of respondents found the new wording to be easier to understand.

Response on example 3 in percentage Old version is easier to understand, 1.3 Old version is much New version is easier to New version is much No difference, 2.3 easier to understand, 0.3 understand, 51.8 easier to understand, 32

• Reason for choosing the old version: • I am familiar with the Chinese characters. • Reason for choosing the new version: • The Chinese-character word that means “several persons” is replaced with a plain New version is New version is much Korean word. easier to understand, 21 easier to understand, 75 • It is easy to understand. Example 5, Easy sentence 2: From noun predi- 3) Rewriting difficult, complex sentences into cate to verb predicate clear and easy sentences Before Whenever possible, passive sentences will be changed to active ones. Sentences will be An object whose ownership or possession ended with verb predicates rather than with is prohibited by law cannot be asked for noun predicates. Sentences that are exces- return.

34 Clarity 67 May 2012 After For the example above, in which a lengthy provision is broken down into items for clar- An object whose ownership or possession ity, 84.3% of respondents said the new version is prohibited by law may not be returned. was easier to understand. For the example above, in which a noun predicate (“requires the return”) was changed to a Response to example 6, Use of numbering, by verb predicate (“return”), 78.5% of respon- percentage dents said the new version was easier to understand. Old version is easier to Old version is much easier understand, 6.7 to understand, 0.7 Response on example 5, Easy sentence 2 by No difference, 8.3 percentage

Old version is much easier to understand, 2.2 Old version is easier to New version is much understand, 4.5 easier to understand, 14.8

New version is much New version is easier to easier to understand, 35 understand, 49.3

No difference, 33.7 Limitations and future directions New version is easier to understand, 44.8 Limitations As a result of changes in terms and sentences, • Reason for choosing the old version: the initiative has helped to make legal texts easier and more natural to read. However, its • The new version is redundant, and I impact is limited because the descriptive cannot understand it on the first read. structure of legal texts has been retained. • The old version is more in line with what I Future directions usually use. Legal texts will be complemented with tables, • Reason for choosing the new version: figures, and formulas for greater clarity and • The Chinese-character word is explained readability. in plain language. • It is easy to understand.

Example 6: Use of numbering Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act Article 2 (Definitions) Article 2 (Definitions) 5. The term “executive” means a 5. The term “executive” means a person director, representative director, corresponding to one of the following titles: managing partner with unlimited a. Director liability, auditor or person in a b. Representative director similar position, or commercial c. Managing partner with unlimited liability employer, such as a manager, etc., d. Auditor who is capable of executing general e. Person in a position similar to any in items business of the main or branch ‘a’ through ‘d’ above. offices. f. Commercial employer, such as a manager, etc., who is capable of executing general business of the main or branch offices

Clarity 67 May 2012 35 Example 7: Descriptive sentence shown as a Example 9: Descriptive sentence organized formula into a table

Public Officials Pension Act Before Article 46 (Retirement Pension or Lump-Sum Retirement Pension) 5 The amount of a lump-sum retirement pension as prescribed in Customs ActArticle 154 (Categories of paragraph (3) shall be the amount calculated by adding the amount Bonded Areas) Bonded areas shall be cate- equivalent to 65/10,000 of the amount obtained by multiplying the gorized into the designated bonded areas, amount of standard monthly income of the month which includes the licensed bonded areas and general bonded day before the retirement day, for every one year of the number of years areas, and the designated bonded area is which deducts five years from the number of years in office, to the amount equivalent to 975/1,000 of the amount obtained by multiplying further categorized into the designated the amount of standard monthly income of the month which includes storage place and the customs inspection the day before the retirement day by the number of years in office. In place while the licensed bonded area is such cases, the number of years in office shall not exceed 33 years. categorized into the bonded warehouse, the bonded factory, the bonded exhibition, the bonded construction work site and the bonded store. 5 The amount of a lump-sum retirement pension as prescribed in After paragraph (3) shall be computed in accordance with the following formula. Customs Act Amount of standard monthly income of the month which Article 154 (Categories of Bonded Areas) includes the day before the retirement day x Number of years in office Bonded areas shall be categorized as x [975/1000 + 65/10000 (Number of years in office–5)] shown on the table below.

Designated Designated storage place Example 8: Descriptive sentence shown as a bonded formula areas Customs inspection place

Inheritance Tax and Gift Tax Act Bonded Bonded warehouse Article 27 (Premium Taxation Pertaining to Inheritance Across Generations) Areas Bonded factory In case where the successor or testamentary donee is a lineal descendant Licensed other than a son or daughter of the person to be succeeded, an amont bonded Bonded exhibition equivalent to 30 percent of the amount calculated by multiplying the inher- areas Bonded construction itance tax amount calculated under Article 26 by the percentage of the work site property, amount inherited property (among donated property added to inherited property pursuant to the provisions of Article 13, including the Bonded store donated property received by the successor or testamentary donee), re- General bonded areas ceived or to be received by such sussessor or testamentary donee, shall be added. This article is based on the Korean presentation at the PLAIN 2011 conference in Stockholm, Sweden. Inheritance Tax and Gift Tax Act © H Jang 2012 Article 27 (Premium Taxation Pertaining to Inheritance Across Generations [email protected] and computation formula) value of property inherited by a Hakkie Jang studied ocean- Calculated lineal descendant other than a son amount of ography of resource at Jeju or daughter of the person succeeded 30 inheritance xxNational University. He has tax value of total inherited property 100 since had many different jobs— miner, sailor, construction worker and pasture employee— before becoming a civil servant in the Ministry of the Govern- ment Legislation in 1993. There, he has worked with interpreting and reviewing the legislation and been a part of the plain language work on Korean legislation. He is currently working at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. 36 Clarity 67 May 2012 Language Consultancy Training in need of interaction between universities and practitioners

Asbjørg Westum • Language politics and language planning The Department of Language Studies, • Professional internship Umeå University, Sweden • English grammar and English non-fiction This article discusses Swedish language genres consultancy training from an academic point of • Independent essay project view. In doing so, it connects to an article by Hel- As is obvious from this survey, the Language ena Englund Hjalmarsson and Karine Nicolay Consultancy Programme is in many respects a published in Clarity 64, in which the authors ad- traditional academic linguistic education. dress some important issues concerning future However, there are some crucial differences. language consultancy training (Englund The Language Consultancy Programme fo- Hjalmarsson & Nicolay 2010). cuses entirely on modern Swedish, and Since 2006, the Department of Language Stud- especially on analyzing, rewriting and pro- ies at Umeå University offers a three-year ducing non-fiction texts. Considering the bachelor programme in language consultancy. students’ future profession, it seems natural Every second year around 15 new Swedish that there should be substantial emphasis on language consultants graduate from the the improvement of their writing skills, and programme, which is substantially similar to this is of course our responsibility as educa- the Stockholm programme launched in the tion provider. For this reason we try as far as 1980’s. Both universities describe the language possible to integrate practical work with consultant as a general expert in communica- theory. Our goal is to teach students to write tion and as a combination of an information reader-friendly, clear and concise Plain Swed- clerk, researcher, journalist and teacher. ish. In addition students are trained through professional internship, often in public organi- Here follows a brief overview of the Umeå zations or public authorities, but also in the courses: private sector. • Swedish grammar • Writing courses What if students are overqualified, yet not able to do practical work? • Text linguistics and discourse analysis Still, it is not easy to live up to one’s goals. • Language technology Englund Hjalmarsson and Nicolay point out • New media and digital texts two problems with the two Swedish education programmes: on the one hand, “this education • Sociolinguistics may overqualify” the students; on the other • Language politics and language planning hand, the programmes have “the common academic problem of being too theoretical to • Workplace communication prepare students for immediate practice in the • Oral presentation workplace” (Englund Hjalmarsson & Nicolay • Pedagogy for adults 2010:28). • Psycholinguistics Englund Hjalmarsson’s and Nicolay’s criticism is indeed worth taking seriously; it is • Semantics and terminology certainly a problem if our students fail to meet • Translation the requirements when it comes to practical skills. Moreover, this is a problem that has

Clarity 67 May 2012 37 been addressed in student evaluations, and a All these factors are very useful items in the problem that we are, of course, eager to come toolbox of a language consultant, since knowl- to terms with. Consequently, Umeå University edge of them enable people to take part in is right now looking to engage experienced social debates about language and democracy, practitioners. It seems important that students language planning, language politics, multi- should meet practitioners, not only at confer- lingual society, minority languages, ences and as occasional guest lecturers, but as globalization and language, etc. In my view, teachers and supervisors in practical sessions. language consultants should play a very im- In this way we hope to improve the situation. portant role, and should be listened to, in But of course we will always have to accept these matters. As an example, there are several the fact that no one is a full-fledged profes- reasons plain language is a good thing, and a sional on graduation day. language consultant can easily explain why, using recent psycholinguistic research and The alleged risk of over-qualifying the stu- theories about society. dents is more difficult to comprehend, though. I would agree to this if the only target was to From a societal point of view, it is a good thing teach students how to write Plain Swedish, or that most language consultants leave clear, well-organized and straight-forward academia after graduation and work within all texts for the intended audience. But in my kinds of practice domains. But there are many opinion, this is not enough. Since the potential reasons there should be a very close contact work field of the Swedish Language Consult- between academia and language consultants, ant is so broad and multi-faceted, as it one of them being that academia is the place comprises the private as well as the public sec- where, for instance, future lawyers, econo- tors, it seems only reasonable that the mists are technologists are trained. As we all students’ training should be fairly comprehen- know, these are among the target groups for sive. It is momentous that this particular plain language. category of students is equipped with a solid We need some of our language consultants to knowledge of all relevant aspects of the Swed- stay in academia to teach future students, and ish language, oral and written exert some plain-language influence over our communication, including aspects of a multi- future lawyers, economists and others. More- lingual society. over, it is an undisputed fact that we need more research about plain language, about Academia’s advantages and disadvan- workplace communication and about writing tages as provider of professional training reader-friendly documents. Who could be bet- Admittedly, academia has its flaws, not least ter suited for this task than examined when it comes to teaching practical skills. language consultants? Also, academic skills tend to be overempha- sized even in professional training classes and A call for better interaction between seminars. This has proven to be true not only academia and practitioners when it comes to language consultancy. As As I said above, Englund Hjalmarsson and said above, it is crucial for universities as edu- Nicolay have brought to the fore some chal- cation providers to give experienced lenges concerning the training of language practitioners a much more prominent position consultants which really need to be addressed. than has been the case until now. Apart from We ought to listen when experienced practi- teaching practical skills, they should always tioners claim that “[f]or professionals to be be asked to take an active part in the revision effective, they must move beyond acquiring of our curriculum. knowledge and developing skills to demon- Nevertheless, a strong academic foundation is strating they can apply that knowledge or necessary, because there are some important skill” (Englund Hjalmarsson & Nicolay things that only academia can provide: 2010:27). For this purpose we have to put some effort into improving interaction and • critical thinking in relation to language productive working relationship between research practitioners and universities. Of course, uni- • new theories about culture and society versities are responsible for this to happen. • discussion of recent linguistic research

38 Clarity 67 May 2012 © A Westum 2012 [email protected] Asbjørg Westum, PhD is senior lecturer in Scandinavian languages. Among other courses, she teaches rhetoric, writing, semantics and terminology. Since 2010 she is programme coordinator for the Swedish Language Consultancy Programme at the Department of Language Studies, Umeå University. Her research interest is primarily in semantics, literacy and narrative studies.

From Joe Kimble Joe Kimble has finished his new book, Writing Member news for Dollars, Writing to Please: The Case for Plain Language in Business, Government, and Law. It summarizes 50 studies (twice as many as in his 1997 article) showing the benefits of plain language for everyone. The book also summa- Traffic communications study rizes 40 historical highlights in plain language and debunks the 10 biggest myths about plain A new article on Plain Language Commission’s language. The book should available soon website examines the language and layout of from the publisher, Carolina Academic Press, private parking signs, tickets and enforcement and from Amazon.com. letters in the UK, finding that they are sometimes unclear and misleading. Yet bombastic From Charles R. Calleros and legalistic wording is only part of the intriguing story of how private parking compa- In August, Professor Charles R. Calleros nies manage to persuade drivers to part with published CONTRACTS: CASES, TEXT, AND their money for non-official penalties. ‘Phoney PROBLEMS (Carolina Acad. Press [Digital Book] fines and dodgy signs take drivers for a ride’, 2011). The book’s Plain English content takes by Martin Cutts, is available via the News & students through the law in the manner in Views section of www.clearest.co.uk, and which they would encounter and apply the under ‘Publications > Articles’. Martin also law in practice: (1) treatise-style background explains the murky background to signs that information; (2) specific case law and statu- catch out millions of drivers on BBC1’s inves- tory text; and (3) application to exercises in a tigative show Watchdog—see YouTube at problem-method. See http://www.cap- http://www.youtube.com/ press.com/isbn/9781611631425. He also watch?v=TwFdPYxvJAA published two articles in recent months: Introducing Civil Law Students to Com- From Peter Butt mon Law Legal Method Through Selected Issues in Contract Law, 60 J. L. Educ. 641 (2011); Toward In April–May, Peter Butt taught a course on Harmonization and Certainty in Choice-of-Law plain language at the University of Cambridge, Rules for International Contracts: Should the U.S. as part of a Masters of Law degree. In August, Adopt the Equivalent of Rome I?, 28 Wis. Int’l L. he will be teaching a 6-week course in legisla- J. 639 (2011). tive drafting at the University of Sydney, to specially selected African legislative drafters. From Robert Linskey In September, he will be giving a paper to a conference in Amsterdam on attempts to in- In the past year, Robert Linsky became a life troduce a uniform, plain-language land fellow of the communications research insti- registration statute into Australia. tute, was asked to be a member of the expert advisory board for IC Clear, was elected to the

Clarity 67 May 2012 39 board of PLAIN, and was reelected to the board ship is mainly based in Europe, but there are of IDA. Robert hosts an information-design many members from all over the world in- blog at http://informationdesigndoc.blogspot. cluding the USA and several Asian countries. com. The next Euleta Conference will be held in Osnabruck University in Germany between 31 From Helen Osborne August and 2 September 2012. Details about New Clarity member Helen Osborne’s publi- the Conference can be found on the cation Health Literacy from A to Z, 2nd edition website www.euleta.de. Non-members of was selected to receive a 2012 Will Solimene Euleta and especially Clarity members would Award for Excellence in Medical Communica- be very welcome to attend. As both a Clarity tion from the New England Chapter of the and Euleta member if you would like more in- American Medical Writers Association. Helen formation about Euleta please email me is eligible to receive the highly competitive at [email protected]. Neil Duane Award for Distinction in Biomedi- From Margrethe Kvarenes, The Norwe- cal Communication, which will be announced at the AMWA Awards luncheon (scheduled gian Language Council after this issue of Clarity goes to print). The project “Plain Language in Norway’s Civil Service” held its second big clear-language From Daphne Perry conference in Oslo, Norway, in February. This A Clarity breakfast was held on 8 February, five-year project is run by the Language Council with the biggest turnout so far. Even this was of Norway and the Agency for Public Man- exceeded by the 100 in-house lawyers—not agement and e-Government. The conference Clarity members—who accepted the invita- gathered close to 300 participants and focused tion to a repeat presentation in April. mainly on clear language in legal texts. Dr. Attendees learned more about the Pathclearer Neil James was the conference’s key speaker, approach to contracts. The speaker’s docu- and the Plain Language Award was handed ments can be found on Clarity’s website. In out by the Minister of Government adminis- addition to our regular breakfasts in London, tration and Reform. we’re planning a joint event for the autumn with the Statute Law Society. And if From Mark Starford any UK Clarity member would like to From Mark Starford, Board Resource Center, organise an event outside London, that would about a new collaborative project developed be great—please ask them to contact me. by our group for a large CA nonprofit organi- ([email protected].) zation and federally funded agency:

From Cheryl Stephens Individuals with varied backgrounds can play a role in shaping their world through partici- International Plain Language Day will be cel- pation in governance. The new Boards for ebrated for the 2nd year on October 13. Now All online video training series provides an ac- is the time to start planning your own local cessible plain language instructional to learn events. An online program will be broadcast about basic boardsmanship. With straightfor- also. Visit https://www.facebook.com/ ward content the video series and booklets are internationalplainlanguageday to keep up designed to teach functions of effective leader- with developments. ship and governance. Boards for All, available in three languages (English, Spanish, and From Alan Jones, Euleta Committee Mandarin) and screen reading access, it in- Member cludes internet video training, worksheets and The European Legal English Association resources that guide users to perform effec- (Euleta) is a not-for-profit organisation formed tively as a member of a board, committee or in 2006. Its main objects are to promote the un- community council. It is believed that expand- derstanding of Legal English and improve the ing access to fuller engagement for some, by quality of its use. It does this by holding work- providing access to understandable informa- shops and seminars, publishing newsletters tion and support, enriches opportunities for and generally furthering discussion among all. Located at www.brcenter.org (May 2012). Legal English teachers. The growing member-

40 Clarity 67 May 2012 Conference news IC Clear is an EU-funded project to develop an international clear communication course. The project started in October 2011. The pilot is expected in September 2013. The IC Clear partners are higher education institutions and a language The 2012 Clarity Conference: institute from Austria, Belgium, Portugal, Washington DC, National Press Canada, and Estonia (www.icclear.net). Club With the course IC Clear responds to the increase in demand for clear, easy-to-understand Clarity’s fifth international conference will be information and the lack of well-trained clear held in 2012 from May 21–23 at the National communication professionals. Because the Press Club, a unique venue in Washington DC. partners want the course to cater for the current Clarity will co-host the conference with the and future training needs of practitioners they Center for Plain Language (www.centerforplain will survey them and other stakeholders to language.org) and Scribes—The American Soci- define the course learning outcomes. ety of Legal Writers (http://www.scribes.org/). Depending on the outcome of the survey, option- Theme and focus al modules might includelegal plain language, The conference will celebrate the US Plain communicating with special audiences, govern- Writing Act. We will explore the strategies that ment communication, document testing, clear people everywhere are using to implement communication in European institutes, clear plain language. US government agencies that communication in English, project management, will be there to discuss their programs include teaching clear communication, introducing the Internal Revenue Service and the Depart- clear communication to your organization, in- ment of Homeland Security. Read about the stalling a clear communication policy. Act at http://centerforplainlanguage.org/ The course will be designed for those employed plain-writing-laws/plain-writing-act-of-2010/. in a communications industry or in a position Program where producing clear documents is essential. Thanks to the flexible structure of the course and The conference schedule will run as follows: the use of blended learning techniques, students • Monday May 21—evening welcome can have flexible study schedules. This makes reception; the course especially appealing to people who have full-time work and family responsibilities. • Tuesday May 22—all day conference sessions; Students will mainly ‘learn by doing’ and work on real life assignments, inspired by their daily • Tuesday May 22—evening dinner; and tasks and activities in their actual work place. • Wednesday May 23—all day conference Students who don’t have this opportunity can sessions. work on assignments in different fields. The conference program will feature high- The complete course awards graduates with an profile speakers from both the US and abroad IC Clear certificate in clear communication. addressing legally-relevant topics including Members of the Advisory Board are Christo- those highlighted here: pher Balmford, Deborah Bosley, Frances Gordon, Joe Kimble, Robert Linsky, Karen The Honorable Lee Rosenthal, USA Schriver, Ginny Redish, Karel Van der Waarde. Judge Rosenthal is a federal judge on the With the support of the Life Long Learning United States District Court for the Southern Program of the European Union District of Texas. She was chair of the Standing Committee of Federal Rules during the restyl- ing of the rules of civil procedure and rules of evidence.

Clarity 67 May 2012 41 Jodi Daniel • plain language, a highlight being Legal Writing in Plain English: A Text with Jodi Daniel has served as Director in the Office Exercises. of the National Coordinator for Health Infor- mation Technology (ONC), Department of Amy Friend, USA Health and Human Services (HHS), since Oc- tober 2005. She leads ONC’s regulatory and A Director with Promontory, a strategy, risk legislative activities and is responsible for con- management, and regulatory consulting firm. sidering and addressing the policy Formerly Chief Counsel, U. S. Senate Banking implications of key health information tech- Committee; Assistant Chief Counsel, Office of nology activities. Before joining HHS, Ms. the Controller of the Currency; and General Daniel was a health care associate at Ropes & Counsel, U.S. House Committee on Banking, Gray, where she advised health care providers Finance, and Urban Affairs. and payers on transactional, regulatory, and legislative issues. Gail Hillebrand Gail Hillebrand is the Associate Director of the Eamonn Moran, Hong Kong Consumer Education and Engagement Divi- Law Draftsman, Department of Justice, Hong sion of the Consumer Financial Protection Kong. Chief Parliamentary Counsel at Office Bureau. Ms. Hillebrand previously served as of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel, Victoria, the Financial Services Campaign Manager and Australia a Senior Attorney at the West Coast Office of Consumers Union, nonprofit publisher of Dr Neil James, Australia Consumer Reports magazine.

Executive Director of the Plain English Foun- Dr Annetta Cheek, USA dation. Author of Writing at Work. Chair of the International Plain Language Working Chair of the Center for Plain Language. Dr Group. Cheek worked for the US Federal government from 1980 until 2007, including four years as Dr Susan Kleimann, USA the chief plain language expert on Vice Presi- dent Gore’s National Partnership for Founder and President of Kleimann Commu- Reinventing Government. nication Group, focusing on clear and usable communication through consumer- Candice Burt, South Africa centered qualitative research, plain language, and visual communication. Vice Chair of Center Clarity’s President, Plain-language lawyer and for Plain Language. Past Director of Document co-founder of Simplified, a firm producing Design Center. plain legal language in South Africa.

Prof Joe Kimble, USA Christopher Balmford, Australia Former president of Clarity. Editor of The Clarity’s immediate past-President. Founder Scribes Journal of Legal Writing. Law profes- of Cleardocs and Words & Beyond. Christo- sor at Thomas Cooley Law School and author pher has run plain-language cultural-change of Lifting the Fog of Legalese. Prof Kimble led projects for the UN’s International Labour Or- the work of redrafting the Federal Rules of ganization, the European Central Bank, and Civil Procedure and the Federal Rules of Evi- many major law firms. dence. • For the complete program, visit https:// sites.google.com/site/claritydc2012/ Bryan Garner, USA program Founder of Law Prose. A legal writing trainer • For more conference information, visit the throughout the US. Author of many books on: conference website at https:// • legal writing, a highlight being Garner’s sites.google.com/site/claritydc2012/. Dictionary of Legal Usage; • And to register online, either use the links • all writing, a highlight being from the conference page, or go directly to Garner’s Dictionary of American Usage; and the registration page: http:// www.natalieshear.com/clarity/ 42 Clarity 67 May 2012 Dinner and ClearMark Awards The conference dinner will be on the evening Meet the Clarity of May 22 at the National Press Club at 7 pm. Register at www.centerforplainlanguage.org/ committee members events/

Introducing the Clarity committee Clarity seminar in Stockholm: In this issue, we will begin to introduce you to Language, a tool for the modern the Clarity committee members. Of course, you lawyer can always find their contact information at the beginning of the journal. But this section will Date: June 14th introduce you to the people behind the names, titles, and email addresses. Here are just a few Time: 09.00-13.00, including breakfast and of our Clarity committee members . . . we hope lunch you enjoy this new feature! Place: Sjofartshuset, Skeppsbron 10, Stockholm (http:// Country representatives www.sjofartshuset.se/) Nicole Fernbach Fee: 1,850 SEK (excl. VAT) [email protected] Canada Program Nicole-Marie Fernbach. How Plain Language can Enhance Your Bachelor’s degree in Law Organisation’s Brand and Reduce the Legal and Bachelor’s degree in Risk English Literature Christopher Balmford (BA, LLB Hons) (Université de Bordeaux, Linguistic Choices in the Practice of Law France, 1971). Master’s de- Jens Lapidus (lawyer and writer) gree in Law (Université de Montréal, 1987). Studied Registration and information: for a Master in Political [email protected] Science (1972), University of Western Ontario, Full program (in Swedish): Canada. Formerly, a legal reviser, Translation Bureau, Secretary of State of Canada (1975– http://www.clarity-international.net/ 1982). A Certified Translator (OTTIAQ), she is Sweden/kurser.html also the founder and owner of Juricom and The seminar is in English. has taught legal translation and legal writing for more than 30 years. Author of articles on clear legal writing and a book entitled “La lisibilité dans la rédaction juridique au Québec” (1990). Founder of the Centre International de Lisibilité, Montreal. Christopher Balmford [email protected] Australia Christopher Balmford —a former lawyer, from Melbourne, Aus- tralia—is the: • founder and Managing Director

Clarity 67 May 2012 43 of the plain-language training, rewriting, the French and English to communicate and cultural-change consultancy Words and through English lessons, translations and re- Beyond Pty Ltd, launched in 1999. Clients writing complex documents into plain include: major law firms, public companies, language. I am a solicitor (England and Wales) government agencies, the United Nations, and registered European lawyer. I lecture at and the European Central Bank; and Lyon III University on English law and commercial writing. I offer a legal English and • founder and former Managing Director of clear legal writing course to French lawyers online legal document provider Cleardocs Pty Ltd, launched in 2002, acquired by (approved by their national representative body, the Conseil National des Barreaux). Thomson Reuters in June 2011, see www.cleardocs.com. Christopher now Siegfried Breiter consults to Cleardocs. [email protected] Christopher is the immediate-past President Germany of Clarity. Siegfried Breiter was born Heikki Mattila in 1957 and lives Tübingen, [email protected] Germany. Since 2007, he Finland has been a self-employed teacher for German as a Heikki E. S. Mattila is Foreign Language, as well professor emeritus of le- as a copywriter. Since 2002, gal linguistics (University Siegried has served as of Lapland) and has a chief editor of Deutsch- lawyer’s background. Finnische Rundschau—the Earlier specializing in German-Finish Society’s comparative law, he to- member magazine. He has also served as a day cooperates closely copywriter and language consultant, drafting with linguists and works easy-to-read mailings and other texts, and with the problems of le- conducting in-house trainings on reader-fo- gal language. He mostly cussed writing. He has attended German conducts research of a comparative nature on language trainings in Germany, England, Fin- different languages of law. Recently, he has land and Estonia, and is a 1990 Graduate in published a general treatise which examines Adult Education. the foundations of legal linguistics; the basic functions, characteristics and terminology of Eamonn Moran legal language; and the lingua francas of law. [email protected] A second English edition of this treatise, Hong Kong “Comparative Legal Linguistics: Language of Law, Latin, Modern Lingua Francas”, will ap- My name is Eamonn pear in 2012 (Ashgate), as well as a French Moran. I have spent most version of the book. of my professional life working as a legislative Jenny Gracie drafter. For the last 4 years [email protected] or so I have been Law France Draftsman in Hong Kong. Before that I spent many I am a clear writing en- years in law drafting in thusiast—inspired by Australia. I’m originally Mark Adler’s work and from Ireland and still the Clarity conference in cling to a (sort of) Irish accent. I was “lucky” Boulogne (2005). In 2008, enough to be working in Melbourne in the Candice Burt’s firm trained mid-1980s when the Law Reform Commission me to be a clear writing of Victoria was doing its trail-blazing work on trainer. Born in the UK, I Plain English and the Law. I am still fanning now live in France. I help the flames of the fire that was then lit.

44 Clarity 67 May 2012 Myla Kaplan ing to work via Carpathians by bike. If you [email protected] ever want to visit this part of Central Europe (east of Austria including Vienna, west of Israel Slovakia) and taste some amazing wine, let me Myla Kaplan is a corpo- know. rate attorney licensed in Helena Englund Hjalmarsson Israel and the US. [email protected] She works as a legal advisor for a medical de- Sweden vice company, drafting The reference work Plain numerous contracts and Language on the web and policies in plain English. more than 12 years of pro- She also teaches legal fessional experience in the writing workshops at the field of Plain Language University of Haifa Fac- Consultancy, has made ulty of Law and the Israel Bar Continuing Helena Englund a lead- Legal Education Institute, stressing the impor- ing authority in web tance of plain language in every course. writing. She has a solid Lynda Harris theoretical background; [email protected] with the combination of a Bachelor degree in Swedish Language New Zealand Consultancy and studies in the department of Lynda is founder and education, Helena has indeed the competence director of Write Limited to promote and teach Plain Language. As part- (formerly Write Group ner and CEO at the Plain Language agency Limited), New Zealand’s Språkkonsulterna, she has gained extensive leading plain English experience in team leading, marketing and ad- business-writing com- ministration. Helena has a large network pany. Write has a broad within the Swedish circle of language cultiva- client base of public and tion and language consulting. private sector clients, Daphne Perry including some of the [email protected] country’s largest law firms. Lynda also established the WriteMark, New UK Zealand’s document quality mark, is the I’ve been a plain English founder of New Zealand’s annual plain English enthusiast since about awards, and is a member of the International 1993, when another Plain Language Working Group. member introduced me to CLARITY and to Ing. Ján Rendek Mark Adler’s [email protected] book, Clarity for Slovak Republic Lawyers. At first, I used it to become more per- I studied economics, ma- suasive, in my practice as a commercial jored in actuarial science, barrister. Then, when I moved into writing and I’ve been an IT power and training, I found it helped me write for user since 13, so my natu- the web and save time for my readers, who ral career choice was . . . were all busy lawyers. I became plain lan- you guessed it . . . legal guage co-ordinator for an international law translation! When I later firm and started arranging Clarity events in realised the gravity of my London, to meet like-minded people and learn predicament, I searched more. If you would like to help promote for insight and found it in CLARITY in the UK, email me now on Clarity. I also love travel- [email protected]. ing, great wine, raw milk, common sense, spontaneous decisions, Austria and commut- Clarity 67 May 2012 45 Prof Joseph Kimble ber of the Institute of Bankers in South Africa, [email protected] an Associate Member of the Institute of Bank- ers in Zimbabwe and a Certified Compliance USA Professional Member of both the Australasian Joseph Kimble has taught Compliance Institute and the Compliance In- legal research and drafting stitute of South Africa. He holds a Bachelor of for more than 25 years at Commerce Degree Honours in Banking from Thomas Cooley Law the University of Pretoria, a Master of Business School. He has written a Administration Degree from the University of book called Lifting the Fog Zimbabwe, a Master of Science Degree in Stra- of Legalese: Essays on Plain tegic Planning from Edinburgh Business Language, published School-Herriot Watt University, Scotland, an many articles on legal Advanced Credit Diploma from the Institute writing, and lectured of Bankers in South Africa and a Post Gradu- throughout the United ate Diploma in Law (majoring in Compliance) States and abroad. His forthcoming book, from the University of Johannesburg. He is Writing for Dollars, Writing to Please, will collect currently studying for a Doctor of Business empirical evidence about the benefits of plain Administration Degree (Strategic Planning) language in business, government, and law. with Edinburgh Business School-Herriot Watt He is the editor in chief of The Scribes Journal of University in Scotland. Legal Writing, the longtime editor of the “Plain Language” column in the Michigan Bar Journal, Committee members a past president of Clarity, and a founding di- Simon Adamyk rector of the Center for Plain Language. Since 1999, he has been the drafting consultant on Simon Adamyk is a bar- all federal court rules, and he led the work of rister at New Square redrafting the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Chambers in England, and the Federal Rules of Evidence. He has re- specialising in commer- ceived several national and international cial and chancery awards, including a 2007 and 2011 Burton litigation and advisory Award for Reform in Law for his work on the work. He read law at federal rules, and a 2007 award from the Plain Downing College, Cam- Language Association International for his bridge, and went on to leadership in the field. obtain a Master’s degree from Harvard Law Joe also collects blues and rock art and has a School. He is ranked as a leading individual in deadly 3-point shot in basketball. a number of professional guides. He is based Walter Ngonidzaishe Zure in Lincoln’s Inn in London but his practice is [email protected] international. He has been called to the Bar of the Eastern Caribbean in the British Virgin Is- Zimbabwe lands and he has attended court in the British Walter has over fif- Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, the Isle of Man teen years banking and the Privy Council, as well as advising on experience, with ex- cases and travelling to a number of other juris- pertise in corporate dictions both within Europe and further afield governance, compli- as part of his practice. ance and enterprise- wide risk management. He has worked for various organizations, including the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. He is currently the Group Executive—Gover- nance and Compliance for CBZ Holdings Limited. Walter sits on the Steering Commit- tee of the National Code on Corporate Governance. He is a Certified Associate Mem-

46 Clarity 67 May 2012 Richard Castle at [email protected] to find out more about sponsorships. Richard Castle is an En- glish solicitor. He If you cannot make it to the conference, you will qualified as a lawyer in be able to keep up with the events on Twitter the mid-1960s and has (#clarity2012). been in sole private prac- A big thank you to Clarity committee members, tice as well as employed Joe Kimble, Annetta Cheek and Christopher in government service. Balmford who have been working extremely For some years he has hard to make the conference a success. concentrated on property work and is particularly Annetta also organised a visit to the White interested in the style and House for 25 lucky Clarity members. Con- presentation of leases. Richard was a founder- gratulations to the ones whose names were member of CLARITY. picked in the draw. We look forward to hearing about your experience by email, on the Clarity He has written a number of books and articles, website forum or on the Clarity Facebook page. and lives in Cambridge UK with his kiwi wife. With Peter Butt, Richard is co-author of Modern Clarity committee meeting 2012 Legal Drafting (CUP); and is the author of Drafting Guide for Private Legal Documents, We would like to hold a committee meeting in available via Amazon. Washington. We will prepare an agenda for distribution and comment. Included on the agenda will be issues such as membership Message from the President numbers and recruitment, finances, the journal, the social media activities, the website, incor- Clarity is abuzz with activity. poration, and the 2014 conference. We have our biennial con- The date, time, venue and agenda will be cir- ference coming up next culated as soon as possible. month, the constitutional sub-committee is hard at Constitutional sub-committee work on a draft constitution, The chair of the Constitutional sub-committee, there is an online laws Eamonn Moran, reports that a first draft of the project on the go and several proposed constitution is being circulated new members have joined among the sub-committee members. Francesca our committee with the intention to promote Quint very kindly volunteered to prepare the Clarity. This message gives an update about first draft. For those of you who do not know each of these. Francesca, she is barrister practising from Radcliffe Chambers, Lincoln’s Inn. She Clarity Conference, Washington, D.C., specialises in the law relating to charities and 21–23 May 2012 similar institutions. She has long experience in Clarity’s fifth international conference is upon drafting and interpreting constitutions and us. I do hope you have booked your place for prepared the model governing documents for what promises to be an outstanding event. the Charity Law Association, now in their 3rd Apart from the many exceptional high-profile edition. speakers, it is a wonderful opportunity to meet Francesca has been a member of Clarity and of or catch up with other plain language practitio- the Statute Law Society for many years. ners and learn about the work that people are doing around the world. Thank you, Francesca. We appreciate all the work you put into the draft Constitution. You can see the program on the conference website at https://sites.google.com/site/ Online summary of laws requiring plain claritydc2012/. language There are still opportunities to sponsor the For some time, Clarity (at the suggestion of conference with different packages to suit all Annetta Cheek), has been keen to prepare an budgets. Please contact Christopher Balmford

Clarity 67 May 2012 47 online summary of laws that require plain in the middle of the conference—a true Clarity language. The aim is to cover: baby! We wish Sandra and James all the best and look forward to seeing pictures on the • all laws, whether plain language specific (as Clarity Facebook page soon. in the Swedish and US Acts) or more general (for example, Australian corporations law Clarity presence requires prospectuses to be “clear, concise and effective”); and We can be seen and heard in many channels. We have our website at http://www.clarity- • in all languages. international.net/ for news, views and plain I am happy to report that Tialda Sikkema (The language resources. There is the facebook Netherlands) and Ben Piper (Australia) have page and the Twitter account. kindly agreed to co-lead the project and to re- It is possible for everyone to add their views or port on it at Clarity 2012 in Washington DC. start conversations by any of these channels. If there are any laws in your jurisdiction that should be included in the summary, please Other Clarity activities either contact Ben and Tialda or suggest that We welcomed Prof. Gerald Delabre from France someone else in your jurisdiction does so. as a new committee member earlier this year. Ben and Tialde are looking for references to Joh Kirby has taken over from James Fisher as any laws or provisions in any laws that require our social media guru. Joh has been posting the use of plain language and how effective news about the upcoming Washington confer- these laws or provision are. ence on the Clarity Facebook page. Please visit You can email Ben at [email protected] and the page and show us your support with a few Tialde at [email protected]. deserving “Likes”.

Country representatives Daphne Perry, Eamonn Moran and Helena Englund Hjalmarsson continue to run regular We are delighted that two new country repre- Clarity breakfast meetings in London, Hong sentatives were appointed to the committee in Kong and Stockholm respectively. We urge early 2012. We welcomed Olivier Beaujean other country representatives to do the same. from Belgium and Jenny Gracie from France. Julie Clement has been editing and producing There are now 30 countries represented on the our journals for many years. We know this is a Clarity committee. mammoth task so we are grateful that Julie for Country representatives: we want to know giving up so much of her time freely (and al- about you. Please tell us what you are doing in ways with a smile) for Clarity. your country to promote Clarity and to recruit If anyone has been left out, please accept my new members. You can do this by email, posting apologies. Let me know about it and I will in- on the Clarity website forum or on the Clarity clude your information in the next message. Facebook page. Warm regards A face we will all be sorely missing at Washing- ton is the country representative of Portugal, Candice Burt Sandra Fisher-Martins. President of Clarity Sandra and her husband, James, are looking forward to welcoming a newbie to the Fisher- Martin clan. The baby is due on 22 May, right

48 Clarity 67 May 2012