by Nicole Watkins Campbell

Citizens’ trust in their governments is disappearing. Plain language can help bring it back. A researcher has called the gap between Spain’s citizens and their government “an abyss.” A similar problem is happening around the world for many reasons. One reason, however, is that governments don’t communicate well with citizens. In Canada, half of adults cannot read the information their governments write. Half.
 
Governments can rebuild the trust. They must: democracy and peace depend upon it.
Plain language can help. By communicating clearly, government show they know who their readers are and that they care about their needs. Readers tend to trust what they can understand. This why marketing writing is so easy to read. It’s also why you should consider learning about plain language: it’s good for your career.
 
Some governments have laws or regulations or policy to require or guide employees to use plain language. The ISO standard 24995 for plain language gives them another tool to build their capacity and improve their communication with citizens and other stakeholders.
 
This course will help municipal, provincial, and federal workers improve their writing or editing for the public, your boss, elected officials, worked in other governments or other departments. It will also be useful to writers or editors who offer services to government clients. 
 
Learning goals
You will learn to:
1.     identify your purpose in writing 
2.     understand your audiences’ motivations and needs
3.     use 10 writing tactics to make your writing more engaging
4.     test whether your documents are working for readers
 
I will be available by email any time and by phone or zoom if you get stuck. The self-directed course includes some videos, six marked exercises to test your learning, extra readings if you would like to go deeper, and a final assignment. A certificate is awarded for successful completion.

​Watch interview on PLA Youtube.
​
Nicole Watkins Campbell
​Instructor
[email protected]

​

​PlainLanguageAcademies.com Newsletter 23-01

 More languages, more accessibility
English courses with Kate and the Plain Language Academy team continue to expand at plainlanguageacademy.moodlecloud.com/.
 
Want to study in French? Chantale Audet and Amélie Bourret, from Autrement dit, are soon opening the doors to our French Academy, Clair et Simple.
 
Wish to study plain language in Spanish? Romina Marazzato Sparano, from Language Compass, has set up our Spanish Academy at educlaro.moodlecloud.com. 
 
Join in the learning, choose the language you prefer, and enjoy.
 
Learn to be a strategic plain language planner
The first Plain Language as a Strategic Priority Advanced course was a huge success. One student wrote: “Thank you for a fantastic course. This perspective on Plain Language is quite unique. I’ve learnt a lot.’’ Now the course is back for a second offering of advice and practice on how to integrate plain language into your organization through strategic planning.

Sarah Slabbert and Nadja Green, Plain Language Institute, SA, bring a wealth of experience and will share it in the course materials, activities and discussions. The course equips you with a portfolio of planning documents and skills to implement plain language in your organizations. You can still join in. Register now.
 
Three easy steps to enrol on Moodle
All three academies are running on Moodle. You first need your own Moodle account to register and gain access to courses. 

1. Go to the academy of your choice:
2.  plainlanguageacademy.moodlecloud.com
   Spanish: educlaro.moodlecloud.com
   French: coming soon
   and create your Moodle account. Once it’s set up, just log in.
3. Select the course/s you are interested in and choose the P for PayPal link to register.
4. Once you’ve paid, you will have access when the course starts.

 
Email [email protected] or your Academy’s contact if you need help.

Welcome/Bienvenue
Des nouvelles de l’Académie du langage clair et simple
Vos documents sont-ils en langage clair et simple ? Autrement dit vous offre la possibilité de participer à un atelier pratique pour le découvrir. Rien de mieux que de vous pratiquer sur vos propres documents pour poser vous-même un diagnostic. Qui est le public visé par votre communication ? Votre objectif est-il clair ? Comment pouvez-vous améliorer la structure de votre document, la façon de l’écrire et sa présentation visuelle ? Assistez à cet atelier pratique pour savoir comment répondre à toutes ces questions !
Titre : Vos documents sont-ils en langage clair et simple ? Atelier pratique pour faire votre propre diagnostic
Animation : Amélie Bourret et Chantale Audet, Autrement dit.
Coût : Gratuit
Quand :  Surveillez les fils PlainLanguageAcademies.com, LinkedIn, et Facebook pour connaître la date exacte.
Pour plus d’information : [email protected]
Gracieuseté de Plain Language Academies
 
News from Académie du langage clair et simple
Are your documents in plain language? Autrement dit gives you the opportunity to participate in a workshop to find out. Nothing better than practicing on your own documents to make an assessment yourself. Who is the target audience for your documents? Is your purpose clear? How can you improve the structure of your document, the way you write it and its visual presentation? Attend this hands-on workshop to find out how to answer all these questions!
Title: Are your documents in plain language? Workshop to make your own assessment
Workshop facilitators: Amélie Bourret and Chantale Audet, Autrement dit.
Cost: Free
When: During the International Plain Language Week in October 10-16, 2021
Watch the Plain Language Academies website, LinkedIn and Facebook for the date.
For more information: [email protected]
An academy within the Plain Language Academies
 
 
Welcome/Bienvenidos
Noticias sobre la Academia de Lenguaje Claro
El programa en español de las Academia de Lenguaje Claro abre este otoño con un curso sobre alfabetización en salud. Como se evidencia ante esta nueva realidad de Covid-19, la alfabetización en salud es ahora más importante que nunca. La falta de comprensión y conocimientos sobre la salud lleva a sufrir consecuencias reales. 
 
Nuestra Academia de Lenguaje Claro, EduClaro, se ve fortalecida por la diversidad de perspectivas que aportan estudiantes e instructores provenientes de todo Estados Unidos, América Latina y España. ¡Te invitamos a unirte a nuestros cursos!
Mantente actualizado en el sitio web de Plain Language Academies, LinkedIn y Facebook.
Romina Marazzato Sparano, [email protected]
An academy within the Plain Language Academies
 
News from Academia de Lenguaje Claro
The Spanish program at Plain Language Academies is launching this Fall with its Health Literacy course. As we continue to navigate the new Covid-19 reality, health literacy skills are now more important than ever! Without health literacy, people can suffer real consequences.
Our Academia de Lenguaje Claro, EduClaro, is strengthened by the diversity of backgrounds and perspectives represented in students and instructors who come from across the United States, Latin America, and Spain. We invite you to join our courses!
Watch the Plain Language Academies website, LinkedIn, and Facebook for upcoming info.
An academy within the Plain Language Academies
 
Academies team wins PLAIN Innovation Award
“The best part of winning the Plain Language Association International Cheryl Stephens Innovation Award was sharing it with the whole Academies team,” said Kate Harrison Whiteside, Academies director. “With the Spanish and French academies coming this fall, more courses offered through Plain Language Institute, SA, and new options, our confidence in having a long-term, positive impact on plain language learning is growing, along with our students.”
 
 
“Brilliant, Kate! We’re very proud to be part of your team.” Sarah Slabbert and Nadja Green, Plain Language Institute, SA.

Find out more on  plainlanguageacademies.com or email [email protected]
 



 
 

by Nicole Watkins Campbell
​
Editing for Plainer Legal Writing Instructor

The best way to ensure your document meets readers’ needs is to test it with the audience. Even testing that is quick and cheap can give you useful information about how to improve your document.
 
What is a test?
A test can be as simple as asking a colleague or a citizen to answer one question about your text or as complicated as inviting 30 people to read your document and answer questions. Almost any test will help you make the writing better. And any test with a member of your audience will get you closer to writing that works for your readers.
 
When should you test?
Start testing as soon as you have enough material to test. Don’t wait until your document is complete unless it’s a short email.
 
Make corrections based on feedback, and test again, if you can. The best practice is to test a couple of times, and more if the text is important and could be difficult for your readers.
 
How should you test?

Several methods will help you improve your document.

• Paraphrase testing: In individual interviews, your testers read a short document and explain the concepts in their own words.
• Controlled comparison testing. You create and send out more than one version of your document, either simultaneously or over several mailouts, then compare the responses. You’ll get the clearest direction from your results if the versions differ in only one way, for example, a different opening sentence, or different paragraph structures, or using a numbered list to highlight a step-by-step process.
• Usability testing: In individual interviews, your testers read a more complex text while you watch, ask questions, and note whether they answered correctly and readily or struggled.

 
Record your results in some way:

• write down what you recall after a conversation about a document
• note which version of a letter generated the most or least phone calls or errors
• have someone take notes on the test subject’s answers or audio- or video-record the conversation

 
Who should you recruit?

• people in your target audience (your best opportunity)
• people familiar with your audience
• people who have nothing to do with your document
• people outside your organization
• people outside your skill set

 
Testing documents internally with co-workers while you’re still writing is highly useful. You can then test a final draft with someone from outside your team. Your co-workers will likely read about as well as you do and have the same technical understanding, so you will want other perspectives on the complexity of the language and the topic.
 
Don’t test with people who know the information in the document or people who helped you get to this point in creating this document. They will know too much about your subject area to notice what’s missing or out of place.
 
Readability measures

Your word processor or a website like Hemingway Editor will offer quick readability tests. But these long-established ways of describing how readable a text is actually don’t mean much. They were originally created to measure children’s reading skills, not documents for adults.
 
The software counts syllables (to represent complexity in language), words and paragraphs (to represent complexity in expression) to roughly estimate reading difficulty. The resulting number claims to reflect the number of years of education a person needs to read the text.
 
Readability measures fail in three main ways:

• It’s easy (and tempting) to game them, even unintentionally.
• They cannot distinguish between a meaningless text and a useful one.
• They cannot tell you if the structure and organization are useful or if information is missing.

 
If your text readability score from Microsoft Word or Hemingway Editor is gets a Grade 10 or higher, you probably need to edit for clarity: many people don’t read at this level. If you test again, you will be able to see if your changes made your sentences easier to read, but you should rely on other methods to make sure your text is clear.
 
Try setting up a simple test of a bit of writing this week. You will learn something surprising or pleasing. But you will learn something.

Nicole Watkins Campbell

​The Academy strives to be like plain language itself. 

• Efficient to navigate to find what you need
• Easy to understand what you find
• Effective to apply
• Exactly what can make messages clear

To register, simply follow these three steps:
1. go to plainlanguageacademy.moodlecloud.com, 
2. create your account
3. choose and register for your courses.
You will have access the day the course starts.
If you have any questions or issues, contact [email protected]
 
Choose from our three Core courses on Basics, Audiences, and Writing and Editing.
Or, select an Advanced course suited to your current or upcoming needs. Topics include creating e-content, legal editing, health literacy, design, testing, science, and strategic planning. More are coming.

We are so excited about our new platform, we just want everyone else to share the experience.

Plain language knows no boundaries: so we are expanding ours to offer plain language courses in French, Spanish, and in South Africa. We want plain language to be everywhere because we know it is for everyone.

'New' is a key word for today's personal and work lives. The Plain Language Academies' team is creating more ways to share our skills and meet your growing needs for clear communication. Take advantage of current Core and Advanced courses at last year's fees. We encourage you to explore Advanced courses that tackle specific topics like clear health, legal, science, strategic planning, and online communication. New courses are coming. keep visiting us PlainLanguageAcademy.com for details and sign up for our newsletter.

We are looking forward to meeting you online, sharing skills, and learning about your interests.

Courses to take you forward
Our courses are designed to keep your clear communication skill development focused on the future. New fees are planned for future courses. Here are brief profiles of a few courses you can consider.
Clear Design Practices with Flora Gordon, (you can still sign up), explores the important role design plays in our communications and ways you can make design enhance your messages.
Plain Language 2.0 and Health Literacy, never been more important. Romina Marazzato Sparano shares her expertise. Available in English (now) and Spanish (soon). 
Everyone is online and we need to be clear and meet their needs. Kate Harrison Whiteside brings her years of plain language use online experience to you in Creating Clear E-content.
New: Implementing Plain Language as a Strategic Priority with Sarah Slabbert and Nadja Green, Plain Language Institute, South Africa. The focus of plain language is often on specific documents or pieces of communication. Implementing plain language in a systematic manner in an organization is a different challenge for executives, compliance officers, communication managers, or customer relations. This course will empower you to make your organization truly customer- or citizen-centred.

See Courses for current course registration links

The COVID-19 virus has caused global upheaval and uncertainty. Misinformation is widespread, and messaging changes as more is learned about the virus. For accurate and timely information, Canadians have been urged to consult the Government of Canada (GC) website, as well as provincial websites.1

The Canada.ca Content Style Guide requires the use of plain language for GC web content and notes, “Using plain language … makes critical information accessible and readable for everyone.”2 The reference to “everyone” is interesting because almost half of Canadians have “literacy challenges.”3

Web content assessment
As an editor and former ESL instructor, I wondered about the accessibility of the GC text. The sample I examined appears on a COVID-19 FAQ page, under “Preventing coronavirus.”4

Presentations make for a competitive challenge. We prepare them, watch them and try to remember them. So, what makes one stand out? The use of simple, strong, clear, relatable language and images that connect with audiences. All these are key components of plain language. Here are ideas on how to increase the use of clear visuals and the impact of your next presentation.

Marketingmag.com.au points out the weaknesses of presentations junky with charts, jargon and top heavy with text. Plain language guidelines can solve all these challenges.  If you commit to clear language, concise messages and simple images that support your ideas, people will relate better and remember longer. Integrate plain language guidelines for your content and visuals to make your presentation memorable.

Presenters can use clear design and presentation guidelines to enhance engagement. Gov.uk demonstrates how they committed to using simple slides to achieve memorable presentations. Choose a presentation style that supports clear information and visuals, and stick to it. Consistency in visuals is another way to have an impact. 
 
Making an outstanding presentation relies on clarity, simplicity and strong visual impact. Set plain language guidelines, involve a test audience for feedback and be prepared to make changes to meet their needs. If you can confidently say you kept it simple, clear and really connected with visuals, you are heading for presentation success with some help from plain language guidelines.
 
Want to learn more, take a PlainLanguageAcademy.com course.

Editors Canada Conference 2018, May 25-27, Saskatoon: Plain Language Stream

​When Frances McDormand said the words “inclusion rider”, during her Academy Awards Best Actress Oscar acceptance speech, it meant so much more than the two words themselves. Plain language is most often practiced around the written word, presented on paper or online. But, when you mix in speaker, setting, audience and context, words can take on a much more dynamic meaning.



Defining "inclusion rider"

Not everyone would have a clear understanding of the legal implications of the words “inclusion rider”, but would use their familiarity with each term individually. McDormand herself is reported to have only recently become familiar with this contract option. But, in their legal sense, in the acting profession, here is how Wikipedia defines them:
 
“An inclusion rider or equity rider is a provision added to a contract of an actor to ensure that casting and production staff are more representative and meet a certain level of diversity…”
 
When a production company agrees to this rider, but doesn’t meet it, consequences can result. So, you take two plain words, mix in a legal connotation, and their meaning and impact can greatly change.

​Plain speaking and presentation impacts
 
Inclusion researcher Dr. Stacy Smith presented data outlining the film industry’s inequalities in a TED Talk, highlighting the point that A-listers (top actors) can lead change with inclusion riders. That’s one group McDormand was addressing in her Oscar speech.
 
But, the impact of those two words were super-enhanced by three environmental conditions because McDormand had:

1. just accepted an Oscar in front of captive live and global TV audiences
2. key decision-makers, in movies and media, in her audience
3. audience participation to back up her claim.

She had power, presentation and people all influencing her words. The impact was incredible.

Combine plain language and clear design 

On paper and online, we often don’t have that kind of influence. So, plain language is all the more important to get our messages across with the intended meaning, to the intended audience, generating the intended outcome. The next time you write content for a document, website or speech, consider the impact using plain language can have, especially if it is supported by clear visuals. The combined effect of plain language and clear design can be memorable. That's what we want in our communication.
 
PlainLanguageAcademy.com 2018 course line-up. Register now.

Clear Design and Plain Language Basics begin April 1.
 
Advanced: Editing for Plainer Legal Writing begins April 10.