Being a proofreader, I am naturally interested in functions, events and
seminars that are connected with writing, editing and publishing. So when Write
Ltd offered an evening on ‘The Challenges of Editing in Plain Language’ at Baldwins Centre, Wellington, on 2
October I decided to attend, although I was not quite sure what to expect from
a panel on editing in plain language.
I soon found out that it was all about the challenges and pitfalls of
writing in plain English. Plain, simple English that is easy to read and easy
to understand. And in a world where people are increasingly busy and want
documents that are user-friendly and easy to understand, plain English is
vital. But there are so many reasons why documents are not in plain English: gobbledygook,
specialist language, poor language skills, English as second language, and poor
structural skills to name but a few. And that is why Write and other services
and specialists in plain English are flourishing.
Now, you would expect plain English to be straightforward and go without
saying. But I soon found out from our panel of five speakers that editing
documents to read in plain English was not that easy. Each speaker had only
five minutes to speak, so they used their five minutes to speak on one particular
difficulty in the plain English industry.
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| Troubles in Wonderland Presentation |
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First speaker was James Burgess of Write itself. James told there can be a
huge gulf of differences between what the plain English specialists will advise
and what the client wants, expects or understands. Fortunately most of these
gaps can be bridged with effective conciliatory and communication skills.
Still, you never know what to expect with a new plain English language project;
it can surprise you and lead you on tangents you didn’t expect.
Next was an editor from Statistics New Zealand and a representative of Plain
English Language Champions. The plain English challenge here is to transform
statistics into layman’s terms. The problem is that stasticians do not know
plain English; they use mathematical language. Bridging the gulf between these
two languages has led to the rise of the Plain English Language Champions, checklists,
brochures and guides to plain English, and plain English courses.
Eloise Oruvwuje of Careers NZ then told us of her ‘Troubles in Wonderland’.
The challenges to plain English here were organisational ones: problems with
your team, problems with other teams, and problems with other organisations that
are not on the same level with you, even people who do not use English the way
you do. For example, Eloise told us about a complaint from a government official
that was caused by the gulf between plain English and politicians who do not
use plain English but political gobbledygook. It was yet another challenge to
plain English – some people, organisations and sectors simply do not use or
think in plain English.
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| Need Structure Presentation |
Fourth was Plain English Award winner Maryland Spencer. The plain English
problem she addresses is simple: structure. Too many documents are unreadable
because they have no structure, no headings, no bullet points or any of the
separators that makes them clear and easy to follow, or they have too much
information. In today’s climate of busy corporate people and website
information, a document that tells you what you need to know in one reading is
essential. Maryland’s powerpoint showed us how simple headings, chunking of
themes and cutting out unnecessary or repetitive words can make all the
difference in plain English.
Finally we had Ngaire Dixon, an editor from Wavelength Ltd. Ngaire’s reasons
for plain English were simple – her company writes educational programmes.
Fortunately Wavelength does not encounter many problems with plain English, so
I think her plain English language challenge is writing educational programmes
that the users can understand.
Then it was the question period, followed by a return to drinks, nibbles and
chatting before saying our farewells and returning home. I was left to think
that the reasons for plain English and services like Write were obvious, simple
and straightforward – but getting documents to read in plain English was not. All
the same, somebody will say ‘speak English, will you!’ if you’re not talking in
plain English. And that is why the plain English industry is there for all our government,
corporate, education and publishing sectors.
