\u201cWhat is clear language, anyway?\u201d When I\u2019m talking about writing with people in international organizations, this question sometimes pops up. It\u2019s sounds simple, but there are so many ways to answer it. Is it about how to write clearly? Or is it about what clear language looks like?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My favourite answer? Clear language uses sentences that you only have to read once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That means clear language saves time \u2013 and money. Clear language is self-explanatory (there\u2019s another definition). If you send an unclear email, the recipient has to take the time to write back asking what you meant. If that email went out to a large number of people, the amount of extra time required can be huge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the world\u2019s leading clear writing agencies, the Write Group<\/a> in New Zealand, has a web page where you can calculate<\/a> how much time and money you\u2019re losing to unclear language. The Write Group has trained thousands of New Zealand public servants, sowing the seeds for the passing by New Zealand\u2019s parliament in 2022 of the Plain Language Act<\/a>. The act recognizes that it is especially vital for a government to communicate clearly with citizens about services, entitlements and regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many countries have acknowledged the crucial difference that clear language can make. In 2010 the United States passed the Plain Writing Act<\/a>. In 2023, the International Organization for Standardization published the Plain Language Standard<\/a>. Here is its answer to our question (for plain, read clear): \u201cA communication is in plain language if its wording, structure, and design are so clear that the intended readers can easily: find what they need, understand what they find, and use that information.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Plain Language Standard, ISO 24495, was drafted by 140 experts from 25 countries \u2013 including Lynda Harris, founder of Write Group \u2013 and has since been adopted by many governments around the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n How odd, then, that less than three years after the passing of New Zealand\u2019s plain language legislation, the current government is repealing it \u2013 on the basis that it is \u201ca waste of time and money\u201d. According to Judith Collins<\/a>, the public service minister, \u201cRather than fix a problem, it created a problem whereby plain language officers had to be appointed, the Public Service Commission had to produce guidance documents and then agencies had to report to someone on something no one was quite clear on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n You might think that a government that prides itself on being pro-business would be interested in the money-saving benefits of plain language \u2013 and would understand the need to make a small investment to reap those benefits. But other forces seem to be at work. It\u2019s fashionable to systematically undo the work of previous governments \u2013 and, perversely, to roll back efforts to make public life more accessible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe need to trust the judgment and expertise of our public servants to communicate in language every taxpayer can grasp,\u201d Collins says. Well, good luck with that. The judgement and expertise of public servants \u2013 and the resulting centuries of tangled prose \u2013 are what created the need for a plain language movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is a precedent of sorts. In March 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed Executive Order 12044<\/a>, requiring that each regulation be \u201cwritten in plain English and understandable to those who must comply with it\u201d. In 1981 President Ronald Reagan rescinded Carter\u2019s order and allowed individual agencies to decide whether to make plain writing a priority. Most didn\u2019t.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why is it that the starting point \u2013 in international organizations as in government departments \u2013 is so often difficult writing rather than clear writing? After all, when we speak to each other we usually aim to make ourselves clear. The answer lies way back in the origins of writing itself. For millennia it was the preserve of the powerful, and literacy was low. The use of writing has always been about power. But that\u2019s a story for another day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n July 22, 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWhat is clear language, anyway?\u201d When I\u2019m talking about writing with people in international organizations, this question sometimes pops up. It\u2019s sounds simple, but there are so many ways to answer it. Is it about how to write clearly? Or is it about what clear language looks like? My favourite answer? 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