𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝? “𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐱𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.” 𝐎𝐫, “𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐤.” 𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐛𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬.
This paragraph opens The Conversation’s report on the Plain Language Bill before the New Zealand Parliament.
Hurrah for NZ!
Legislation isn’t the only way to improve government communications – if agencies tried to sound like humans and not robots, it would be a great start. But by putting it in place and asking agencies to report on progress, New Zealand is saying it matters.
Hullo, governments of Australia: What are you doing about making your language easy to understand?