Articles
What’s wrong with plain English?
Take a minute to compare the text in the Mandarin Style column on the left with the plain English version on the right. If you think the Mandarin style takes longer to read and is more difficult to understand, welcome to the club.
| Mandarin Style | Plain English |
|---|---|
| The degree to which these levels of landuse change have in fact manifested themselves upon the hydrological regime of the river remains unclear. | It is unclear how much impact landuse changes have had on the hydrological regime of the river. |
| Conclusive basinwide evidence of such hydrological responses to changes in rainfall-runoff relationships caused by these landuse and landscape change does not appear to be detectable within the historical data, bearing in mind that some of the flow timeseries for the Mekong extend back almost 90 years. | No one has found any conclusive evidence in the 90 years of historical data for these expected changes in rainfall-runoff relationships. |
| The mainstream can be described as constituting six broad reaches or zones as indicated on Figure 2.2. The rationale behind the number and extent of these six reaches encompasses a range of considerations which include hydrological regime, physiography, land-use, existing, planned and potential resource developments as well as the perceived nodes along the mainstream at which there exist discernable transformations in hydrological response and where the impacts of existing and potential resource developments are likely to be detectable. | The mainstream can be divided into six main reaches or zones (Figure 2.2). In dividing the river this way, geographers take into account a number of considerations including:
|
| This reach is a well-defined physiographic subregion of the Lower Basin being almost entirely mountainous and extensively covered with natural land cover, though there has been extensive “slash and burn agriculture”. | This reach is almost entirely mountainous and covered with natural forest, although there has been widespread slash and burn agriculture. |
Writing to impress, not to express
Jargon, bureaucratise, or “Mandarin” style writing is writing to impress, not to express. This kind of writing is a burden on readers and an obstacle to people who could write much better if they weren’t trying to write like a professor. The irony is that people who insist on Mandarin style writing tend to confuse or bore more people than they impress.
Bad writing drives out good
Bad writing drives out good writing. That seems to be the rule in most organizations. Since most people learn to write by “emulating” their seniors, it is no wonder that a lot of writing tends to be unnecessarily long, formal and, in many cases, just plain old-fashioned. The advent of word processing and the cut and paste function has only made the problem worse.
The Plain English Campaign
Plain English is clear, readable English. Plain English is text that the intended audience can read, understand and act upon the first time they read it. Plain English takes into account design and layout as well as language. Plain English should be used wherever and whenever people rely on clearly presented information to make informed decisions.
Red Plough International Co. Ltd. supports the Plain English Campaign.
For a free assessment of your own writing, send a one-page sample to clayton@loxinfo.co.th
See Technical Writing Kit [hyperlink to the kit] for a little fun!
