OUR PLAIN ENGLISH APPROACH

If you’ve studied technical standards and you’re not used
to the way they are written, you probably found them hard
to understand. This is not your fault. You found them hard
to understand because the sentences usually contain too
much information. They are usually too long, too dense,
and too complex.

Standards tend to be hard to understand because they're
written by committee. Typically, 10, 20, or more people try to
agree on what a standard should say and how it ought to be
written. Inevitably, the need to reach a consensus is more
important than the need to communicate clearly.

In order to make standards easier to understand, we take
these complex sentences apart and re-assemble them
using plain English. In the course of doing so, we try
to comply with the following rules:

• Write clearly.
• Include every single idea.
• Empathize with the reader.
• Construct simple sentences.
• Preserve the original meaning.
• Use plain Anglo-Saxon English.

The above list points to our particular definition of quality.
For us, good quality technical writing is clear, plain, easy to
understand, and always empathizes with the reader. And a
good quality translation preserves the original meaning and
covers every aspect of the original material. In the context of
our publications (our products), this is our special definition
of quality. These are the special characteristics (qualities)
that define the quality of our products.

OUR PLAIN ENGLISH PRODUCTS

Title 25: ISO 9004 2009 Translated into Plain English

Title 26: ISO 9004 2009 Compliance Audit Tool

Title 30: Plain English Process Audit Program

Title 31: ISO 31000 2009 Translated into Plain English

Title 35: ISO 27001 2005 Translated into Plain English

Title 36: ISO 27001 2005 Plain English Gap Analysis Tool

Title 37: ISO 27002 2005 Translated into Plain English

Title 38: ISO 27002 2005 Information Security Audit Tool

Title 45: ISO 13485 2003 Translated into Plain English

Title 46: ISO 13485 2003 Plain English Gap Analysis Tool

Title 47: ISO 13485 2003 Plain English Internal Audit Program

Title 48: ISO 14971 Medical Device Risk Management Standard

Title 50: ISO 14001 Environmental Standard in Plain English

Title 51: ISO 14001 2004 Environmental Gap Analysis Tool

Title 52: ISO 14001 2004 Internal Environmental Audit Program

Title 55: ISO 22000 2005 Food Safety Standard in Plain English

Title 56: ISO 22000 2005 Food Safety Gap Analysis Tool

Title 57: ISO 22000 2005 Food Safety Internal Audit Program

Title 60: ISO 90003 2004 Plain English Software Checklist

Title 65: OHSAS 18001 2007 OH&S Standard in Plain English

Title 66: OHSAS 18001 2007 OH&S Gap Analysis Tool

Title 67: OHSAS 18001 2007 OH&S Audit Program

Title 70: AS9100:2009 Aerospace Standard in Plain English

Title 71: AS9100:2009 Aerospace Gap Analysis Tool

Title 72: AS9100:2009 Aerospace Audit Program

Title 80: ISO 28000 2007 Supply Chain Security in Plain English

Title 81: ISO 28000 2007 Supply Chain Security Audit Tool

 Our plain English publications are detailed, accurate,
and complete. We use language that is clear, precise,
and easy to understand. We guarantee it.

"Executives and managers at every level are prisoners of the notion that
a simple style reflects a simple mind. Actually a simple style is the result
of hard work and hard thinking; a muddled style reflects a muddled
thinker or a person too dumb or too lazy to organize his thoughts".

William Zinsser. On Writing Well, An Informal
Guide to Writing Nonfiction, Third Edition, page 154.

"If you can't explain something simply, you don't understand it well.
Most of the fundamental ideas of science are essentially simple, and
may, as a rule, be expressed in a language comprehensible to everyone.
Everything should be as simple as it can be, yet no simpler."

Albert Einstein
http://www.plainlanguage.gov/resources/quotes/science.cfm

“It is much harder to simplify than to complicate. Anybody can take
the sludge from books, thicken it with a few more provisions, and leave
it at that. Only the best minds and best writers can cut through. In short,
writing simply and directly only looks easy. It takes skill and work
and fair time to compose . . .”

Joseph Kimble. “Answering the Critics of Plain Language.”
Article from Vol.5 of The Scribes Journal of Legal Writing (1994-1995).
http://www.blm.gov/nhp/main/regtest/kimble.html
http://www.plainlanguagenetwork.org/kimble/

"Plain language, also called plain English, is language that everyone in your
audience can easily understand. Clear writing in plain language saves time,
money, and lives. You need plain language whether you're preparing a legal
brief, writing a procedure, designing a brochure, running a business,
publishing a newsletter, managing a department, maintaining a
Web site, or training workers."

Plain Language Association International (PLAIN)

"Any darn fool can make something complex;
it takes a genius to make something simple."

Pete Seeger

"There is a time and place for elaborate, complicated language that is open
to interpretation; the kind of language more typically found in literature.
Business documents, on the other hand, should always aim for clarity.

And I do not appear to be alone in being frustrated by documents that
overcomplicate because there’s a rapidly growing interest in the business
world in what’s called “plain language,” or “plain English.” Plain English
doesn’t mean language that “dumbs down” the message though; plain
English means using language that clarifies meaning".

From Financial Post article by Dr. Sandra Folk, The Language Lab.

PlainLanguage.com

Center for Plain Language

Plain English Campaign

Plain English Foundation

PlainLanguage.gov

PRAXIOM RESEARCH GROUP LIMITED
9619 - 100A Street, Edmonton, Alberta, T5K 0V7, Canada
Telephone: (780)461-4514 info@praxiom.com

Updated on September 6, 2011. On the Web since May 25, 1997.