Know your reader
Hannah Sapunor-Davis
Managing Editor
I’ve been thinking a lot about empathy lately. It can feel like we’re running on short supply when you watch or read the news. There’s a new crisis every week, and many people (I’m including myself) have started to recognize signs of empathy fatigue after being confronted with heart-breaking scenarios again and again. But at the same time, I also believe empathy is a self-renewing resource that grows stronger the more often it’s used and especially shared with one another. And its central to our work as plain language practitioners.
Most of us have the best of intentions when we set out to transform a text into plain language. But undoubtedly, our work has been influenced by our own personal abilities, experiences, and backgrounds. When we’ve finished our draft and placed our last comma oh-so masterfully, the job is only half-done. Good will is not enough. We have to get in touch with our readers and make sure the text serves its purpose. We have to know our readers.
So how do we do that? Not everyone has the time, capacity, or budget to conduct state-of-the-art user testing. But there are many solutions for building an empathetic and informative portrait of readers, from basic interviews to quantitative user-testing techniques. I hope everyone can find some useful advice in this collection of perspectives from plain language practitioners.
Virginia St-Denis starts off this exploration with reflections on how she’s connected with her various reading audiences throughout her career. This is followed by Sue Bell’s explanation of 2 time-tested user testing methods. Together, these expert perspectives demonstrate the range of adaptable ways to get important feedback from readers.
Helle Beer Urheim joins the discussion with an interesting perspective of how to connect with readers who aren’t necessarily on our side. In the civic context, how do we reach understanding and hold up “rhetorical citizenship” with readers, or citizens, who may fundamentally disagree with us?
This issue we’re bringing you 2 perspectives from the health field. The first comes from Karel van der Waarde, who clearly points out the need for going back to basics – that is, speaking with patients and truly listening to them before starting the task of writing. The second comes from PLAIN members at Vida Health, who explain how plain language principles led them to developing useful tools for patients to improve their mental health.
Then we have 3 stories from members who found effective ways to connect with their readers in their work. Marie Potel-Saville summarizes her experience with user testing methods for 2 different groups: minors interacting with the internet and blue-collar shareholders of a large company. Next, Liezl van Zyl explains some techniques she’s adapted to conduct user testing by distance, an increasingly common reality for many of us. Then, Marifer Sager lays out the complex case of delivering information to a school community in 6 languages.
Finally, Kate Sotejeff-Wilson treats us with a review of a new resource, Handbook of East Languages, which gives an overview of the easy language landscape in Europe. In addition to her professional assessment, Kate has put what she learned in practice and offered her review in simplified language, with a summary translated into 3 languages.
We hope to highlight more work and perspectives from our members around the world, especially from regions that have not yet been represented in our journal. Do you have something to share about the state of plain language in your country or language? Be sure to keep your eye out for calls for proposals for future issues or send an email to publications@plainlanguagenetwork.org.
