Your translators and interpreters
Imagine that a city develops a special program for new migrants. Or a research group completes a study on pedagogical methods that are relevant for nursery school teachers. Or a museum organizes an exhibition addressed at teenagers. All these things are great, but the people from the city administration, the university, and the museum have been working on their topic for years and use technical terms and constructions that even native speakers with a university degree might fail to understand – and in this case, the target audience includes people who have only been learning German for a few years, or live in a world very different from those of administration, research, and cultural education. What to do?
Translation can happen within one language, too, and the target language depends on the target audience. Is the text primarily intended for young people? For all people without a scientific background? For volunteers who are familiar with the topic but don’t want to read long sentences with lots of technical terms? For people with little knowledge of English or with a reading disability?
For many years, Alexandra has been editing brochures for various organizations (mainly in the cultural and social sectors) to make them easier to read. This involves translating academic jargon into “normal language” and untangling complex sentences – in German and English. She can also translate between languages, adding simplification.
A complicated text can be simplified in various ways and in at several stages, and there are many terms to describe simplified versions of English: Easy English, Plain English, Easy Read, Everyday English… Read on to see several examples – explained using the respective level of simplification.
Anthony Burgess, best known as the author of A Clockwork Orange, was a linguist by trade. The title of his book, Language Made Plane, makes for a good description of a translation into Easy English
Clear language is good for everyone – especially for people who are not experts. The text does not lose any of its precision. Technical terms can be explained, and foreign words can be replaced with more commonly used ones. Instead of “Plain English,” you could say “clear language,” “understandable language,” or “accessible language.” The aim here is often to simplify a scientific or scholarly text, to make it fun for laypeople. For example, museums often want to simplify texts written by curators or critics. Many articles aimed at a broad audience can benefit from translation into plain language – as can all texts written in the dreaded jargon of officialese. Most jobs of this kind can still be described as editing, but the line between editing and translation is blurred.
Easy English is even simpler.
The letters are larger.
The words and sentences are shorter.
Some people have problems with reading.
Others have trouble understanding long sentences.
And others are still learning English.
Easy-to-read language helps these people.
Even difficult things can be explained in easy language.
But some smaller details need to be left out.
Texts in easy-to-read language often have pictures.
You can also call Easy English “Easy Read.”
Do you want to convert your text into Plain English, Easy English or Clear English? If you are not sure which type of target text is better in your case, a short test translation into several variants may be useful. Then you can compare the translations (ideally with the help of your target group) and decide which one is better suited for your purposes. Or you can discuss the project with us by phone or email – we look forward to your enquiry!