{"id":2991,"date":"2020-04-15T19:38:07","date_gmt":"2020-04-15T19:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.translatorswithoutborders.org\/blog\/?p=2991"},"modified":"2024-08-22T14:28:32","modified_gmt":"2024-08-22T14:28:32","slug":"clarity-covid-19-information","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/translatorswithoutborders.org\/blog\/clarity-covid-19-information\/","title":{"rendered":"Clarity is the overlooked opportunity in the rush to produce COVID-19 information"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clarity is an important but often overlooked factor in COVID-19 communication. The <\/span>World Health Organization<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>UNHCR<\/span><\/a>, and the <\/span>Centers for Disease Control<\/span><\/a> emphasize the importance of clarity in health communications. These and other agencies urge us to use established plain-language principles to achieve that required clarity. <\/span><\/p>\n

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The great benefit of plain language is that it requires a relatively low reading effort to understand and be able to use the information. It helps all of us, regardless of our socioeconomic or educational status, professional skills, linguistic ability, or literacy level. In a crisis, we are all anxious, rumors are common, and timing is critical. We all want to have and to offer certainty. In the COVID-19 pandemic, plain language has the potential to change behavior, overcome rumors, and ultimately to save lives. We should use it more than we currently do.<\/span><\/p>\n

We can and should communicate more clearly, and plain language shows us how to do that<\/b><\/h2>\n

Many documents that Translators without Borders receives from humanitarian organizations don\u2019t follow basic plain-language principles. That\u2019s a missed opportunity, not just in how we communicate with communities. It\u2019s also a missed opportunity to communicate more effectively with our colleagues, donors, boards, governments and other partners. Plain language can revolutionize how we communicate in general. <\/span><\/p>\n

I recently reviewed and edited 10 documents that 10 humanitarian organizations produced as part of their COVID-19 response. All organizations sent the documents to Translators without Borders as final versions ready for translation and distribution.<\/span><\/p>\n

Each of the documents contains multiple opportunities to add clarity for readers. Several even contain spelling and grammatical errors. In isolation, individual issues and examples can seem pedantic. But collectively they highlight an opportunity for us to communicate more effectively. <\/span><\/p>\n

I identified five relatively easy ways to improve document clarity. Writers should use:<\/span><\/p>\n