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Plain language in South Africa's National Credit Act

Frances Gordon | 09 April 2007 | 23:08
Hi all
Lately, we've been talking a lot about how plain language is included in legislation in South Africa. Below is the definition from the National Credit Act. Even if your business isn't directly affected by this Act, we may find similar definitions in laws with broader application, such as the Consumer Act.
'A document is in plain language if it is reasonable to conclude that an ordinary consumer of the class of persons for whom the document is intended, with average literacy skills and minimal credit experience, could be expected to understand the content, significance, and import of the document without undue effort, having regard to:
  • the context, comprehensiveness and consistency of the document
  • the organisation, form and style of the document
  • the vocabulary, usage and sentence structure of the text
  • the use of any illustrations, examples, headings, or other aids to reading and understanding.'
(National Credit Act)
This definition acknowledges that plain language – just like language – is complex. Words do not exist in isolation, but in the context of people using them for multiple and multi-faceted purposes.
This acknowledgement is important as the plain-language field has in the past run the risk of slipping into shallow prescriptivism. To me, the definition brings about at least three important conclusions:
  • Textual-based criteria are no longer enough; assessments of plain language must incorporate user testing.
  • Plain language looks not only at style, but also content ('comprehensiveness'). As a colleague of mine once said, ‘nonsense in plain language is still nonsense’.
  • Research must be a backbone to any plain-language programme.


            
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