Plain language helps people understand what you mean and what they can do with that information. That applies to a letter from the council, a policy document or instructions for a digital product. The need for plain language says nothing about someone's level of education or how much work experience they have.
Over the past few months, I've been working on several things: two new online products, a substantial policy document and a plan for putting that policy into practice.
We often write these kinds of documents without using plain language. As the council was already working on making its own communications clearer, I started paying close attention to my own language too.
Could we also use more plain language internally, so that everyone in the organisation understands it? Would someone who knows nothing about digital accessibility understand what I mean? Is it clear why something is needed? And would they then know what needs to happen?
The feedback was refreshing. People found the documents easy to read and had a much better understanding of what was needed, but especially why. A policy document that helps people move forward. That should be something we can take for granted.
We know our field better than our readers do
In the world of websites and digital accessibility, we quickly find ourselves talking about technology, standards, and processes. But many of the people we want to help do things differently come from very different backgrounds.
The same happens in government. Terms such as ‘embedding’, ‘an integrated approach’ and ‘implementation frameworks’ may be familiar to the writer. Readers are often left wondering what they actually mean. Even colleagues can use the same words while understanding them differently.
An accessibility specialist and a policy adviser each bringing their jargon to the conversation doesn't automatically create a shared understanding. We need to work on that.
How many people struggle with reading?
The Netherlands performs relatively well internationally when it comes to literacy. Yet a substantial proportion of adults struggle with written information.
In the international PIAAC survey carried out in 2023 and published by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) in 2024, 16 per cent of Dutch adults aged 16 to 65 scored at Level 1 or below in literacy.
The Netherlands is doing fairly well, then, compared with an average of 26 per cent across the participating OECD countries. That's about one in six in the Netherlands, compared with just over one in four internationally in this comparison.
People at Level 1 can, for example, find information in short texts when it is clearly indicated. Below that level, the focus is on understanding short, simple sentences. Source: OECD.
You can't assume a text is clear just because you find it easy to read. For someone who needs information to complete an application or make a decision, unclear writing can be a significant barrier.
Professionals benefit from plain language too
Being highly educated doesn't mean you know everything. A lawyer isn't an accessibility specialist. A developer won't automatically know the rules for grants. And someone working in government may know their own policy area inside out while knowing very little about a new subject.
Plain language helps even within someone's own field. In a US study from 2023, lawyers understood legal texts better and remembered more when they were written in plain English. In a separate experiment, lawyers also rated the plainly written contracts as being of higher quality. Source: MIT, reporting on research by Martínez, Mollica and Gibson.
Taking your readers seriously also means respecting their time. Why should someone have to work their way through complicated wording when you could explain the same content clearly?
New concepts need an explanation
When people learn something new, they need to understand how it works and why it matters. Unfamiliar words make that much harder.
Take accessibility maturity.
For people in my field, that can be a useful term. But without an explanation, it says very little about what we're examining.
You could introduce it like this:
We look at how accessibility is organised across your whole organisation. Is it clear who is responsible for what? Do staff have the knowledge they need? And do you check whether the agreed approach is working? The further an organisation has developed in these areas, the higher its maturity.
The term now means something. Readers can picture what we're talking about.
The same applies to a digital product. A button labelled ‘Publish’ names the action. The explanation ‘Your changes will be visible to everyone who views the page’ tells people what will happen. That difference matters when someone doesn't yet know how the product works.
Plain language doesn't immediately make a complex subject simple. It does help people understand it step by step.
Plain language is part of accessibility
A website can work well technically and still be difficult to use because its information is unclear. If someone doesn't understand what a form is asking them, a technically correct input field will only help so much.
In its supplementary guidance on cognitive accessibility, W3C recommends using familiar words and explaining unfamiliar abbreviations and technical terms. This helps people who have difficulties with language processing or memory, among others. The guidance also applies to navigation, instructions and error messages. Source: W3C, Use Clear Words.
For one reader, clear language makes reading more pleasant. For another, it can mean the difference between being able to carry on independently and having to ask for help.
We still need to respond to different needs. One text won't be enough for everyone. Sometimes an example, an image with an explanation or a conversation will be more helpful.
B1 is a tool, not a goal
Many organisations have adopted ‘writing at B1 level’ as their approach. This can help draw attention to familiar words and straightforward sentences.
But B1 isn't proof that your text is understandable. The levels from A1 to C2 were originally intended to describe language proficiency. Understanding also depends on the reader's knowledge, the structure of your text and the explanations you provide. The Dutch public service community Gebruiker Centraal therefore warns against putting too much emphasis on language level as a measure of clarity. Source: Understandable writing is about more than B1 language level, in Dutch.
A text made up of short sentences can still be unclear. You might leave out who needs to do something, omit an important condition or use an unfamiliar term without explaining it.
The question remains: does your reader understand the message, and can they act on it?
How to use plain language
Start with what your reader needs
Decide who you're writing for before you begin. What do they already know? What do you need to explain? What should they understand or be able to do after reading?
In a policy document, for example, readers will want to know what is changing and what that means for their own work. With a form, people want to know what information they need to provide and why.
Put the main message first
Start with the answer, the decision or the action you want someone to take. Follow that with the explanation. The history of a project usually doesn't need to be in the first paragraph.
Use headings that tell people what comes next. ‘What changes for you’ gives readers more direction than ‘General’.
Make it clear who does what
Abstract wording often hides who is responsible.
‘The review is carried out annually’ becomes clearer when you write: ‘The web team reviews the website every year.’
Can't say who does it? Perhaps that hasn't been agreed yet. Rephrasing the sentence won't solve that.
Choose familiar words and explain necessary jargon
Use ‘rules’ if that's what you mean by ‘normative frameworks’. Write ‘show’ if ‘provide demonstrable insight into’ adds nothing.
Sometimes you need a precise technical term. Use it, but explain it where readers first encounter it. Replacing a difficult but accurate term with a vague word doesn't help anyone. Then use the same term consistently for the same concept.
Keep sentences manageable and preserve the connections
Long sentences with lots of clauses ask a lot of the reader. Split them where it helps, but don't turn them into a collection of disconnected statements.
Words such as ‘because’, ‘therefore’ and ‘if’ show how information fits together. Those connections are often needed to understand the message.
Give concrete examples and instructions
‘Supply the required documentation’ leaves readers guessing. Say which documents you need and how people can submit them.
Also make it clear what an action will do. ‘Save’ and ‘Publish’ can mean very different things in a system. Explain whether information is being saved just for the user or will immediately become visible to others.
Preserve the substance and speak to readers as adults
Plain language doesn't have to sound childish. In Dutch, people sometimes call it ‘Jip and Janneke language’, after two children's book characters. That description also undermines what we're trying to achieve. You can explain a complex decision clearly without watering down the substance.
Keep conditions and exceptions if people need them to make the right decision. Give them a logical place in the text and explain when they apply. Avoid unnecessary figurative language and assumptions about your reader's background or abilities.
Test what people understand
Ask people from your intended audience to use your text. Don't just ask whether they find it clear. Ask what they think the message means and what they would do next.
Can they find the right information? Do they understand a condition? Do they know which step to take next?
A writing tool can point out long sentences or difficult words. That alone won't tell you whether your explanation works.
Clear writing starts with clear thinking
As you write, you sometimes discover that you haven't quite worked something out yourself. Who is responsible? What do we mean by ‘sufficient’? When is something finished?
Those are useful questions. They reveal where an explanation or a decision is missing.
For me, that's an important benefit of plain language. It helps readers move forward and makes me more precise about what I mean.
Take a text that people often ask you questions about. Look at where they get stuck, rewrite that passage and test it again. Whether your text works comes down to what people can do with it.