International Plain Language Day coming soon!

As every year, on 13 October we celebrate International Plain Language Day. Plain, clear language promotes effective communication and builds trust between the sender and the recipient.

Try to write in plain language in official texts (e.g. applications), technical texts (e.g. user manuals), as well as emails or announcements. This way of drafting content demonstrates respect for the reader.

• Did you know that:
  Poles have “prosty polski”, Germans – “einfache Sprache”, Norwegians and Swedes – “klarspråk”, and the English – “plain English”,
• supporters of plain English included writers such as William Shakespeare, Daniel Defoe and George Orwell, as well as politicians including Winston Churchill, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama,
• in 1993 the Council of the European Union adopted legislative quality guidelines, emphasising that EU legal acts should be formulated clearly, plainly and concisely – without jargon and excessively long sentences,
• in 2023 the first part of the ISO standard on plain language was published: ISO 24495-1:2023 Plain Language – Part 1: Governing principles and guidelines,
  since 28 June 2025 the European Accessibility Act has been in force in Poland, requiring companies to comply with unified accessibility standards for products and services,
• the Faculty of Polish and Classical Philology at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań offers postgraduate studies in “Plain Language in Public Institutions”?

Bialystok University of Technology follows the global trend of informational accessibility and inclusivity by organising workshops entitled “Plain Language in University Communication” for its employees, carried out as part of the project “BUT Accessible 2.0 – A Modern University for Everyone” (FERS.03.01-IP.08-0116/24-00).

• To improve communication in any language:
• remember to keep sentences short;
• use well-known words and phrases;
• avoid unnecessary embellishments and impersonal forms;
• use the active voice instead of the passive where possible.

Would you like to learn other principles of effective communication and try your hand at writing in plain English?

On 13 October at 5.45 p.m. in room 2/3 of the CNK there will be a workshop entitled “Strength lies in simplicity”. The next opportunity will not come until next year!

Would you like to learn more or sign up for the workshop? Write to m.sleszynska [at] pb.edu.pl.