Clear Language Testing

Hello All,

Prompted by Rachael's scoring proposal, I've taken a quick look at the
tests related to Clear Language, and at this time I have significant
concerns related to internationalization.

Specifically, we appear at this time to be using the following as a basic
test assumption (from:
https://raw.githack.com/w3c/silver/conformance-js-dec/guidelines/methods/Method-plain-language-principles.html
)

...and echo'd in Rachael's document (
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1D18qg5pvne94jNvUwvj_Of36E8re6AB4tubdLpmhWOw/edit?pli=1#
):
Basic Tests

   1.

   Is spelling correct? (automated)
   2.

   Is grammar correct? (automated)
   3.

   *Is active voice used? (assisted)*
   4.

   *Is a simple tense used? (assisted)*


Some quick and basic research suggests to me that this is very
"western-centric" and will not scale to all languages. Please see:
https://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-language-without-the-grammatical-passive-voice

Additionally, while there are 12 major verb tenses for English related to
"time" (past, present, future - divided into four aspects: the simple,
progressive, perfect and perfect progressive), that may not always be
applicable. Chinese, for example, has no grammatical verb tenses. Other
languages, like Indonesian, express time only through adverbs — there are
no changes to the verb form. (source:
https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/introduction-to-verb-tenses-everyday-grammar/3123576.html
)

I do not claim to be a linguist or internationalization expert, but if 15
minutes of research turns up these concerns, then I must respectfully
suggest we need to stop and rethink how to make this work for *all*
languages, and not just western/romance languages.

I do not at this time have a proposal for a path forward, but at the same
time I am speaking up to say I think we are currently on the wrong path.
Testing for tense and 'voice' (active/passive) are language specific, and
not applicable everywhere.

FWIW

JF