Re: plain/simple/easy language variant subtag

On Wed, 16 Sep 2015 14:35:12 +0200, Paul Bohman <paul.bohman@deque.com>  
wrote:

> Language can be made simple or complex. That's not the main problem in  
> many cases though. The bigger >problem is that complex ideas will remain  
> complex, even when described in simple language.

Complex ideas are not a big problem. The big problem is how to explain  
complex ideas.

Explaining complex ideas is difficult. Explaining them with simple  
language is more difficult. But complex ideas can be explained in simple  
language. Thousands of very good teachers do that every day.

For most people, understanding complicated explanations is hard. Even if  
they can understand the idea that someone is explaining.

(alternately: Conceptual integrity failure in interpersonal communication  
is frequently consequent upon inadequate realisation vis-a-vis the  
linguistic transmission medium rather than the abstract object inherently  
overtaxing the recipient's cognitive capacity…)

> The only way to solve the problem of complex ideas would be to simplify  
> the ideas, which is often >impossible without sacrificing meaning.
> In fact, the whole idea of simple language seems a bit of a red herring  
> (an irrelevant distraction) >when considered in the context of complex  
> ideas.

Not really.

First because many ideas people want to explain are not complex.

Second, it is easier to understand complex ideas from explanations that  
use simple language, than from explanations using complex language.  
Especially for people who do not understand complex language well.

Simple language is important for simple ideas, but also for complex ideas.

cheers

chaals

-- 
Charles McCathie Nevile - web standards - CTO Office, Yandex
  chaals@yandex-team.ru - - - Find more at http://yandex.com

Received on Wednesday, 16 September 2015 13:06:32 UTC