ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Alan Siegel - Executive, simplicity guru
A branding expert and one of the leading authorities on business communication, Alan Siegel wants to put plain English into legal documents for government and business.

Why you should listen

Almost nothing so mundane renders as many beads of sweat on the foreheads of the citizens of the United States than the looming of April 15, the day of the dreaded yearly income tax mail-ins. But Alan Siegel says the better portion of that anxiety ain't necessarily the pay hit -- it's navigating the legendarily confusing jungle of jargon (and cluttered checkboxes) that constitutes the IRS's tax forms. It's more than a question of convenience to individuals, he emphasizes; as our society's systems get more complicated, the perplexing legal documents that make them run are becoming more of a drain, undermining our potential prosperity.

It's also a problem that's bigger than taxes; it's even bigger than the United States. Siegel, one of the world's foremost branding experts (he's founder and chairman of brand consultancy Siegel+Gale) notes that the world is suffering from an epidemic of legalese: fear of loopholes and lawsuits is forcing the world's attorneys, contract designers and EULA scribes to take their art form to historically impenetrable lows.

Better for us, Siegel has spent decades as a pioneer in the practice of simplification -- as he says, "bringing clarity to such daunting documents as insurance policies, bank loans, mutual fund agreements" and government communications. He hopes to transform the idea of document simplicity from a creative principle into an aggressive movement for change.

Siegel was recently director of a project for the IRS to simplify US income tax forms. He has written on the topic for the New York Times, Across the Board, and the National Law Journal.

See his simplified IRS form [pdf] >>

See his simplified credit card agreement [pdf] >>

More profile about the speaker
Alan Siegel | Speaker | TED.com
TED2010

Alan Siegel: Let's simplify legal jargon!

Alan Siegel: 條款細則,一律從簡!

Filmed:
980,643 views

Alan Siegel 話:報稅表、信貸協議、醫療法案,全部都係官樣文章,又長又譖。佢提倡改造所有條款細則,以簡單易明、平易近人為依歸,務求人人都睇得明,讀得通。
- Executive, simplicity guru
A branding expert and one of the leading authorities on business communication, Alan Siegel wants to put plain English into legal documents for government and business. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:15
So, basically基本上 we have public公眾 leaders領導人,
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而家我哋嘅領袖同政府官員
都好似中咗毒咁
00:18
public公眾 officials官員 who are out of control控制;
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啲法案畀佢哋寫到極之難明
00:21
they are writing寫作 bills條例草案 that are unintelligible難以理解,
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00:23
and out of these bills條例草案 are going to come
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裏面嘅條款細則可以有成四萬幾頁紙咁多
00:25
maybe 40,000 pages頁面 of regulations法規, total complexity複雜性,
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複雜到極
00:30
which has a dramatically大幅 negative impact影響 on our life.
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兼且對我哋生活造成嚴重不便
00:33
If you're a veteran老兵 coming back from Iraq伊拉克 or Vietnam越南
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試想像你係個退伍軍人
喺伊拉克或者越南打過仗
00:37
you face塊面 a blizzard暴雪 of paperwork文件 to get your benefits著數;
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要拎援助金嘅話
要先填好曬面前成疊文件
00:41
if you're trying試圖 to get a small business業務 loan貸款,
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如果你想借錢搞生意
00:43
you face塊面 a blizzard暴雪 of paperwork文件.
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同樣畀疊文件點到你暈
00:45
What are we going to do about it? I define定義 simplicity簡單
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對住疊文件,我哋究竟有咩符?
00:47
as a means意味着 to achieving實現 clarity清晰,
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我認為一切從簡
可以令所有嘢變得清晰、透明、人性化
00:50
transparency透明度 and empathy迻情,
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00:52
building建築 humanity人類 into communications通信.
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務求整個溝通模式可以返璞歸真
00:55
I've been simplifying簡化 things for 30 years.
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我三十年嚟就係喺度將啲嘢簡化
00:58
I come out of the advertising廣告 and design設計 business業務.
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我做廣告設計出身
01:01
My focus重點 is understanding理解 you people,
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我好想去了解你哋
01:05
and how you interact互動 with the government政府
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了解你哋點樣同政府溝通
去爭取你應有嘅權益
01:07
to get your benefits著數,
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01:09
how you interact互動 with corporations公司 to decide決定 whom边个 you're going to do business業務 with,
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了解你哋點樣同企業打交道
揀同邊個做生意
01:12
and how you view视图 brands品牌.
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兼了解你哋點樣睇品牌
01:15
So, very quickly迅速, when President總統 Obama奧巴馬 said,
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當其時奧巴馬佢咁樣講:
01:19
"I don't see why we can't
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「我哋啲信貸合約點解唔可以一頁紙過,
01:21
have a one-page單頁, plain平原 English英文 consumer消費者 credit信用 agreement協議."
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兼易睇易明嘅呢?」
01:25
So, I locked myself自己 in a room間房,
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之後,我就決定閉關
01:27
figured out the content內容,
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度好個內容,執靚個排版
01:30
organized組織 the document快勞, and wrote it in plain平原 English英文.
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用好淺顯嘅文字寫掂佢
01:33
I've had this checked檢查 by the two top返回頁首
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我搵咗美國做消費信貸最勁嘅
兩個律師校閱過
01:35
consumer消費者 credit信用 lawyers律師 in the country國家.
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01:37
This is a real真正 thing.
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呢樣係千真萬確㗎
01:39
Now, I went one step further進一步 and said,
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之後,我進一步話:
01:42
"Why do we have to stick堅持 with the stodgy死板 lawyers律師
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「點解下下都要靠班法律顧問呢?
01:44
and just have a paper document快勞? Let's go online在線."
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點解文件硬係得印刷本嘅呢?
不如擺上網啦!」
01:48
And many好多 people
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我知好多人計數唔多掂
01:50
might可能 need help in computation計算.
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01:52
Working工作 with the Harvard哈佛 Business業務 School學校,
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我哋同哈佛商學院合作嗰時
01:54
you'll你咪會 see this example例子 when you talk about minimum最低 payment付款:
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有個方案係關於最低還款額
01:58
If you spent 62 dollars美元 for a meal,
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幅圖寫住:假設你一餐飯洗咗 62 美金
02:01
the longer you take to pay支付 out that loan貸款,
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而你每個月齋畀最低還款額嘅話
02:04
you see, over a period時期 of time using使用 the minimum最低 payment付款
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嗰 62 蚊就要拖更耐先還得清
02:06
it's 99 dollars美元 and 17 cents美分.
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最後仲要畀成 99 蚊 1 毫 7 仙
02:09
How about that? Do you think your bank銀行 is going to show顯示 that to people?
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你覺得銀行會將實情話你聽咩?
02:12
But it's going to work. It's more effective有效
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點都好,圖文並茂確實好得
02:14
than just computational計算 aids爱滋病.
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實際過計晒畀你睇
02:16
And what about terms條款 like
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再睇睇呢個詞語:「超過信貸額度」
02:18
"over the limit限制"?
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02:21
Perhaps或者 a stealth隱身 thing.
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睇落好隱晦咁
02:23
Define定義 it in context上下文. Tell people what it means意味着.
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嘗試解釋下,等人知點解
02:25
When you put it in plain平原 English英文,
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當你簡化條文
02:27
you almost爭 D force the institution機構
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就等於要求銀行一定要向公眾開誠佈公
02:29
to give the people a way, a default默認 out of that,
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02:31
and not put themselves自己 at risk風險.
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以防大家誤踩地雷
02:33
Plain平原 English英文 is about
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所謂淺顯易明,就係重組內容
02:36
changing the content內容.
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02:38
And one of the things I'm most proud驕傲 of
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要數我其中最自豪嘅
一定係 IBM 嘅一份協議
02:40
is this agreement協議 for IBMIbm.
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02:42
It's a grid網格, it's a calendar日曆.
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佢用嘅係方格、日曆
02:44
At such and such a date日期, IBMIbm has responsibilities責任,
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寫住邊月邊日
IBM 有某啲職責,你又有某啲職責
02:46
you have responsibilities責任.
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02:48
Received收到 very favorably從優 by business業務.
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而家業界都好歡迎呢款設計
02:52
And there is some good news新聞 to report報告 today今日.
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我今日有好消息想分享下
02:54
Each每個 year, one in 10 taxpayers納稅人
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每年,每十個納稅人
02:56
receives接收 a notice通知 from the IRS國稅局.
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就有一個收到國稅局嘅通知書
02:58
There are 200 million letters字母 that go out.
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同類信件全國有成兩億幾封
03:01
Running運行 through透過 this typical典型 letter that they had,
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喺我哋個「化繁為簡實驗室」入邊
03:04
I ran it through透過 my simplicity簡單 lab實驗室,
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我哋處理咗呢堆信件
03:06
it's pretty unintelligible難以理解.
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發現內容認真難明
03:08
All the parts部分 of the document快勞 in red are not intelligible理解.
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紅色嗰啲,全部都好難明
03:12
We looked at doing over 1,000 letters字母 that cover覆蓋
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我哋著手改造呢一千款信件
03:14
70 percent百分比 of their佢哋 transactions交易 in plain平原 English英文.
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呢拃信件涵蓋咗佢哋七成轉帳
03:17
They have been tested測試 in the laboratory實驗室.
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改造完,就經實驗室檢測
03:19
When I run運行 it through透過 my lab實驗室,
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檢測完
03:21
this heat-mapping熱映射 shows顯示 everything
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熱點圖顯示所有字句一律清楚易明
03:23
is intelligible理解.
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03:25
And the IRS國稅局 has introduced介紹 the program程序.
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而家國稅局都引進咗呢個程式
03:27
(Applause掌聲)
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(鼓掌)
03:32
There are a couple夫婦 of things going on right now
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我想帶大家睇下我哋著手做緊嘅嘢
03:35
that I want to bring to your attention注意.
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03:37
There is a lot of discussion討論 now
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各界都討論緊係咪要
設立消費者金融保護局
03:39
about a consumer消費者 financial金融 protection保護 agency機構,
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03:41
how to mandate任務 simplicity簡單.
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討論緊點樣實踐化繁為簡
03:43
We see all this complexity複雜性.
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眼見周圍都官樣文章
03:45
It's incumbent現任 upon之後 us,
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我相信我哋同呢個局都責無旁貸
03:47
and this organization組織, I believe,
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03:49
to make clarity清晰, transparency透明度
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要將化繁為簡睇為國家嘅優先政策
03:52
and empathy迻情 a national國家 priority優先.
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03:55
There is no way that we should allow允許 government政府
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我哋唔可以任得政府係咁同我哋打官腔
03:57
to communicate溝通 the way they communicate溝通.
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03:59
There is no way we should do business業務
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更唔可以由得企業
04:01
with companies公司 that have agreements協議
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用埋晒啲咁隱晦嘅條款同我哋做生意
04:04
with stealth隱身 provisions規定 and that are unintelligible難以理解.
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04:06
So, how are we going to change the world世界?
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咁影響世界有啲咩方法呢?
04:08
Make clarity清晰, transparency透明度 and simplicity簡單 a national國家 priority優先.
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就係堅持清晰、透明同簡單嘅文字!
04:13
I thank you.
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多謝各位!
04:15
(Applause掌聲)
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(鼓掌)
Translated by Clement Cheung
Reviewed by Chak Lam Wan

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Alan Siegel - Executive, simplicity guru
A branding expert and one of the leading authorities on business communication, Alan Siegel wants to put plain English into legal documents for government and business.

Why you should listen

Almost nothing so mundane renders as many beads of sweat on the foreheads of the citizens of the United States than the looming of April 15, the day of the dreaded yearly income tax mail-ins. But Alan Siegel says the better portion of that anxiety ain't necessarily the pay hit -- it's navigating the legendarily confusing jungle of jargon (and cluttered checkboxes) that constitutes the IRS's tax forms. It's more than a question of convenience to individuals, he emphasizes; as our society's systems get more complicated, the perplexing legal documents that make them run are becoming more of a drain, undermining our potential prosperity.

It's also a problem that's bigger than taxes; it's even bigger than the United States. Siegel, one of the world's foremost branding experts (he's founder and chairman of brand consultancy Siegel+Gale) notes that the world is suffering from an epidemic of legalese: fear of loopholes and lawsuits is forcing the world's attorneys, contract designers and EULA scribes to take their art form to historically impenetrable lows.

Better for us, Siegel has spent decades as a pioneer in the practice of simplification -- as he says, "bringing clarity to such daunting documents as insurance policies, bank loans, mutual fund agreements" and government communications. He hopes to transform the idea of document simplicity from a creative principle into an aggressive movement for change.

Siegel was recently director of a project for the IRS to simplify US income tax forms. He has written on the topic for the New York Times, Across the Board, and the National Law Journal.

See his simplified IRS form [pdf] >>

See his simplified credit card agreement [pdf] >>

More profile about the speaker
Alan Siegel | Speaker | TED.com