TED2010
Alan Siegel: Let's simplify legal jargon!
Alan Siegel: Lad os gøre jurasproget nemmere!
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Selvangivelser, kreditaftaler, velfærdslove: De er fyldt med plidder pladder, og er uødigt lange, siger Alan Siegel. Han efterspørger simpelt og fornuftigt redesign - og almindeligt engelsk - så juridisk papirarbejde bliver forståeligt for resten af os.
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. Full bio
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 we have public leaders,
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Så, dybest set, har vi statsledere,
00:18
public officials who are out of control;
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offentlige autoriteter som er ude af kontrol.
00:21
they are writing bills that are unintelligible,
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De laver love som er uforståelige.
00:23
and out of these bills are going to come
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Og ud af disse love kommer der
00:25
maybe 40,000 pages of regulations, total complexity,
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måske 40.000 sider med regulationer, total kompleksitet,
00:30
which has a dramatically negative impact on our life.
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som har en dramatisk negativ indvirkning på vores liv.
00:33
If you're a veteran coming back from Iraq or Vietnam
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Hvis du er en veteran hjemvendt fra Irak eller Vietnam,
00:37
you face a blizzard of paperwork to get your benefits;
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møder du en storm af papirarbejde for at kunne få udbytte af dine goder.
00:41
if you're trying to get a small business loan,
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Hvis du prøver på at få et lille lån til din virksomhed,
00:43
you face a blizzard of paperwork.
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møder du en storm af papirarbejde.
00:45
What are we going to do about it? I define simplicity
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Hvad skal vi gøre ved det? Jeg definerer simpelhed
00:47
as a means to achieving clarity,
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som det at opnå klarhed,
00:50
transparency and empathy,
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gennemsigtighed og empati.
00:52
building humanity into communications.
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At bygge menneskelighed ind i kommunikationen.
00:55
I've been simplifying things for 30 years.
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Jeg har har simplificeret ting gennem 30 år.
00:58
I come out of the advertising and design business.
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Jeg kommer fra reklame- og designbranchen.
01:01
My focus is understanding you people,
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Mit fokus er at forstå jer,
01:05
and how you interact with the government
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og hvordan I interagerer med regeringen
01:07
to get your benefits,
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for at få jeres tilskud,
01:09
how you interact with corporations to decide whom you're going to do business with,
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hvordan I interagerer med virksomheder, for at bestemme hvem I vil handle med, og
01:12
and how you view brands.
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hvordan I ser på brands.
01:15
So, very quickly, when President Obama said,
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Så, meget hurtigt, da præsident Obama sagde,
01:19
"I don't see why we can't
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"Jeg forstår ikke, hvorfor vi ikke
01:21
have a one-page, plain English consumer credit agreement."
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har en en-sidet forbrugerkreditaftale på almindeligt engelsk."
01:25
So, I locked myself in a room,
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Så jeg låste mig inde i et rum
01:27
figured out the content,
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og udredede indholdet,
01:30
organized the document, and wrote it in plain English.
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organiserede dokumentet og skrev det i almindeligt engelsk.
01:33
I've had this checked by the two top
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Jeg fik det set efter i sømmene af de to bedste
01:35
consumer credit lawyers in the country.
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forbrugerkreditadvokater i landet
01:37
This is a real thing.
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Det her eksisterer.
01:39
Now, I went one step further and said,
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Nu er jeg så gået et skridt videre og spurgt,
01:42
"Why do we have to stick with the stodgy lawyers
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"Hvorfor skal vi beholde de bundkedelige advokater
01:44
and just have a paper document? Let's go online."
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og bare have et dokument på papir? Lad os lægge det på Internettet."
01:48
And many people
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Og nogle mennesker
01:50
might need help in computation.
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har måske brug for hjælp med beregningerne.
01:52
Working with the Harvard Business School,
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Under samarbejde med Harvard Business School,
01:54
you'll see this example when you talk about minimum payment:
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vil du se det her eksempel, når du taler om mindstebetaling.
01:58
If you spent 62 dollars for a meal,
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Hvis du bruger 341 kroner på et måltid,
02:01
the longer you take to pay out that loan,
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jo længere du tager om at betale det lån tilbage
02:04
you see, over a period of time using the minimum payment
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vil du se, at over en periode, hvor du bruger mindstebetaling,
02:06
it's 99 dollars and 17 cents.
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vil det blive 545 kroner og 25 ører.
02:09
How about that? Do you think your bank is going to show that to people?
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Hvad sker der? Tror du, at bankerne viser det her til folk?
02:12
But it's going to work. It's more effective
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Men det kommer til at fungere. Det er mere effektivt
02:14
than just computational aids.
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end beregningsmæssig hjælp.
02:16
And what about terms like
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Og hvad med termer som
02:18
"over the limit"?
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"over grænsen"?
02:21
Perhaps a stealth thing.
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Måske en skjult ting.
02:23
Define it in context. Tell people what it means.
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Definer det i en kontekst. Fortæl folk hvad det betyder.
02:25
When you put it in plain English,
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Når du fortæller det på almindeligt engelsk,
02:27
you almost force the institution
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tvinger du næsten institutionen
02:29
to give the people a way, a default out of that,
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til at give folk en måde, en standard,
02:31
and not put themselves at risk.
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så de ikke udsætter dem selv for risiko.
02:33
Plain English is about
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Almindeligt engelsk er til for at
02:36
changing the content.
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ændre indholdet.
02:38
And one of the things I'm most proud of
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Og en af de ting jeg er mest stolt af,
02:40
is this agreement for IBM.
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er denne aftale for IBM.
02:42
It's a grid, it's a calendar.
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Det er et net, det er en kalender.
02:44
At such and such a date, IBM has responsibilities,
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På den og den dato har IBM ansvar,
02:46
you have responsibilities.
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og du har ansvar.
02:48
Received very favorably by business.
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Modtaget meget positivt af virksomheder.
02:52
And there is some good news to report today.
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Og der er gode nyheder at fortælle i dag.
02:54
Each year, one in 10 taxpayers
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Hvert år modtager 1 ud af 10 skattebetalere
02:56
receives a notice from the IRS.
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en varsel fra IRS.
02:58
There are 200 million letters that go out.
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Der er mere end 200 millioner breve der bliver sendt.
03:01
Running through this typical letter that they had,
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Ved gennemgang af dette typiske brev, som de havde,
03:04
I ran it through my simplicity lab,
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løb jeg det igennem mit simplificeringslaboratorium.
03:06
it's pretty unintelligible.
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Det er ret uforståeligt.
03:08
All the parts of the document in red are not intelligible.
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Alle dele af dokumentet markeret med rødt, er ikke forståeligt.
03:12
We looked at doing over 1,000 letters that cover
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Vi så på muligheden for at lave 1.000 breve som dækker
03:14
70 percent of their transactions in plain English.
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70 procent af IRS-transaktioner på almindeligt engelsk.
03:17
They have been tested in the laboratory.
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De er blevet testet i laboratoriet.
03:19
When I run it through my lab,
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Når jeg løber det gennem mit laboratorium,
03:21
this heat-mapping shows everything
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viser dette farveskema alt,
03:23
is intelligible.
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hvad der er uforståeligt.
03:25
And the IRS has introduced the program.
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Og IRS har introduceret programmet.
03:27
(Applause)
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(Applaus)
03:32
There are a couple of things going on right now
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Der foregår nogle ting lige nu,
03:35
that I want to bring to your attention.
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som jeg vil lede jeres opmærksomhed imod.
03:37
There is a lot of discussion now
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Der forgår en hel masse diskussioner lige nu
03:39
about a consumer financial protection agency,
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om et agentur for finansiel beskyttelse af forbrugere,
03:41
how to mandate simplicity.
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og hvordan man lovfører enkelthed.
03:43
We see all this complexity.
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Vi ser al den her kompleksitet.
03:45
It's incumbent upon us,
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Det er etableret i os
03:47
and this organization, I believe,
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og denne organisation, tror jeg,
03:49
to make clarity, transparency
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for at skabe klarhed, gennemsigtighed
03:52
and empathy a national priority.
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og empati op på en national prioritet.
03:55
There is no way that we should allow government
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På ingen måde skal vi tillade regeringen
03:57
to communicate the way they communicate.
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at kommunikere på den måde, de gør.
03:59
There is no way we should do business
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Vi skal på ingen måde lave forretning
04:01
with companies that have agreements
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med virksomheder, der har aftaler
04:04
with stealth provisions and that are unintelligible.
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med skjulte provisioner og som er uforståelige.
04:06
So, how are we going to change the world?
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Så hvordan skal vi ændre verden?
04:08
Make clarity, transparency and simplicity a national priority.
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Gøre klarhed, gennemsigtighed og simplificering en prioritet på nationalt plan.
04:13
I thank you.
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Tak.
04:15
(Applause)
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(Applaus)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Alan Siegel - Executive, simplicity guruA 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.
Alan Siegel | Speaker | TED.com