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EASIT: Easy acess
for social inclusion training
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This is Unit 2, Easy-to-
understand language, in short E2U.
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Element 2, Legislation,
standards and guidelines.
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Video lecture:
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Easy-to-understand language
in Italy: An overview.
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I am Elisa Perego,
from Università degli Studi di Trieste.
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In this video lecture,
I will guide you through the key phases
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of E2U language in Italy.
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Easy and Plain Language
are not equally known,
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established and implemented
in all EU countries.
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In Italy,
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in spite of the steps taken,
there is still a long way to go,
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and simplification is not applied
consistently to all sectors.
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Research in the field is irregular,
although it is growing.
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This inconsistency is reflected in
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the way Easy Language
and Plain Language
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both user-centred varieties,
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are referred to in Italian.
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In Italian various labels co-exist:
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"Lingua" or "linguaggio facileda leggere
e da capire",
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in English: "Easy-to-understand
and easy-to-read language".
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stand for Easy Language,
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although there are shorter expressions,
like for example:
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"lingua facile",
"lingua facile da leggere",
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"lingua facile da capire",
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"lingua semplice",
"linguaggio semplice".
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On the other hand,
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Italian also uses the loan term
"Plain Language"
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and the expression
"semplificazione linguistica",
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in English: "language simplification",
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to refer to Plain Language.
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"Clarity" is another term
that is often used,
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as in: "linguaggio chiaro e semplice",
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or in English:
"Clear and simple language".
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The most vigorous debate
on the need for clear
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and effective writing only reached Italy
in the 1990s.
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But previous milestones
should be mentioned.
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In 1965 the well-known
Italian journalist
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and writer Italo Calvino
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drew attention to the disadvantages
of the vagueness
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opacity and lack of standardisation
of non-literary Italian,
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referred to as "anti-language".
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In the 1990s,
two publications against
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the "verbose Italian style" were issued:
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the 1993 Codice di stile,
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or Style code,
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by the Italian Minister
and Professor of Law Sabino Cassese;
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and the 1997 Manuale di stile,
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or Style manual,
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edited by Alfredo Fioritto.
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Both contributions proposed
simpler ways to write
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administrative documents,
according to the type of adressee,
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layout principles
and general text organization rules.
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From the 21st century,
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Italy has also begun
to participate actively in national
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and European projects on the subject.
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The Chiaro!, or Clear! project,
on the simplification of legal language
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was launched by the Italian
Public Service Department.
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In a wider international context,
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joining the EU network Inclusion Europe
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was an invaluable opportunity
for Italy
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to compare itself with other countries.
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The current situation
regarding the distribution of formats,
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activities and fields of application
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of EL and PL in Italy,
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is illustrated in a publication
by Perego (2020),
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based on survey data
gathered for the EASIT project
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through an online questionnaire
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distributed to 19 Italian E2U experts.
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The results show that
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EL is the modality
that is produced more often
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compared to PL.
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Printed content is the format
almost all experts work with,
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while audiovisual content
is still discounted.
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Writing Easy Language content
is the most performed activity,
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as opposed to, for instance,
adaptating or validating content.
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Finally, most E2U content
is created in the field of education,
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overlooking crucial areas, such as:
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public administration and justice,
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culture and literature,
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media and journalism.
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In terms of outcomes,
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the text types translated
into EL include:
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legal and administrative texts;
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didactic texts
for vulnerable school-goers
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or for learners of Italian
as a second language;
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health-related brochures;
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websites;
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and occasionally, short stories.
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Anffas, the National Association
of Families of Persons
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with Intellectual
and/or Relational Disabilities,
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accounts for most translations
of Italian material into EL,
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including a children’s book
and, recently,
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focused information on Coronavirus.
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However, substantial work
in the sector is being carried out
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in one of the five autonomous
Italian regions,
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Trentino-Alto Adige,
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a trilingual region,
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Italian, German and Ladin
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with strong connections
with the German-speaking countries.
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This region managed to capitalize
on its network
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and the work carried out in Germany
on Easy Language,
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applying it to the more intricate
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and multifaceted Italian context.
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Interestingly,
private companies have started offering
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translation services
for legal documents into EL.
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This shows the growing awareness
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of the need
to simplify legal language for all.
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To conclude,
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according to recent data emerging
from the EASIT project,
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in Perego 2020,
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in Italy,
there is still no systematic university
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or vocational training system
for E2U text producers
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and translators.
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Only approximately
half of the people working
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in the Italian E2U sector were trained,
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and that training mainly takes place
outside the academic world,
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in the form of in-house courses
and even self-training sessions.
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All the pictures used
in this presentation
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come from the Public Domain
Vectors website,
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which gathers hundreds of royalty-free
vector images
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under the Creative Commons Universal
Public Domain Dedication licence.
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This video lecture was prepared
by Elisa Perego
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and produced by Andreea Deleanu,
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from Università degli Studi di Trieste.
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You can reach me at eperego@units.it.