So, basically we have public leaders, public officials who are out of control; they are writing bills that are unintelligible, and out of these bills are going to come maybe 40,000 pages of regulations, total complexity, which has a dramatically negative impact on our life. If you're a veteran coming back from Iraq or Vietnam you face a blizzard of paperwork to get your benefits; if you're trying to get a small business loan, you face a blizzard of paperwork.
總而言之,有些領袖公僕 政府官員做事不按章法 他們撰寫的立法條款難懂 而這些成堆的法案日後 衍生為厚達4萬多頁的法規,複雜難懂致極 儼然對我們的生活造成極大的負面影響 如果您是自伊拉克或越南返家的退伍軍人 得填寫教人暈頭轉向的書面文件才能領福利救助金 如果要申請創業貸款 先得與滿坑滿谷的申請表奮戰
What are we going to do about it? I define simplicity as a means to achieving clarity, transparency and empathy, building humanity into communications. I've been simplifying things for 30 years. I come out of the advertising and design business. My focus is understanding you people, and how you interact with the government to get your benefits, how you interact with corporations to decide whom you're going to do business with, and how you view brands.
我們究竟該怎麼辦?「化繁為簡」 是實踐明確 一目了然、建立共識的依歸 同時在溝通中顧念你我的需要 30年來,我不斷在化繁為簡 我從事廣告設計 我在乎的是瞭解各位的想法 看重各位要如何與政府打交道 才能為自己爭取福利 要與企業如何交手來決定你的對口 還有,你怎麼看待自己的品牌
So, very quickly, when President Obama said, "I don't see why we can't have a one-page, plain English consumer credit agreement." So, I locked myself in a room, figured out the content, organized the document, and wrote it in plain English. I've had this checked by the two top consumer credit lawyers in the country. This is a real thing. Now, I went one step further and said, "Why do we have to stick with the stodgy lawyers and just have a paper document? Let's go online."
當歐巴馬總統也表示: 我看不出來準備一份 篇幅一頁淺顯易懂的信貸合約有什麼難! 所以我決定閉關 構思內容 設計文件架構,再以簡單常用的語彙撰寫 這份文件已經由國內兩位頂尖的 消費者信貸律師校閱 一點也不假 現在我要更進一步地質疑: 我們非得聽命於這些古板的律師嗎? 拿份書面文件、就說線上處理吧?
And many people might need help in computation. Working with the Harvard Business School, you'll see this example when you talk about minimum payment: If you spent 62 dollars for a meal, the longer you take to pay out that loan, you see, over a period of time using the minimum payment it's 99 dollars and 17 cents. How about that? Do you think your bank is going to show that to people? But it's going to work. It's more effective than just computational aids. And what about terms like "over the limit"? Perhaps a stealth thing. Define it in context. Tell people what it means.
許多人可能 數學不太靈光 若與哈佛商業學院合作 各位就會清楚什麼是最低付款金額 如果你一餐要花62元 就得花愈長的時間才能償清貸款 明白嗎?長久以來都是使用最低付款金額 最後要付99元又17角 這能接受嗎?你認為銀行會公開實情嗎? 但這仍然行得通,因為成效更佳 省去計算的麻煩 再來看看這個詞 超過信用額度? 這也許更微妙 若以前後文來定義,告訴大家這什麼意思
When you put it in plain English, you almost force the institution to give the people a way, a default out of that, and not put themselves at risk. Plain English is about changing the content. And one of the things I'm most proud of is this agreement for IBM. It's a grid, it's a calendar. At such and such a date, IBM has responsibilities, you have responsibilities. Received very favorably by business.
如果我們說白話文 等於是強迫銀行 讓民眾有規避的後路 不讓自己陷入風險 所謂的白話文就是 修改內容 我最自豪的一項成就 就是IBM的合約 這是一份表格、也是行事曆 在這些日子裡,IBM有必須履行的義務 你也有你的職責 業界欣然接受這種作法
And there is some good news to report today. Each year, one in 10 taxpayers receives a notice from the IRS. There are 200 million letters that go out. Running through this typical letter that they had, I ran it through my simplicity lab, it's pretty unintelligible. All the parts of the document in red are not intelligible. We looked at doing over 1,000 letters that cover 70 percent of their transactions in plain English. They have been tested in the laboratory. When I run it through my lab, this heat-mapping shows everything is intelligible. And the IRS has introduced the program.
今天還有好消息與各位分享 每年每十個納稅人有一位 會收到國稅局的通知 而全國有2億封這樣的信函 我們處理了這類典型的書信 就在我的化繁為簡實驗室 只覺得艱澀難懂 紅色標示的內容讓人摸不著頭緒 又看了1千多封以一般用語撰寫的信 這些佔了70%的業務 然後在實驗室中進行測試 實驗後的結果 熱點圖指示每封信 都淺顯易懂 現在國稅局已採用這項作法
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There are a couple of things going on right now that I want to bring to your attention. There is a lot of discussion now about a consumer financial protection agency, how to mandate simplicity. We see all this complexity. It's incumbent upon us, and this organization, I believe, to make clarity, transparency and empathy a national priority. There is no way that we should allow government to communicate the way they communicate. There is no way we should do business with companies that have agreements with stealth provisions and that are unintelligible.
目前有一些議題 希望各位能夠關注 各界都在熱烈討論 消費者金融保護局的相關問題 如何實行化繁為簡原則 這些文字艱澀拗口 因此我相信我們和這個組織 有義不容辭的責任 讓貫徹明確、一目了然、共識的原則 成為全國的優先任務 我們決不能姑息政府 再以他們慣用的手段與民眾溝通 不能再縱容企業 盡以言辭隱晦不明的條款 與我們簽訂業務契約
So, how are we going to change the world? Make clarity, transparency and simplicity a national priority. I thank you.
如何為世界開闢新局呢? 就奉明確、淺顯易懂、化繁為簡為歸臬吧! 謝謝各位!
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