Apparently, the German Government has realized very few people can actually read the stuff they send out to citizens.

This does not surprise me really, as the notion of human factors and technical writing is so new here that the government has not benefited in the past from the input our profession can offer to their documentation. When I first arrived here in 2001, the German Employment Agency had never heard of a Technical Writer (Technische Redakteur in German). Even today, I find it difficult explaining exactly what I do to Government Beamte (employees or officials). The best I could do was say – “see that monitor you are using. I write the handbooks that explain to you how to use it.” Telling them I am a Technical Writer leads only to blank looks.

So, it comes as no surprise that only recently the Government has become aware its notices to citizens are for the most part incomprehensible.

Take the following for example:

You are or were obligated to report all changes in your circumstances in matters relating to your type of benefit to the above mentioned authority in accordance with Section 60 German Social Code Book One (SGB I). You have not fulfilled this obligation at least grossly negligent (Section 48 Subsection 1 Phrase 2 No. 2 German Social Code Book Ten – SGB X). Benefits in accordance with SGB II to the mentioned amount have been paid wrongly in the period from 15 October 2009 to 31 October 2009.

This has been changed to:

Because – according to the present documents – you did not report a change in your circumstances relevant to your entitlement to benefits in due time, an overpayment occurred.

Admittedly, it is a translation to English from a German native speaker, so awkwardness still exists in the sentence, but I mighty improvement over the horror that is normally generated by German Government Bureaucrats.

The official reason:

Notifications by authorities are often written in officialese, which makes it hard for the reader to grasp and understand the important contents immediately. Incomprehensibility can lead to communication problems. This in turn leads to an unnecessary barrier between citizen and administration. The consequence is mistrust in the authority’s decision. To diminish communication problems, the authorities of basic benefits now use more citizen-friendly notifications.

I would use the phrase, “real human speech”, not “citizen-friendly”, but I will give the Government high praise for seeing a real problem and trying to fix it. You see, technical writing has real value! They noted better communication breaks down barriers

and increases trust in the government. Now, if that is not the most important factor in the success of any organization, I cannot imagine anything else.