Spanish Language: Making Things Less Complicated

I came to a very interesting conclusion a few weeks ago while I was surfing the net. It was linked to the webpage called “Plain languages” which presents itself as “the international association for plain language professionals that promotes clear communication in any language.”

Decoding the Spanish Language

I was left fascinated, transfixed. Amazed, thankful, hopeful, very hopeful. For many reasons. Firstly because I do not understand why administrative and legal language needs to be so obscure.  For the sake of accuracy, they tell me. Let me contest this; I think that accuracy is attained through the use of everyday language and if it is necessary to repeat a word, it can be repeated and that’s that. And to prove this idea, we simply have to recall science writers like Eduard Punset or Manuel Toharia, David Zurdo or the “decodifier of Spanish” known as Alex Grijelmo and there are many more who are able to explain anything in a comprehensible way.

On the other hand, I have always thought that behind an incomprehensible text is a disorganized mind and the best evidence for this are my own texts. In fact, I have carried out the test myself; when I write an incomprehensible text, I only have to read it a couple of times to make it comprehensible. And the same thing happens when I try to explain something in words. Therefore, why be obscure? To preserve private clubs? Those of lawyers, philosophers, doctors etc. Private clubs to which nobody can belong until they have understood all the requirements which the club demands.

Secondly, it makes me really sad to see how many people do not understand a rental agreement, appliance instruction manuals or medication instructions. Perhaps they do not understand a news story in a newspaper or a political pamphlet either. Perhaps they do not know which mortgage payment they have signed or which apparatus they have bought. These are the modern-day illiterate, people who know how to read and write but do not entirely understand what is being said.

Expressing ourselves

Thirdly, I think that the speaker is responsible for what happens. When we speak and when we write, we are responsible for making sure that the recipient understands us and this is something of which, as Spanish teachers, we are well aware as we are constantly changing our words to correspond with the level of competency of our students. It’s a case of practicing and we quickly learn. Therefore, why do they not teach us to express ourselves with clarity and precision in school? On the contrary, we are rewarded for complicated and tedious syntax, gratuitous figures of speech and extravagant lexis.

For this reason, I am convinced that my job as a Spanish teacher for foreigners allows me to fantasize about the idea of being an “uncomplicated” Spanish educator and this commitment ensures that I still like my job and especially for what it signifies as a social commitment as I strive to contribute to a better world.