[Japan Plain Language Association] “Plain Japanese Textbook” that will reach/understand/resonate with the recipient Published on September 30th
*Japan Plain Language Association*
Press release: September 19, 2024
**
“Plain Japanese Textbook” that will reach/understand/resonate with the recipient Published on September 30th
*Explaining methods of “practical information dissemination” for readers with abundant practical examples*
Japan Plain Language Association (JAPL/Location: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo) Representative Director: Machiko Asai) will publish “Plain Japanese Textbook” from Cosmopia on September 30, 2024.
In 2023, ISO officially published the Plain Language International Standard (for 27 languages, including Japanese). This book is an explanatory book for the Japanese version, “Plain Japanese.”
* ■Points of this book*
1. Presents 18 practical guidelines of Plain Japanese that will be understood by the reader, so that information senders can achieve their goals.
2. Contains 7 examples of business documents that “don’t get across” and examples of improvements. You can find problems in bad examples and practice plain Japanese.
3. Presents techniques for making full use of machine translation. Learn tips to dramatically improve the accuracy of machine
translation, which is constantly evolving.
4. Contains a wealth of interviews and columns by celebrities from various fields who practice plain language. (Mr. Kazunari Uchida (Professor Emeritus of Waseda University), Mr. Takeo Kikkawa (Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo), Mr. Kazuya Matsumoto (Former NHK announcer), Angelika
Mr. Vaasa (Head of Quality Coordination Unit, Directorate-General for Translation of the European Parliament), etc.)
5. Contains immediately useful materials, such as how to
quantitatively measure “readability” and a list of examples of rephrasing into easy-to-understand expressions.
* ■Publication background*
Due to IOT and DX, we are exposed to a huge amount of information every day. Furthermore, as globalization progresses, opportunities to communicate with people from diverse countries are increasing. “How can we get people to search for their own information among the flood of information, become interested, and take action in line with their goals?” ”In an increasingly complex society, information providers are faced with these difficult propositions. Additionally, as information increases, there is a need for fair, impartial, and transparent information dissemination.
Plain language (ISO standard) is useful for effectively achieving the purpose of communication and information dissemination. Plain language is a “quick,” “efficient,” and “easy to understand”
communication method that has already become widespread in Europe and the United States. However, Japan is full of “ambiguous Japanese,” business documents that are difficult to understand at first glance. We have published this book to convey to you that in order to achieve your goals when disseminating practical information, you need to practice Plain Japanese.
JAPL is preparing to establish a qualification examination system with the aim of developing human resources who can practice Plain Japanese, and this book can also be used as a reference book for the
examination. We hope that many people, not just those who transmit information, will pick up this book and that it will help strengthen the dissemination capabilities of organizations and companies.
* ■Table of Contents*
Introduction
Chapter 1 What is plain language?
Chapter 2 Business documents that don’t get across
Chapter 3: 18 key points in communicating business documents Chapter 4 Effects of Plain Language
Chapter 5 Plain language and machine translation
Chapter 6: History of plain language and global trends
Applied version: Successful communication
Materials: How to measure readability
* ■Book summary*
* “Plain Japanese Textbook” *
Edited by: Japan Plain Language Association
Number of pages: 244 pages
ISBN-10:4864542171
ISBN-13: 978-4864542173
Price: 2,300 yen (excluding tax)
Publisher: Cosmopia
Release date: September 30, 2024
URL: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4864542171/
* ■Author profile*
*Machiko Asai*
Representative Director, Japan Plain Language
Association/Representative Director, A&People Co., Ltd./International Organization for Standardization
TC37 Plain Language National Committee Member/Clarity International Japan Representative.
Established a translation company in 1998. He has been involved in translation in plain English for the globalization of a major automobile manufacturer, and has demonstrated its effectiveness. For the next 20 years, he has been working to popularize plain language in Japan.
Author: “Short English that gets across: A new world standard Plain” English” (Toyo Keizai Shinposha), “Thinking about “Japanese for Japanese”” edited by Isao An (Maruzen Publishing), Chapter 2 “Overseas Trends: Concerning Plain Language”
* Minoru Moriguchi *
Born in Osaka, graduated from Hokkaido University. Experienced as a high school teacher, English magazine reporter, machine translation developer, technical writer, and practical translator. Currently, he teaches English, Japanese culture, communication, etc. as a part-time lecturer at a university.
Books: “Invitation to Technical Communication”, “Basic Speaking Techniques” (co-author), “Japanese Writing Training” (co-author), etc. Dictionaries edited, written, proofread, etc.: “Japanese Traditional and Popular Culture Dictionary in English”, “Genius English-Japanese Dictionary 5th Edition”, etc.
* Hajime Yamada *
Doctor of Engineering from Keio University. After working at NTT, he became a professor at Toyo University’s Faculty of Economics in 2002 and professor emeritus in 2017. Director of the Japan Plain Language Association, Chairman of the Information and Communication Policy Forum, a non-profit organization, and Chairman of the National Committee for Standardization in Response to the Aging Society. Author of numerous papers, books, and articles on system design for the information society. As a visiting researcher at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Science and Technology Policy Research Institute, he wrote an article explaining the latest science and technology trends, and became involved in the spread of plain language.
[Organization overview]
Name: Japan Plain Language Association (JAPL)
Representative: Representative Director Machiko Asai
Address: Ebisu Business Tower 10F, 1-19-19 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Homepage: https://japl9.org/
Established: April 2019 (Organizational reorganization in April 2023) Activities:
1. Dissemination of information using the Internet, etc.
2. Publishing books and contributing to magazines
3. Holding training sessions and lectures
4. Development of writing and translation support software and e-learning using IT/AI
5.Qualification certification and consulting for qualification certification 6. Advertising on homepage business
7. Surveys, research, and human resource development necessary to achieve other objectives.
8.Any other business necessary to achieve the purpose