Alan Siegel: Let's simplify legal jargon!

Translator: Aida Musai Reviewer: Helena Bedalli

So, basically we have public leaders,

Ne kemi lidere te medhenje,

public officials who are out of control;

zyrtare publike qe kane dale jashte kontrollit;

they are writing bills that are unintelligible,

ata po shkruajne dokumente te padeshifrueshme,

and out of these bills are going to come

dhe nga keto dokumente do te dalin

maybe 40,000 pages of regulations, total complexity,

ndoshta rreth 40 mije faqe rregullash shume te komplikuara

which has a dramatically negative impact on our life.

qe do te ndikojne negativisht ne jetet tona.

If you're a veteran coming back from Iraq or Vietnam

Nese ti je nje veteran i luftes ne Irak apo Vietnam

you face a blizzard of paperwork to get your benefits;

atehere te duhet te merresh me njeqind dokumente per te arritur tek shperblimi yt;

if you're trying to get a small business loan,

nese te duhet nje kredi e vogel per biznes,

you face a blizzard of paperwork.

atehere duhet te merresh me njeqind dokumente.

What are we going to do about it? I define simplicity

A do te bejme dicka per t'a ndryshuar kete? Sipas meje thjeshtesia eshte

as a means to achieving clarity,

nje menyre per t'i bere gjerat me te qarta,

transparency and empathy,

transparente, e per te krijuar empati,

building humanity into communications.

duke e bere komunikimin me njerezor.

I've been simplifying things for 30 years.

Kam 30 vjet qe merrem me thjeshtezimin e gjerave.

I come out of the advertising and design business.

Une vij nga biznesi i publicitetit dhe dizajnit.

My focus is understanding you people,

Qellimi im eshte t'ju kuptoj ju

and how you interact with the government

dhe menyren se si ju bashkeveproni me qeverine

to get your benefits,

per te marre shperblimet tuaja,

how you interact with corporations to decide whom you're going to do business with,

se si ju bashkeveproni me korporatat per te vendosur se cilin do te zgjidhni si partner biznesi,

and how you view brands.

dhe se si ju i shihni markat.

So, very quickly, when President Obama said,

Shkurtimisht, kur presidenti Obama tha,

"I don't see why we can't

"Nuk e kuptoj se pse nuk mund te kemi

have a one-page, plain English consumer credit agreement."

nje kontrate prej nje faqeje ne anglishte te thjeshte per kredite konsumatore."

So, I locked myself in a room,

Keshtu une u mbylla ne dhomen time,

figured out the content,

mendova per permbajtjen,

organized the document, and wrote it in plain English.

rregullova dokumentet, dhe e shkruajta ate ne anglishte te thjeshte.

I've had this checked by the two top

Ia dhashe per kontroll dy prej

consumer credit lawyers in the country.

avokateve me te mire te vendit per kredite konsumatore.

This is a real thing.

Kjo ka ndodhur vertet.

Now, I went one step further and said,

Une shkova edhe nje hap me tej dhe thashe,

"Why do we have to stick with the stodgy lawyers

"Pse duhet t'i ngjitemi nga pas avokateve te bezdisur

and just have a paper document? Let's go online."

dhe te merremi me letra? Le te shkojme online."

And many people

Por shume njerez

might need help in computation.

kane nevoje per ndihme ne perdorimin e kompjuterit.

Working with the Harvard Business School,

Po te punonit me Harvard Business School,

you'll see this example when you talk about minimum payment:

kur te flitej per pagesen minimale, do te shihnit kete shembull:

If you spent 62 dollars for a meal,

Nese do te merrnit kredi per 62 dollare,

the longer you take to pay out that loan,

sa me shume kohe te merrni per t'a paguar ate kredi,

you see, over a period of time using the minimum payment

shikoni, nese paguani kestin minimal gjate gjithe kohes

it's 99 dollars and 17 cents.

do te paguanit gjithsej 99 dollare dhe 17 cent.

How about that? Do you think your bank is going to show that to people?

Si ju duket? Mendoni se banka juaj ua tregon kete njerezve?

But it's going to work. It's more effective

Por kjo do te funksiononte. Kjo eshte ndihme me

than just computational aids.

efikase sesa ndihma ne perdorimin e kompjuterit.

And what about terms like

Po nese flasim per terma te tipit

"over the limit"?

"tejkalim i limitit"?

Perhaps a stealth thing.

Ndoshta ka te beje me ndonje vjedhje.

Define it in context. Tell people what it means.

Percakto kontekstin. Tregoju njerezve se c'kuptim ka.

When you put it in plain English,

Nese e thua ne anglishte te thjeshte,

you almost force the institution

ti pothuajse e detyron institucionin

to give the people a way, a default out of that,

qe t'i jape njerezve nje alternative, nje rruge per te shpetuar,

and not put themselves at risk.

per te mos u gjendur ne rrezik.

Plain English is about

Anglishtja e thjeshte

changing the content.

ndryshon permbajtjen.

And one of the things I'm most proud of

Dhe nje prej gjerave per te cilat jam me shume krenar

is this agreement for IBM.

eshte marreveshja me IBM-ne.

It's a grid, it's a calendar.

Eshte nje tabele, nje kalendar.

At such and such a date, IBM has responsibilities,

Ne kete dhe ate date, IBM-ja ka keto pergjegjesi,

you have responsibilities.

ti ke keto pergjegjesi.

Received very favorably by business.

U prit shume mire nga bizneset.

And there is some good news to report today.

Gjithashtu sot ka disa lajme te mira qe dua te ndaj me ju.

Each year, one in 10 taxpayers

Cdo vit, nje ne 10 taksapagues

receives a notice from the IRS.

merr nje njoftim nga IRS.

There are 200 million letters that go out.

Prej andej dalin rreth 200 milione letra.

Running through this typical letter that they had,

Teksa po merresha me kete leter tip qe ata kane,

I ran it through my simplicity lab,

e analizova ate ne laboratorin tim te thjeshtesise,

it's pretty unintelligible.

dhe ajo eshte vertete e pakuptueshme.

All the parts of the document in red are not intelligible.

Asnje prej pjeseve me te kuqe nuk eshte e kuptueshme.

We looked at doing over 1,000 letters that cover

Ne pergatitem ne anglishte te thjeshte me shume se 1.000 letra qe perbejne

70 percent of their transactions in plain English.

70 perqind te transaksioneve te tyre.

They have been tested in the laboratory.

Ato u testuan ne laborator.

When I run it through my lab,

Kur i analizova ne laboratorin tim,

this heat-mapping shows everything

kjo harte tregon gjithcka qe eshte

is intelligible.

e kuptueshme aty.

And the IRS has introduced the program.

Dhe IRS po e aplikon kete program.

(Applause)

(duartrokitje)

There are a couple of things going on right now

Keto kohe po ndodhin disa gjera

that I want to bring to your attention.

qe do te doja te ndaja me ju.

There is a lot of discussion now

Po diskutohet shume

about a consumer financial protection agency,

ne lidhje me nje agjenci per mbrojtjen financiare te konsumatorit,

how to mandate simplicity.

dhe se si ajo mund te thjeshtesoje shume gjera.

We see all this complexity.

Ne shohim kaq shume kompleksitet.

It's incumbent upon us,

Kjo gje na pengon shume,

and this organization, I believe,

dhe une mendoj se kjo organizate

to make clarity, transparency

do t'a shnderroje qartesinte, transparencen

and empathy a national priority.

dhe empatine ne prioritete te ketij vendi.

There is no way that we should allow government

Ne nuk duhet t'a lejojme qeverine

to communicate the way they communicate.

te komunikoje ashtu sic ka bere deri tani.

There is no way we should do business

Ne nuk mund te bejme biznes

with companies that have agreements

me kompani marreveshjet e te cilave

with stealth provisions and that are unintelligible.

perfshijne dispozita te pakuptueshme.

So, how are we going to change the world?

Pra, si do t'a ndryshojme ne boten?

Make clarity, transparency and simplicity a national priority.

Do t'a bejme qartesine, transparencen dhe thjeshtesine, prioritete kombetare.

I thank you.

Faleminderit.

(Applause)

(duartrokitje)