What is Controlled Language?
Also known as Simplified English, Global English, Standardized English or Controlled English, the main objective of a controlled language is to make technical text easy to understand.
Controlled Language standardizes vocabulary and style, aiming to improve consistency, eliminate ambiguity and reduce complexity. It also provides objective criteria for quality control. Controlled Language includes a general dictionary and a set of writing rules. In addition to the general vocabulary, companies can define their own Technical Names (terminology).
Why use Controlled Language?
In today’s business, clear and consistent authoring has become a necessity: English has become the main language used in technical documentation throughout the world, but can be difficult to understand due to its many forms and complexity: complex sentence structures, multiple meanings and synonyms easily result in confusion. In addition, many readers’ command of English can fall below the level of those who created the documentation (technical writers and engineers), which especially applies to non-native English speakers.
Not using Controlled Language can therefore lead to:
- Safety risks
- Damage during operation or maintenance
- Liability claims
- High localization costs
- Unsatisfactory translations
- Higher training support costs
- Ineffective customer service
- Confused and frustrated readers
- Unanticipated costs as a result of miscommunication, such as recall costs
Benefits of Controlled Language
- Quality assurance and improvement
- Standardized way of writing
- Improved safety
- Efficient authoring
- Reduced time to market
- Improved customer experience
- Facilitates XML, content management, structured authoring (Information Mapping, DITA, S1000D)
- Considerable cost savings
- Cheaper, faster and better translations
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How does Controlled Language work?
The basic principles of Controlled Language are a controlled vocabulary and a set of grammatical rules. Originally intended for the aerospace and military industries (ASD-STE100), Controlled Language can be applied to all fields of industry.
The main characteristics of Controlled Language are:
- Simplified grammar and style rules
- A limited set of approved words with restricted meanings
- A thesaurus of unapproved terms and suggested alternatives
- Guidelines for adding new technical words to the approved vocabulary
Furthermore, Controlled Language requires writers to:
- Use the active voice
- Use articles wherever possible
- Use simple verb tenses
- Use language and terminology consistently
- Avoid lengthy compound words
- Use relatively short sentences
Why use the Simplified Technical English specification as a basis
There are many guidelines or corporate style guides available when you decide to implement a controlled language for your technical publications. Choosing the Simplified Technical English specification as a basis, however, offers many benefits:
- Simplified Technical English is derived from an aerospace and defense standard (ASD-STE100), which applies to almost all standards that we know today, as these industries are subject to the highest levels of quality and safety and involve technology from most industries.
- Simplified Technical English is an international standard, as it was designed by companies worldwide to make technical text easy to understand by both native and non-native English speakers.
- Because Simplified Technical English is based on an aerospace and defense standard, it is strict by nature with 57 writing rules and a limited vocabulary of approx. 900 approved words and approx. 2,000 non-approved words with assigned synonyms. This is good news for companies in any industry, as they can use a well-maintained standard and will not have to 'reinvent the wheel'. Instead, they can be more flexible, according to their requirements.
Examples, before and after
To provide further insight into the many benefits of Controlled Language, we have provided samples representing a variety of industries: