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Simplification in other languages

When the target text is not English, apply that locale's own easy-to-read or plain-language conventions. Never carry English sentence rules over word for word: Finnish has no articles to keep, Czech inflects its numbers, and a Chinese sentence fails in different places from an English one.

Two rules hold in every language:

  • Plain writing applies to all FontLab help. Easy-to-read is a separate product for dedicated material: onboarding, error recovery, accessibility notes, or a support reply to a reader who needs the simplest version.
  • The FontLab locale's terminology, form of address and formatting rules win over a national easy-to-read edition in ordinary help. Use the edition's form only in dedicated easy-to-read material.

Most national editions of the Inclusion Europe rules share a baseline: one idea per sentence, each sentence on a new line, a full stop instead of a comma plus "and", no hyphenation at line ends, active and positive wording, initials expanded, idioms avoided, numbers as digits, no Roman numerals, and dates written out in full. In dedicated easy-to-read pages, mark interface labels with the house highlight (bold as the fallback), never italics, and align text left. Wherever the edition replaces a percentage or a large number with "few" or "many", do so only for values the reader does not need exactly; a setting, limit or measurement keeps its number.

Albanian (sq)

Local name: i lehtë për t'u lexuar and i lehtë për t'u kuptuar.

  • Prefer an active verb to a passive or reflexive one: Mjeku do t'ju dërgojë një letër rather than do t'ju dërgohet një letër.
  • Replace ordinals such as takimi i 7të with a count of meetings held so far.
  • Write nuk rather than the contracted s' in easy-to-read text only.
  • Write dates out with lowercase weekday and month: e martë, më 13 tetor 2026.
  • Write out p.sh. and etj.

FontLab wins: ti address, and s'është and the abbreviations stay in ordinary help.

Chinese (zh)

Local name: 简明写作 (plain writing). Apply the ISO 24495-1 questions: can the reader find, understand and act on the text?

  • Lead with the result or action and give the reason after it. Cut empty openers such as 众所周知 and 如前所述.
  • Drop filler verbs that wrap the real action: 对字形进行缩放 becomes 缩放字形, 加以确认 becomes 确认. Keep 进行 only where the bare verb reads badly. Check 实现, 相关, 有关 and 方面 the same way: 相关设置 should name the settings.
  • Give every 该, 此 and 其 one identifiable referent. Split a sentence with three or more 的 or a long modifier before its noun.
  • Replace stacked set phrases (不可或缺) and classical residue (之, 乃) with plain modern words.
  • In requirement text (submission specifications, API contracts, licence terms), use the GB/T 1.1-2020 modal verbs: 应/不应 for a requirement, 宜/不宜 for a recommendation, 可/不必 for a permission, 能/不能 for capability. Never write 可 for 能; pair 尽量 and 通常 with 宜, not 应; should never becomes 必须. Example: 字形名宜符合 AGL 规范。

Character limits per sentence are rules of thumb, not standards. FontLab wins: terminology, voice and tone rules, and the interface pattern 不能… in everyday help.

Croatian (hr)

Local name: lako razumljive informacije.

  • Prefer the active form: Doktor će vam poslati pismo, not Pismo će vam biti poslano.
  • Repeat the name when a pronoun could refer to two people.
  • Write the full word, not an apostrophe contraction: kao, not k'o.
  • Dates go in figures with the weekday, utorak, 13. 10. 2026., which reverses the usual month-as-word preference.
  • Count instead of using an ordinal such as 7. sastanak.

FontLab wins: formal vi address and the spaced numeric date typography.

Czech (cs)

Local names: snadno srozumitelné information, jednoduché čtení style.

  • Choose the everyday word, rozesílat over distribuovat, and keep it: a text that says zaměstnání does not switch to práce.
  • Numbers follow inflection. Spell out an ordinal the reader would have to decline (sedmá schůzka), use digits elsewhere, and write třikrát, not 3x.
  • Dates in full: úterý 13. října 2026.
  • Avoid např. and atd.; keep the nonbreaking space after one-letter prepositions.

FontLab wins: lowercase vy address; digits stay for exact values and interface matches.

Estonian (et)

Local name: lihtsas keeles or lihtsalt loetav.

  • The active-voice rule becomes "personal over impersonal": Arst saadab teile kirja, not Teile saadetakse kiri.
  • Write the full word instead of colloquial short forms such as okei.
  • Write out nt and jne; prefer the present tense.
  • Dates in full, weekday lowercase: teisipäev, 13. oktoober 2026.
  • Keep correct case on every number: 2 faili.

FontLab wins: teie address. The edition's sina belongs only in dedicated material that has chosen it.

Finnish (fi)

Local name: selkokieli (also helppolukuinen); Selkokeskus is the national reference point.

  • Name the actor even though the passive is idiomatic: Lääkäri lähettää sinulle kirjeen rather than Sinulle lähetetään kirje.
  • Prefer affirmative sentences, but an affirmative rewrite must say the same thing.
  • Write esimerkiksi, not esim., and replace & with ja.
  • Present a series as a bulleted list, not inside a sentence.

The Finnish edition has no language-specific section on numbers or dates, so the FontLab locale rules apply there. FontLab wins: terminology; sinä already matches.

French (fr)

Local name: facile à lire et à comprendre, widely known as FALC (spell the abbreviation out in easy-to-read text).

  • Active and positive: Le médecin vous enverra une lettre.
  • Avoid deep numbering such as 1.2.1 and write out par ex. and etc.
  • No Roman numerals, including centuries: le 21e siècle.
  • Dates with the weekday: mardi 13 octobre 2026, never the month alone.

FontLab wins: French spacing stays, including nonbreaking spaces before : and ? and inside « … »; vous already matches.

German (de)

Local name: Leichte Sprache, capitalized as a name.

  • Name the actor: Peter hat die Besprechung abgesagt, not Die Besprechung wurde abgesagt.
  • Narrate the past in the Perfekt, not the Präteritum.
  • Name mixed groups in both forms, feminine first (Lehrerinnen und Lehrer), or use a short neutral form.
  • Break long compounds with a hyphen: Gleichstellungs-Gesetz.
  • Avoid z. B., etc., footnotes, and ordinals such as das 7. Treffen.

FontLab wins: Sie address, and closed compounds such as Dateiname in labels and ordinary help. Hyphenated compounds belong only in Leichte Sprache text.

Hungarian (hu)

Local name: könnyen érthető kommunikáció.

  • Explain a mozaikszó: EU is Európai Unió.
  • Replace an ordinal with a count: Eddig 6 találkozónk volt.
  • Dates in full: 2026. október 13., kedd.
  • Number document pages as 1/15 so the reader knows the total.

Unlike most editions, the Hungarian one does not push the active voice; do not force it. FontLab wins: polite third-person address (Nyissa meg a fájlt.), and the suffix and article rules in every register.

Italian (it)

Local name: facile da leggere e da capire.

  • Use the passato prossimo, not the passato remoto: ha salvato, not salvò.
  • Prefer indicative and imperative to conditional and subjunctive, but keep a hypothetical such as se il file fosse aperto when the meaning needs it.
  • Positive instructions: devi rimanere fino alla fine.
  • Avoid ecc., p.es., & and §; never put needed information in a footnote.

FontLab wins: tu address; interface dates keep their locale format.

Lithuanian (lt)

Local name: lengvai skaitoma informacija or lengvai suprantama informacija.

  • The active-voice rule means avoiding participles: Mes atsiųsime jums laišką, not Jums bus atsiųstas laiškas.
  • Prefer short words; the edition counts long words as an obstacle.
  • Cardinals as digits (2 sąsiuvinius), ordinals as words (pirmą kartą).
  • Dates spelled out without abbreviation: 2026 metų spalio 13 diena.
  • Avoid pvz., t. t. and symbols such as &, § and #.

FontLab wins: lowercase jūs, usually carried by the verb; UI status strings keep their neuter participles (Diegiama); interface dates keep ISO form.

Polish (pl)

Local name: tekst łatwy do czytania (i zrozumienia), also ETR.

  • Active voice: Doktor przyśle ci list.
  • Count instead of a suffixed ordinal: W tym roku odbyło się już 5 spotkań, not 5-te spotkanie.
  • Expand acronyms (PCK is Polski Czerwony Krzyż) and avoid tzw. and m.in.
  • Dates in full: wtorek, 13 października 2026.

FontLab wins: the capitalized Ty/Twój convention and gender-neutral forms, not the edition's lowercase ty and masculine Powinieneś; the approved terms for font and krój pisma, which the edition treats as one thing; interface dates keep their format.

Portuguese, Brazilian (pt)

Local name: linguagem simples. Brazil's Lei nº 15.263/2025 set up a national plain-language policy for public administration; the Brazilian adoption of ISO 24495-1 is ABNT NBR ISO 24495-1:2024. Neither binds FontLab, but Brazilian readers increasingly expect the practice.

  • Turn noun-plus-verb pairs into the verb: realizar a verificação becomes verificar.
  • Cut bureaucratic formulas such as no que tange a and supracitado; replace pronoun-like o mesmo with the noun.
  • Remove gerundismo: vamos estar enviando becomes vamos enviar. A progress message such as Salvando o arquivo. is a different form and stays.
  • Name the actor when it matters (Ative a licença), keep the passive when the actor is obvious (O arquivo foi salvo.).
  • Keep pode ter falhado, apenas, exceto and até.

FontLab wins: você with third-person verbs, the terminology decisions and exact interface labels.

Portuguese, European (pt-pt)

Local name: leitura fácil.

  • Active voice: O João comeu o bolo.
  • Avoid clitic object pronouns; repeat the noun.
  • Use spoken tenses: Amanhã vou ao cinema, not irei.
  • Dates in full: terça-feira, 13 de outubro de 2026; write número, not n.º.

FontLab wins: third-person verbs without você (Guarde o ficheiro.), and current spelling (diretamente, lowercase outubro) over the edition's pre-agreement forms.

Romanian (ro)

Local name: usually ușor de citit (și de înțeles). No Romanian edition of the Inclusion Europe rules exists, so apply the shared baseline through the Romanian locale's conventions.

  • Active voice: Echipa de asistență vă trimite un e-mail, not Vi se va trimite un e-mail.
  • Positive instructions: Salvați fișierul înainte să închideți aplicația.
  • Replace & with și and / with sau; avoid nr. and de ex.
  • Dates in full: marți, 13 octombrie 2026.
  • Keep comma-below ș and ț, also in large-print layouts.

FontLab wins: the polite plural address, terminology and notation rules; interface dates keep their locale format.

Serbian (sr, sr-latn)

Local name: лако разумљиве информације / lako razumljive informacije.

  • Active voice: Doktor će vam poslati pismo.
  • Count instead of an ordinal: Već smo imali 6 sastanaka.
  • Keep the full form: je li, not je l'.
  • Dates in numbers with the weekday, utorak, 13.10.2026., reversing the month-as-word baseline.
  • Never copy the edition's 1,758,625; it reads as a decimal in Serbian.

Check the script of every letter. Both editions mix scripts, and the Latin one uses Cyrillic ј inside lj; such text fails search and spell-checking. FontLab wins: formal vi (already matching), Serbian number notation.

Slovak (sk)

Local names: ľahko zrozumiteľné informácie, ľahko čitateľné texty.

  • Minimize words starting with the negative ne-: Zostaňte až do konca stretnutia.
  • Active voice: Lekár vám pošle list.
  • Dates with the month as a word, in the genitive: utorok 13. októbra 2026.
  • Avoid napr. and atď.

The edition calls serif type ozdobné písmo; never carry that into FontLab text, where serif and decorative type differ. FontLab wins: formal vy, terminology, and notation such as 63 %.

Slovenian (sl)

Local name: lahko berljiva in razumljiva informacija.

  • Replace symbols and abbreviations with words: od … do for a range dash, ali for a slash, in for &, na primer for npr.
  • Break a two-line sentence at a comma.
  • Replace an avoidable foreign word: vsota, not suma.

The edition allows, and itself uses, all capitals. FontLab wins: sentence case in interface text and help, keeping Č, Š and Ž in any all-capitals print version; the formal plural address; range and percent notation in ordinary help.

Spanish (es-es)

Local name: lectura fácil (lowercase in running text).

  • Active voice: el doctor te enviará una carta.
  • Rewrite ordinals: la reunión número 7, not la 7ª reunión.
  • Prefer the present and avoid the subjunctive, but only in dedicated material and only when the condition or possibility survives.
  • Dates in full: martes 13 de octubre de 2026; avoid Gral. and etc.

FontLab wins: regional vocabulary, terminology and the tense-and-mood distinctions in ordinary help; tú already matches.

Sources: Inclusion Europe: Information for all (https://inclusion.eu/easy-to-read/guidelines/), ISO 24495-1, GB/T 1.1-2020.