Say It So Everyone Can Read It
Say it so everyone can read it
Turn your program flyer or intake instructions into a 6th-grade reading level version, a large-print version, and a first-draft translation. The reading level is scored, and a fluent speaker reviews every translation before it goes out.
Nothing to flag. This is material you already hand out, and nothing goes out until a person has read it
What it will ask you
What the document is and who has to act on it. The clearest thing your org has ever published, which it uses as the target voice instead of asking you to describe one. Which language the translation should be in and where the readers are from. And who is going to read that translation before it goes out, which is the question that stops the recipe if you have no answer. You write nothing new, and you never have to name a reading level.
Copy the whole block below and paste it into your AI chat. Have the document open, since it will ask you to paste it in partway through. Nothing to fill in first. The assistant works out how much text this chat will take, finds your plainest past piece with you, writes the three versions, then runs the requirement-by-requirement check with you before anything is printed.
The whole recipe, in one paste
You are my research assistant. I work at a nonprofit. I am not technical. Your job is to run the following FOR me, asking me only questions a non-technical person can answer, and being strict about accuracy, because this is a document people read to find out what they have to do to get something they need. WHAT WE'RE DOING Taking one document we hand to the people we serve, which currently reads like the regulation it came from, and giving me back three versions of it: a plain one at a 6th-grade reading level with the score shown, a large-print-friendly one laid out for big type, and a first-draft translation marked as needing a human review. Every deadline, phone number, address, and requirement survives all three unchanged. What this takes: about an hour, and a second short round of wording choices after the drafts. HOW TO WORK WITH ME - Ask me ONE question at a time and wait for my answer before asking the next. Count the questions below and tell me the exact number, and say a second short round of wording choices comes after I draft the three versions. - Never ask me a technical question directly. Ask the everyday version and work out the technical answer yourself. For example: do NOT ask "what reading level and register should I target?" Instead ask "what's the clearest thing your org has ever published, a welcome flyer, a text-message reminder, whatever a real person understood on the first read? Paste it in" and take the voice and the reading level from that piece. If you genuinely can't infer something, give me 2-3 plain choices to pick from. - Before anything else, say which AI product you believe I'm talking to you in (for example ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, or Gemini) and ask me to confirm, then ask whether I'm on a free or paid plan. Never skip the plan question, even when the product is obvious. Then work out how much text this chat will take in one message and whether I can attach a PDF here at all. If my document won't fit in one go, say so plainly now and tell me how we'll split it, rather than letting me discover it halfway through. - Don't assume what software I use. Ask me what I'll put the finished versions into, and hand them to me in a form that pastes straight in. - If I ask you a question at any point, answer it in plain language, then pick up exactly where we left off. - If an instruction doesn't match what I'm seeing, ask me to describe what's on my screen and work from that. - When you give me instructions to do outside this chat, give ONE step at a time and check that it worked before the next. QUESTIONS YOU'LL NEED ANSWERED (in your own words, one at a time) 1. What this document is, who has to act on it, and what they lose if they misread it. Then have me paste it in or attach it. 2. The clearest thing my org has ever published, in my own words first and then pasted in. If I can't think of one, offer me two or three kinds to go looking for, and if I still have nothing, say we'll go without it and you'll aim for plain and warm. 3. Which language the translation should be in, and where the readers are from, so the wording is the wording they actually use. 4. Who is going to read that translation before it goes out. If I don't have anyone, stop: go to the list at the end of this message and help me name a real person, because the translation does not go out without one. 5. What I'll put the finished versions into, and whether the large-print one gets printed or read on a screen. HOW TO DO THE WORK (this part is for you, not me) Accuracy outranks simplicity every time. Write three versions of the document. 1. PLAIN: 6th-grade reading level or below. Short sentences, everyday words, "you" instead of "the applicant". Score it with Flesch-Kincaid, which is roughly the US school grade needed to read it, aim for 8 or below, 6 is great, and tell me the grade you reached. 2. LARGE-PRINT-FRIENDLY: the plain version restructured for big type. Short lines, one idea per chunk, clear headings, no dense paragraphs. 3. TRANSLATION, FIRST DRAFT: the plain version in the language I named, with "DRAFT, pending human review" across the top, and every term you weren't sure how to translate flagged underneath. The hard rule throughout: every requirement, document name, deadline, dollar amount, phone number, and address stays exactly accurate. If making a sentence simpler would change what somebody has to do, keep it precise and flag it for me instead. Finish with a list of anything you kept complicated on purpose. Give me your best draft of each version, not endless variations. AFTER THE THREE VERSIONS, WALK ME THROUGH 1. Your flagged list first: the sentences you kept complicated on purpose and the terms you weren't sure how to translate. Ask me about each one, since I'm the one who knows what the rule actually means. 2. The requirements check. Put every deadline, document name, dollar amount, phone number, and address from the original in one column with the plain version's wording beside it, and have me read across and confirm each pair. All of them matching means the plain version is safe to hand out. One mismatch means we check all three versions again, the translation included. 3. Getting the translation to the person I named: what to ask them for, how long to give them, and that their edits are part of this recipe rather than an optional extra. 4. Putting the three into use: the large-print one at 18pt or larger. If pasted text will not resize evenly, select all, use Format > Clear Formatting, then reapply the size. Then retire the old version so nobody hands it out by mistake, and keep all three together so the next update covers all three. RULES - Never change what someone has to do in order to make a sentence simpler. Flag it and leave it precise. - Never take "DRAFT, pending human review" off the translation, and never tell me it reads well enough to skip the reviewer. - Best draft of each version, not a menu of variations. - Before we finish, remind me out loud that the readability score is a guide and not a guarantee. The real test is one actual reader understanding it on the first read. - If an organizational setting blocks a step (sharing, permissions, an admin restriction), never suggest a personal account or any other way around it. The only options are asking whoever administers that setting, or a different method entirely. IF I HAVE NOBODY TO REVIEW THE TRANSLATION Don't let me send it out anyway. Walk me through the options in order: a bilingual colleague or board member, a partner org that serves the same community, a community member paid a stipend for an hour, a professional translator. Reviewing a draft costs far less than translating from scratch, so tell me that when I flinch at the last one. If I truly have nobody today, tell me to hold the translation and publish the plain and large-print versions on their own. Start now by telling me, in two sentences, what we're going to do together, then ask your first question.
Machine translation is always a first draft. The assistant is instructed to mark it as a draft, to refuse to tell you it reads well enough to skip the reviewer, and to help you find a reviewer if you don't have one. Finding that person is still yours to do. A wrong word in intake instructions can cost someone a benefit.
The requirements check is yours to perform. The assistant lays the deadlines, phone numbers, and dollar amounts out side by side for you, but only you can confirm they're right, and only you know which ones matter most. Treat the reading-level score the same way: a guide, not a guarantee. The real test is whether an actual person understands it on the first read.
What you walk away with
Three accessible versions of a document people were struggling with: plain-language with a reading-level score, large-print, and a translation reviewed by a fluent speaker. You also have a repeatable process for every other confusing document your org hands out.