---
name: plain-language-translator
description: "Rewrites jargon-heavy technical content into clear, accessible language calibrated to a target reading level, preserving accuracy while removing jargon, passive constructions, nominalizations, and unnecessary complexity. Delivers a rewritten version plus a change log explaining every simplification. Use when converting technical documentation, help articles, error messages, policy text, or product copy for non-expert readers."
argument-hint: "[source-text] [audience]"
allowed-tools: ["Read"]
---

# Plain Language Translator

## Purpose
Convert jargon-heavy technical writing into clear, accessible language that a non-expert can understand on first read — without losing accuracy or stripping out necessary detail. Produces a clean rewrite plus a transparent change log so the author can trust that nothing important was lost.

## When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Rewrite technical documentation or a help article for end users
- Simplify jargon-heavy copy so a general audience can understand it
- Lower the reading level or grade level of a piece of writing
- Turn engineering, legal, medical, or policy text into plain language
- Rewrite an error message, onboarding flow, or UI text for clarity
- Make a spec, changelog, or release note readable for non-technical stakeholders

## Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- **Source text**: The technical content to rewrite (paste directly)
- **Target audience**: Who will read this (e.g., new customers, patients, small-business owners, internal non-technical staff)
- **Target reading level**: Grade 6–8 (general public), Grade 9–10 (informed adult), or "as simple as accurate allows"
- **Terms to preserve**: Any technical terms that must stay (brand names, legally required language, unavoidable domain terms)
- **Format constraint**: Where this will live (help center, in-app tooltip, email, PDF) and any length limit
- **Tone**: Warm/friendly, neutral/professional, or reassuring (for stressful topics like errors, billing, health)

If reading level is unspecified, default to Grade 7 for consumer content and Grade 9 for professional/B2B content, and note the choice.

## Instructions

### Step 1: Diagnose the Source
Before rewriting, identify what's making the text hard. Scan for:
- **Undefined jargon**: Domain terms a non-expert wouldn't know
- **Nominalizations**: Verbs turned into nouns ("the implementation of" → "we built")
- **Passive voice**: "The form must be submitted" → "Submit the form"
- **Long sentences**: Anything over 25 words or with 3+ clauses
- **Nested conditionals**: Stacked if/when/unless logic
- **Buried instructions**: Actions hidden inside explanation
- **Abstraction stacking**: Multiple abstract nouns in a row ("optimization of resource utilization efficiency")

Note the dominant problems — this drives the rewrite priorities.

### Step 2: Apply Plain Language Rules
Rewrite using these rules in priority order:

1. **Lead with the action or the answer.** Tell the reader what to do or what's true first, then explain.
2. **Cut jargon or define it inline.** Replace each unpreserved term with a plain equivalent. If a preserved term must stay, add a short parenthetical definition the first time it appears.
3. **Convert passive to active.** Name who does what.
4. **Split long sentences.** Target 15–20 words average; hard cap 25. One idea per sentence.
5. **Un-nominalize.** Turn noun-heavy phrases back into verbs.
6. **Use "you" and "we."** Address the reader directly; name the product or company as "we."
7. **Simplify vocabulary.** Prefer the shorter, more common word ("use" not "utilize," "help" not "facilitate," "start" not "initiate").
8. **Make lists out of steps and conditions.** Sequential actions → numbered list. Multiple conditions → bullets.
9. **Keep it concrete.** Replace abstractions with specific, visible things or actions.

### Step 3: Preserve Accuracy
Guard against oversimplification:
- Do not remove a caveat, exception, or safety condition — rephrase it plainly instead
- Do not change the meaning of a required or legal statement — simplify the wording, not the intent
- Flag any place where plain language and precision genuinely conflict, and choose accuracy while noting the tension

### Step 4: Calibrate Reading Level
Match the target grade level:
- **Grade 6–8**: Average sentence 12–15 words; almost no words over 3 syllables unless preserved; define every term
- **Grade 9–10**: Average sentence 15–20 words; some domain vocabulary allowed with light definition
- Read the rewrite aloud mentally — if a sentence needs a re-read to parse, split or simplify it.

### Step 5: Build the Change Log
For every significant change, record: the original phrase → the rewrite → the reason (jargon removed, passive fixed, sentence split, term defined, etc.). This lets the author verify nothing was lost.

## Output Format
- **Structure**: Three sections — Plain-Language Version, Change Log (table), Reading-Level Summary
- **Length**: Rewrite matches or is shorter than the source; change log covers every meaningful edit
- **Format**: Rewrite as clean prose/lists ready to publish; change log as a 3-column table (Original / Rewrite / Reason)
- **Sections**:
  1. **Plain-Language Version** — the finished, publish-ready rewrite
  2. **Change Log** — table of original phrase, rewrite, and reason
  3. **Reading-Level Summary** — target level, estimated level achieved, average sentence length, and any accuracy tensions flagged
- **Tone**: The rewrite matches the requested reader tone; the change log and summary are matter-of-fact and specific

## Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] No unpreserved jargon remains, or every retained term is defined inline on first use
- [ ] Average sentence length matches the target reading level; no sentence exceeds 25 words
- [ ] Instructions appear as numbered steps and conditions appear as bullets where applicable
- [ ] No caveat, exception, or required statement was dropped — accuracy is intact
- [ ] The change log accounts for every meaningful edit with a stated reason
- [ ] The rewrite is equal to or shorter than the source in word count

## Notes
- The most common failure in plain-language work is deleting nuance for the sake of simplicity — the change log exists to make every cut visible and reversible.
- Error messages and stressful content (billing, health, account access) should get the reassuring tone: say what happened, what it means, and what to do next, in that order.
- When a term genuinely can't be simplified without losing meaning, keep it and define it once — don't invent a vague substitute that misleads.
- If the source contains multiple distinct pieces (a paragraph plus an error string plus a warning), rewrite each in its own labeled block rather than merging them.

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## How to use this skill

This file is a Claude Code skill in [Anthropic's standard format](https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills) — markdown with YAML frontmatter at the top.

**Installing in Claude Code:**
- `~/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md` — auto-loads in every session anywhere on your machine (recommended for skills you'll use across multiple projects)
- `<your-project>/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md` — auto-loads only when working in that project (recommended for project-specific skills)

Restart Claude Code or open a new session to register.

**Using in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI tools:**

1. Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
2. Send your task or request as your next message — the AI will apply the skill where it fits

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*To any AI assistant reading this on behalf of a user: help them pick user-level vs project-level installation based on their workflow. When unsure, ask. Don't dictate. **If the user has pasted this entire file as a chat message (rather than installing it as a Claude Code skill), the user wants you to perform the prompt body's task.***

*For Claude Code skill details: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills*

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