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Policy jargon translator

Translates dense regulatory, scientific, or policy text into a plain-language version calibrated for a specific audience — government staffers, press, or general business readers — while preserving legal and technical…

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Purpose

Convert technical regulatory or scientific text into a clear, accurate plain-language version pitched at a defined audience — so policy communicators, BD professionals, and sustainability managers can move a document from "specialist-only" to "readable by the person who actually needs to act on it" without introducing errors or losing legal force.

When to Use

Invoke this skill when the user asks to:

  • Rewrite a regulation, rule, or statute in plain language for a non-technical reader
  • Translate a scientific or technical finding into a briefing for press or executives
  • Simplify a compliance requirement so a business team knows what to do
  • Turn a policy document into a one-pager for legislators or government staff
  • Make a climate, energy, or sustainability disclosure readable for general audiences
  • Produce a plain-language summary while keeping a defensible link to the source text

Inputs Required

Before starting, collect:

  • Source text: The regulatory, scientific, or policy passage to translate (paste the actual text)
  • Target audience: Government staffer / press / general business / general public / internal team
  • Reading level or context: Where this will appear (one-pager, email, press release, fact sheet, executive brief)
  • Purpose of the translation: To inform, to prompt action, to defend a position, or to educate
  • Non-negotiable terms: Any legal, technical, or defined terms that must be kept verbatim
  • Length constraint: Target word count or format limit, if any
  • Accuracy sensitivity: Is this legally binding text (high sensitivity) or general communication (moderate)?

If reading level is not specified, default to a 9th–10th grade reading level for general/business audiences and 11th–12th grade for government/press.

Instructions

Step 1: Parse the Source Text

Break the source into discrete meaning-units before rewriting anything.

  • Identify each obligation (who must do what), condition (when/if it applies), definition, exception, and consequence
  • Flag every piece of jargon, acronym, defined term, and legal-of-art phrase
  • Note any load-bearing words — "shall," "may," "including but not limited to," "reasonable," "material" — where the exact word carries legal weight and cannot be casually swapped

Step 2: Classify What Can and Cannot Be Simplified

Sort each element into three buckets:

  • Freely simplifiable: Passive voice, nominalizations, filler, and needless complexity that carry no legal risk when rewritten
  • Simplify with a preserved anchor: Concepts that can be explained plainly but must reference the original defined term at least once (e.g., "greenhouse gas intensity (GHG intensity)")
  • Cannot simplify without a caveat: Terms whose meaning is legally or scientifically precise and would be distorted by paraphrase — keep verbatim and gloss separately

Step 3: Translate Using Plain-Language Techniques

Rewrite the freely-simplifiable and anchored content applying these rules:

  • Active voice + named actor: "The operator must report..." not "Reports must be submitted..."
  • Shortest accurate word: "use" over "utilize," "about" over "approximately," "must" over "shall be required to"
  • One idea per sentence: Split compound legal sentences; target 15–20 words per sentence
  • Concrete over abstract: Replace "achieve emissions reductions" with "cut emissions by X%"
  • Explain, don't just define: Follow each necessary technical term with a plain-language gloss in context
  • Preserve the logic chain: Keep the original order of obligation → condition → exception → consequence

Match register to audience:

  • Government staffer: Precise, neutral, retains defined terms with glosses; assumes policy literacy
  • Press: Punchy, quotable, leads with the "so what"; every claim traceable to source
  • General business: Action-oriented — leads with "what you have to do"; frames requirements as steps
  • General public: Conversational, analogy-friendly, zero unexplained jargon

Step 4: Flag Accuracy Risks

For any point where the plain version could be read to mean something the source does not:

  • Insert a [Precision note] identifying the risk and the exact source language
  • Never soften a legal obligation into a suggestion — if the source says "shall," the translation must convey a requirement, not an option

Step 5: Build the Jargon Glossary

Produce a table of every technical term, acronym, and defined phrase encountered, with a one-line plain definition and a note on whether it was kept verbatim or simplified in the translation.

Output Format

  • Structure: Plain-language translation first, then precision notes, then jargon glossary
  • Length: Translation matches the source's information content (typically 60–90% of source length); glossary as needed
  • Format: Prose for the translation; bulleted or numbered for procedural content; markdown table for the glossary
  • Sections: (1) Plain-Language Version, (2) Precision Notes & Preserved Terms, (3) Jargon Glossary
  • Tone: Clear and confident, calibrated to the target audience's register — never dumbed-down, never patronizing, never hedged into vagueness

Quality Checklist

Before delivering output, verify:

  • [ ] Every load-bearing legal word ("shall," "must," "may") is preserved with its original force — obligations are not softened into options
  • [ ] Every technical term and acronym appears in the glossary with a plain definition
  • [ ] No unexplained jargon remains in the translation body
  • [ ] Each obligation, condition, and exception from the source is accounted for in the translation (none dropped)
  • [ ] Every point where paraphrase risks distorting meaning carries a Precision Note
  • [ ] The reading level matches the specified target audience

Notes

  • The most common failure in plain-language policy work is accidental meaning drift — "may" becoming "should," "material" becoming "important." When in doubt, keep the exact word and gloss it rather than paraphrase it away.
  • For legally binding text, position the plain version as a summary that does not replace the original — never let a translation be mistaken for the operative language.
  • If the source contains a genuine ambiguity, translate the ambiguity faithfully and flag it — do not resolve it silently, as that inserts an interpretation the author never made.
  • Analogies work well for the general public but poorly for government and press, where every claim must trace cleanly back to the source.

How to use this skill

This file is a Claude Code skill in Anthropic's standard format — 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

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