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🇫🇮 Finland /Culture & Society

Bills must be written in clear Finnish

From Helsingin Sanomat · () Finnish

Translated from Finnish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Opinion Sources not specified Context piece
  • A reader criticizes the convoluted and unclear language used in a bill, questioning where such writing skills are taught.
  • The reader uses a specific example of a sentence from the bill to illustrate the problem.
  • The piece calls for bills to be written in plain, understandable Finnish.

A reader has expressed frustration with the overly complex and obscure language found in official documents, specifically a bill they recently received. The reader questions the educational institutions responsible for producing individuals capable of crafting such "acrobatic, convoluted language."

The specific example cited is a sentence from the bill stating: "The payment obligation can be validly and effectively fulfilled only by making the payment with the information on the invoice." The reader finds this phrasing unnecessarily complicated and difficult to parse, suggesting that clearer, more direct language would be more appropriate for official communications.

The payment obligation can be validly and effectively fulfilled only by making the payment with the information on the invoice.

· Article textA quote from a bill illustrating convoluted language that the reader criticizes.

This critique highlights a broader concern about the clarity and accessibility of Finnish in official contexts. The reader implicitly calls for a return to plain language, where bills and other important documents are written in a way that is easily understood by the general public. The piece serves as a call for improved writing standards in official Finnish, emphasizing the need for clarity over stylistic complexity.

Could someone tell me which educational institution in Finland produces experts who can produce such acrobatic, convoluted language?

· Pekka SaloPekka Salo questions the origin of complex and unclear writing found in official documents.
About this summary

Originally published by Helsingin Sanomat in Finnish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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