DROP THE JARGON

Drop the Jargon Day helps workers and organisations communicate clearly with plain language.

Often, the language we use is not understood by clients. Particularly those who come from migrant or refugee backgrounds. Drop the Jargon Day advocates for professionals across all sectors to use plain language to facilitate communication, which in turn improves client outcomes.

In 2014, CEH created Drop the Jargon to highlight how unclear language can create barriers to service access, particularly for people from migrant and refugee backgrounds. It has never been more important for all Australians to access accurate, easy-to-understand information, regardless of what language they speak.

Drop the Jargon Day Countdown

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Drop the Jargon Day 2026 webinar: Practical strategies for plain language communication

Wednesday 21 Oct 2026, 1pm – 1:30pm AEDT

Here’s how you can Drop the Jargon:

Use plain language

Below are some key considerations for communicating in plain language, and some more information and links to resources to find out more.

Consideration	More information
Understand your audience’s literacy level and access needs	When we aim our content at a year 7 literacy level, we can make sure it reaches more people. The Australian Government Style Manual outlines how literacy can affect access to services (opens in a new tab)
Swap jargon for plain language	The Tasmanian Department of Health has a great word and phrase swap (opens in a new tab) to help get you started. They also have a number of other helpful resources for written and spoken communication.
Avoid clichés and cultural sayings	We consider these jargon, because they might be easily misunderstood by people who are not familiar with them. Here is more information about when it is and isn’t ok to use idioms and metaphors (opens in a new tab) in the Australian Government Style Manual.
Avoid abbreviations and acronyms	We also consider acronyms and abbreviations to be jargon. Most of the time, we want to avoid using them, but sometimes it’s ok. For example, we would suggest using ‘NDIS’ instead of ‘National Disability Insurance Scheme
Explain any jargon you need to use	This is where glossaries can be useful. You can also give bilingual glossaries to clients who speak a language other than English. Many examples of glossaries can be found on Health Translations library (opens in new tab). On the landing page type ‘glossary’ into the keyword search and click on ‘search resources’.
Use ‘you’, ‘we’ and ‘us’	Using personal pronouns (like ‘you’, ‘we’ and ‘us’) along with the active voice is more direct, and easier for people to understand. Personal pronouns also help your audience connect with the message you are giving them. The Australian Government Style Manual explains more about using personal pronouns and the active voice (opens in a new tab)
Keep your sentences and paragraphs short	Short chunks of information help your audience process it better. When writing, aim for no more than 10 words per line, 20 words per sentence, and 3 sentences per paragraph. Find more information about writing plain language sentences (opens in a new tab) in the Australian Government Style Manual.

Check understanding

Asking open questions (instead of closed, yes/no questions) gives you a good indication of what your client has understood.

A good way to check if a person understands is to ask them to explain or demonstrate what you said. If the person doesn’t explain it correctly or misses vital points, re-teach the information. This isn’t a test of the consumer’s knowledge. It’s a test of how well you’ve communicated.

Try using the teach-back technique. It is one of the easiest ways to check you’ve succeeded in communicating. Teach-back involves:

1. Emphasising that it’s your responsibility to explain things clearly

2. Asking the consumer to explain in their own words the main points from what you’ve said.

Source: Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services Communication and Health Literacy Toolkit (opens in a new tab)

Find more resources, activites and videos about teach-back at teachback.org (opens in a new tab)

Consider language services for clients with low English proficiency

When you are working with people with limited English proficiency, you should use interpreters and/or translation services.

Have a look at this resource on language services (opens in a new tab) produced by the Centre for Culture, Equity & Health, which explains how to access and use interpreters and translation services effectively.