Skip to content
InsideUX Design

UX glossary · engl. Easy Language

Easy Language

Easy Language (Leichte Sprache) is a highly simplified form of German that follows fixed rules. It makes texts understandable, above all for people with learning disabilities.

Imagine a city administration explaining on its website how to apply for a housing entitlement certificate. The text is accurate, but it’s full of nested clauses, legal references and terms like “income limit under Section 9 WoFG.” A man with a learning disability reads the first paragraph three times and gives up. The information is there, but it doesn’t reach him.

Explained simply

Easy Language, in German Leichte Sprache, is a highly simplified form of German that follows fixed rules. It is aimed mainly at people with learning disabilities, meaning people who find complex texts very hard to follow. Others benefit too, for example people who are learning German or some older people. Many languages have similar concepts, but this entry is about the German one, which has its own rules and legal role.

Think of it like a ramp next to a staircase. It isn’t meant for everyone, but for some people it’s the only way in.

Typical rules include short sentences with one statement each, familiar words instead of jargon and foreign terms, and active voice. Long compound words are split with hyphens, such as “Bundes-Gleichstellungs-Gesetz.” Each sentence starts on a new line, and images support understanding. A key principle of the Netzwerk Leichte Sprache, the German Easy Language network: people from the target group check the texts. Anything they don’t understand gets revised.

Easy Language or Plain Language?

German distinguishes between Leichte Sprache (Easy Language) and Einfache Sprache (Plain Language), and the two are often confused. Easy Language follows strict rules, reduces the content to the essentials and counts as an accessibility measure. Plain Language sits between Easy Language and everyday standard language. It avoids jargon and complicated sentences, but keeps all the information from the original and targets a broader audience, such as people with limited reading skills. Plain Language has its own standards: ISO 24495-1 internationally and DIN 8581-1 for German.

Since March 2025, Easy Language has had DIN SPEC 33429, “Guidance for German Easy Language.” It brings together recommendations on words, sentences, design and the writing process. Before that, practice relied mainly on the rule set of the Netzwerk Leichte Sprache, which has existed since 2006.

Where Easy Language is required

Under Section 4 of the BITV 2.0, Germany’s federal ordinance on accessible information technology, federal public bodies must provide certain information on their home page in Easy Language and German Sign Language: on the main content, on navigation and on the accessibility statement. The German states have their own laws, which often follow the BITV. Private companies have no general obligation to offer Easy Language.

An example

Here’s an example of a sentence in standard German administrative style, translated: “The application is to be submitted together with all proof of income of the persons living in the household.”

In Easy Language, it might become: “You want to get the certificate? Then you make an application. For this you need papers. The papers say: This is how much money the people in your home get.” For more on writing clearly, see What Does a UX Writer Do?.

In practice

  • Work with specialists. Good Easy Language texts are written by trained translators and checked by people from the target group.
  • Make the offer easy to find. A clearly labeled “Leichte Sprache” link in the header helps far more than a page hidden in the footer.
  • Use plain language for everyone. Even without a legal duty, every text benefits from short sentences and clear microcopy. That doesn’t replace Easy Language, though.

Related terms

Accessibility, WCAG, Microcopy, Cognitive Load

Sources

More terms

Full glossary