France's state administration is notorious for its use of jargon, and according to a report in daily newspaper Le Monde, a large majority of the country's population is unable to decipher official documents. The newly-created Orientation Committee for the Simplification of Administrative Language began work in last July to promote the translation of standard forms, used in areas such as social security and taxation, into plain French. Some of the 1,600 most-used forms, documents and letters will be rewritten, slashing through jargon and archaic language to make them clearer. The main mission of language is to be able to say something to someone and to be understood,* Josette Rey-Debove, a linguistic expert, told Le Monde. Rey-Debove is one of the many specialists, civil servants and members of the public who have been called up to undertake the mammoth task. By last autumn, six of the most common French administrative forms have been translated into plain French. By this year, editing tools will also be available, including software and a dictionary to translate complex jargon into laymans terms.

法国的行政部门素有好用术语的狼籍声名。据《世界日报》报道，大多数法国民众无法"破译"官方文件。新成立的官方用语简化指导委员会从去年7月份开始运转，旨在推进把社会保险及税收等领域使用的标准表格改写成通俗法语的工作。1600种最常用的表格、文件和信函中有一部分将被重写，去除其中的术语和过时古语以使它们明白易懂。语言学专家约瑟特·雷-迪波夫对《世界日报》说："语言的主要功能就是把意思传达给他人并使他人能够理解。"雷-迪波夫是应召担负这项艰巨任务的众多专家、公务员和公众代表中的一员。到去年秋季，法国最常用的6种行政事务表格已经被改写成通俗的法语。有关的编辑工具将于今年问世，包括能将晦涩的术语译成日常语言的软件和一部辞典。

Remarks：其实百姓们看不看得懂关系不大，反正解释权也不在他们手里。