Go like Silk
Free workshops and public talks ▸ About the project
Amtsdeutsch
ohne Angst
Strategies for empowered engagement with Austrian bureaucratic communication
Table of contents
- What is the project?
- Project idea and implementation
- Content
- Coaches and speakers
- Social and political context
- Target groups
- Project goals
- Free of charge
- Further information
What is the project?
‘Amtsdeutsch ohne Angst’ (‘Amtsdeutsch’ refers to bureaucratic German and ‘ohne Angst’ means ‘without fear’) is a project that we at Go like Silk developed for the year of Vienna as the European Capital of Democracy. The project goal is to address and reduce reading anxiety in the context of bureaucratic communication in Austria and, in this way, to increase participation in the democratic processes that maintain the state’s social fabric.
The project is based on the concepts of Kindness Communication and Relational Reading, which were developed by Go like Silk and have been successfully implemented in our other coaching contexts.
Kindness Communication
Communication is an intra-active relation. We all have our own needs, goals and insecurities. We never communicate in isolation. We always relate to other people; they affect who we are and what we do. Kindness Communication means that we respect the complexity of this relation. It’s not a question of who wins or who gives in. It’s about allowing ourselves and others to express what is important to us. Learn more about Kindness Communication …
Relational Reading
Comprehension of written communication does not simply require the necessary language skills but an adequate level of confidence in coping with written texts. The concept of Relational Reading addresses this requirement on an emotional-cognitive level. People approach written communication with different presuppositions and expectations in regard to how to formulate and understand specific genres of texts (such as orders, requests, feedback etc.). Different people therefore react differently to the same text and also ask different questions (‘What is it that I must/may/should do?’). Participants learn to engage competently and confidently with these different expectations and to respond to texts according to the requests explicitly expressed and the demands implied ‘between the lines’. Learn more about Relational Reading …
The project consists of workshops and public talks, which we offer at irregular intervals and free of charge.
Project idea and implementation
Reading and understanding written communication from official bodies is essential for participation in the majority of democratic processes. Yet, for a number of reasons, many people shy away from engaging with this type of communication, which can negatively affect their day-to-day lives. An important letter could lie unopened on the kitchen table for weeks, forms may not be filled in correctly, opportunities to avail of subsidies, training courses or simply fun events might be missed.
In our workshops, we work with authentic texts from offical bodies in Vienna (administrative notices, requests, forms etc.). We practice how to analyse their structure and content and pin down what these texts really want to tell us. Participants develop strategies to understand official texts without recourse to outside help and gain the confidence to respond in a way that is best for them. We also discuss reasons why official language is so complex and seemingly impenetrable in the context of democracy and maintaining transparency in decision-making processes.
In our public talks, we discuss how official and bureaucratic communication contributes to upholding democratic structures. We show how enabling people from all walks of life to understand and feel at ease with communication from offical bodies is essential for their being able to participate in democratic processes and develop a true sense of belonging.
Content
Workshops
The ‘Amtsdeutsch ohne Angst’ workshops are designed to cover the conventions of Austrian written communication between official bodies and the public. We discuss official language and terminology and identify the different linguistic norms and politeness strategies as well as typical abbreviations and information-carrying formatting patterns.
Participants acquire Relational Reading as a method to actively engage with written texts. We provide authentic text material from a number of contexts, models for analysing different communiciation situations and checklists for improving text comprehension, formulating questions and identifying their own reactions and needs when dealing with written communication. Together, we explore the significance of official terminology and phraseology for democratic transparency and see how awareness of their function can increase our willingness to understand complex texts and take on an active role in contributing to social cohesion.
Public talks
The public talks take place one or two weeks after a workshop. We discuss the concepts of Kindness Communication and Relational Reading in the context of the project ‘Amtsdeutsch ohne Angst’ and present results from workshops to journalists, specialists, students, administrative staff etc. Workshop participants are invited to talk about their experience and impressions with the audience.
We hope that colleagues working in fields of literacy, communication in general and other teaching contexts will be interested in discussing the broader implications of bureacratic literacy and Relational Reading for democratic cohesion and social solidarity.
Coaches and speakers
The workshops and public talks are designed and held by the project creators Michèle Cooke und Michael En.
Social and political context
- In order to participate fully in democratic society, we need to assume responsibility for our own lives and to act with mutual and reciprocal respect. This involves being able to understand what is required and expected from us in official written communication.
- However, many people feel insecure about dealing with these sorts of texts and barriers often arise in communication between state authorities and the people they wish to reach.
- Reading Anxiety remains an open secret that has yet to be addresses as a socially and politically relevant issue. We at Go like Silk want to break the taboo to show that it affects almost everyone in varying degrees and to offer concrete, practical solutions for overcoming reading-related fears and insecurities.
- We all live in different cultural worlds constructed by age, gender, class, education etc. Official bodies have to communicate with people from a variety of background who all need to understand what the state wants to tell them. Each of us deals with texts based on what we know and expect, and each of us comes up with different questions and different answers. What can/should/do I have to do? We are all enmeshed in hierarchies, and how we understand written communication will reflect how we position ourselves in relation to official authority. Who is writing to whom in what way? What is expected of me? How can I express my own concerns?
Target groups
The project ‘Amtsdeutsch ohne Angst’ caters for anyone living in Austria who speaks German as their first language or has learnt German as an additional language to at least B2 level. This includes everyone who wants to …
- … participate in democratic communication processes without feeling inadequate or afraid.
- … understand Austrian bureaucratic and formal communication with greater ease and self-confidence.
- … learn how to overcome their insecurities when confronted with Austrian official communication.
- … address the problems that often arise when trying to understand bureaucratic and official language so they can participate in the communication processes for democrary and social cohesion with increased motivation.
- … acquire the certainty that they can understand written documents such as administrative notices, court rulings, legal requests etc. and decide for themselves how to respond to what official bodies require of them and from them.
Project goals
- Empowering people by increasing their ability and willingness to participate actively in important aspects of democracy.
- Showing how the concept of Relational Reading can work to overcome Reading Anxiety in relation to bureaucreatic and other types of formal written communication.
- Addressing the taboo on Reading Anxiety and difficulties with bureaucratic language and furthering public awareness of these issues.
- Encouraging a feeling of belonging in people who are made to feel like outsiders based on their personal linguistic background.
- Advocating Kindness Communication as a viable communication ethos. This means approaching communication not as competition with winners and losers but accepting that it is an intra-active relation in which everyone involved has their own insecurities, needs and goals.
Why is it free of charge?
The project ‘Amtsdeutsch ohne Angst’ was initially developed as part of the year of Vienna as the European Capital of Democracy and accepted for funding by the City of Vienna. However, it later transpired that funding was not possible after all because Go like Silk is not a non-profit organisation. We decided to go ahead with the project anyway, to finance it ourselves and to offer the workshops and public talks free of charge.
We take the problems associated with understanding bureacratic language very seriously and are committed to breaking the taboo surrounding Reading Anxiety as well as to showing how it can be overcome. We see our project ‘Amtsdeutsch ohne Angst’ as a contribution towards helping people engage confidently with official texts and realise that written communication is a two-way process in which they can play an active role.
Further information
To be fluent means to flow.
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