Easy-to-Read in Germany: A Survey on its Current State and Available Resources

Easy-to-Read Language (E2R) is a controlled language variant that makes any written text more accessible through the use of clear, direct and simple language. It is mainly aimed at people with cognitive or intellectual disabilities, among other target users. Plain Language (PL), on the other hand, is a variant of a given language, which aims to promote the use of simple language to communicate information. German counts with Leichte Sprache (LS), its version of E2R, and Einfache Sprache (ES), its version of PL. In recent years, important developments have been conducted in the field of LS. This paper offers an updated overview of the existing Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools and resources for LS. Besides, it also aims to set out the situation with regard to LS and ES in Germany.