🗣️ Paste Any Techy Thing In Here And Get English Back

Think about how much of your life arrives written in a language you don’t quite speak. The broadband contract. The error message. The pension statement. The letter from the council that might be important or might be nothing, impossible to tell. The doctor’s letter with four words you’d need to Google in the car park.

For your whole life so far, you’ve had three options: struggle through it, ask someone who might know, or do the thing we all do - nod, file it somewhere, and hope it wasn’t urgent. I’d like to formally retire option three.

Because this is, quietly, the single most useful thing AI does for normal people. Not writing poems, not making pictures… translation. From techy, legal, medical, corporate or bureaucratic English into actual English. One skill, learned once, applied to everything confusing for the rest of your life. This guide teaches it properly.

The What-So-Now Method

The mistake people make is asking “what does this mean?” and getting back a slightly shorter version of the same confusing thing. A proper translation answers three separate questions, in order, and the whole trick is making the AI answer all three every time. I call it What-So-Now.

1. WHAT it says

What this part is: the document rewritten in plain language. No jargon survives. “Your tariff is subject to a variable rate adjustment” becomes “the price can change”.

How to ask for it: demand everyday words outright, and add my favourite instruction: “keep it shorter than the original”. Confusing documents are almost always padded; a good translation is smaller than what went in.

The bit everyone misses: tell it to translate the jargon, not just define it. You don’t want a glossary bolted onto the confusion - you want the confusion gone.

2. SO what, for me

What this part is: the same information pointed at your actual life. A paragraph about tariff changes means one thing to a student in a flatshare and another to a family of five with electric heating. Generic explanations are why summaries feel useless.

How to ask for it: give one line of personal context - “I rent”, “I’m on a fixed deal until June”, “I’ve had this account eight years”. One line is enough to turn a leaflet into advice.

The bit everyone misses: this is where you must redact. Your situation goes in; your account numbers, reference numbers and address don’t. The translation is exactly as good without them. (The 5 Things You Should Never Paste Into AI has the full keep-back list.)

3. NOW what

What this part is: the action list. What needs doing, by when, and what happens if you do nothing. This is the question the document was probably supposed to answer and didn’t.

How to ask for it: insist on one of two endings - a numbered list of actions with deadlines, or the beautiful sentence “nothing needs action”. Never let it end on vibes.

The bit everyone misses: also ask it to flag anything odd or worth double-checking. Documents contain mistakes - wrong dates, estimated figures, charges that don’t add up - and a translator that’s been told to look for them catches things a skim never would.

The translator prompt

Here’s the full version with all three questions built in. Save it - this one earns a permanent spot in your notes app.

Nick this one:

I'm going to paste in something I find confusing. You're my translator. Rules:

1. WHAT IT SAYS - rewrite it in plain, everyday English, as you'd explain it to a smart friend who's new to this. No jargon in your answer: translate technical terms, don't just repeat them. Keep this shorter than the original.

2. WHAT IT MEANS FOR ME - my situation, in one line: [E.G. "I rent a two-bed flat and I'm on a fixed energy deal until June"]. Tell me what this document actually means for someone in my position, not in general.

3. WHAT NEEDS ACTION - a numbered list of anything I need to do, with deadlines if there are any, and what happens if I ignore it. If nothing needs action, say "Nothing needs action" as its own line - that counts as a complete answer.

Also: flag anything in here that looks unusual, wrong, or worth double-checking, and if you're not sure what something means, say so rather than guessing.

Here it is: [PASTE THE CONFUSING THING]

And the quick version, for when the confusing thing is small and you’re in a queue:

Nick this one (quick version):

Plain English, two parts: what is this actually saying, and do I need to do anything about it? [PASTE]

That quick one handles error messages, single baffling paragraphs, and texts from your most technical relative.

A worked example: the utility bill

Say your energy bill arrives and it’s the usual wall of numbers: something about an estimated reading, a paragraph headed “Your tariff is ending”, a mysterious credit balance, and a projected annual cost that’s made your eyebrows leave your face. You paste it in (account number blotted out) with the one-liner: “I’m in a three-bed semi with two kids, and I’ve never switched supplier in my life.”

Back comes something like: What it says - most of this bill is guesswork, because “E” next to a reading means estimated, not actual; your fixed price deal ends next month, after which you roll onto their standard rate, which is dearer; and you’ve paid in more than you’ve used, so they’re sitting on £143 of your money. What it means for you - a family your size on the standard rate will likely pay noticeably more, so the next few weeks are the time to act, not after the deal lapses. What needs action - 1: submit a real meter reading so the next bill is fact, not fiction. 2: before the end date, check what fixed deals they’ll offer you versus other suppliers. 3: you can ask for that credit back rather than leaving it there. Worth double-checking - the projected cost is based on the estimated readings, so treat that scary number as provisional until a real reading goes in.

That bill has been sending people that exact letter for years, and it took two minutes to make it confess. Now imagine the same trick on the broadband renewal, the tenancy agreement, the “we’re updating our terms” email, the physio’s letter full of Latin. Same prompt every time.

What this can’t fix

A translation is not professional advice, and the gap matters most exactly when the stakes are highest. For contracts you’re about to sign, legal disputes, and anything medical, use the translation to prepare - to understand the document and arrive with sharp questions - not to replace the solicitor, adviser or doctor. “Help me write down five questions to ask about this” might be the best follow-up prompt in this whole guide.

Also, AI reads what you give it. A blurry photo of a crumpled letter can misread a number, and a hallucination can slip into any answer, so double-check the figures and dates that decisions hang on - against the original, which you now, for the first time, actually understand.

If you do nothing else

Next confusing thing that arrives - letter, email, error message, whatever - don’t file it, don’t sigh at it. Paste it into the quick version before you’ve had time to dread it. One real repetition installs this habit better than ten guides.

And if what’s landed in your inbox looks less “confusing” and more “suspicious”… different tool for that job: Is This Message A Scam? Ask AI First. ✨