Introducing Clean Language in the Worst Way
There are some things you cannot explain; you have to experience and explore them
I want to learn about Clean language - (CL)
I get this question because I am enthusiastic about this relatively new interest (obsession) of mine.
AND, Clean Language is best learned by watching and practicing. AND this should be much shorter.
Usually I love to explain and teach a topic; I have tons of long written content of topics of interest. Yet, I have not found a way to do justice to CL and make it easy. When I explain it, at first it looks more easy than it is, then it seems weird and awkward.
Clean Language is like a dish that tastes better than it looks. When I insert a little spot of Clean Language with people in normal conversation, they rarely notice yet I feel them open up and become curious about their own experience. It feels magical. Also I know no better way of honoring the holy in another person.
CL is not easy or simple, but it is effective and it is fun. There is a freedom in this experience that is surprising.
In CL, usually you repeat the person’s exact words or phrases, with their tone, making their gestures back to them, not on yourself. This is not rout or repetitive; it is hearing them exactly as they are presenting themselves through their words, gestures, tone, body. Done well, their words resonate with them and almost disappear. To the speaker the words at first seem repetitive, because they are done repetitively. Instead the repetition has most resonance when the listener is transparent to their impact, leaning into hearing at a deep level, with the conviction that the words are intentional and important.
Also in Clean Language, you pay close attention to the many metaphors people use. This part is HUGE, and I am not going to even try to explain the essential nature of metaphor. I will just say that metaphors are like day dreaming and that dreams are the royal road to the unconscious.
Sometimes, particularly in intense and tragic situations, the reflection of the person’s exact words, in tones of compassion are all that is possible to absorb.
In other contexts, you may add carefully honed questions with a focus on one part of their dialogue.
Here is an example of a few different directions we might go, if we were in person - the best way to learn is practice.
Let’s say we are talking and you say
I want to learn about Clean language.
I might first acknowledge your comment:
And you want to learn about Clean Language. And when you learn about Clean Language,
Then I have several directions I could go, usually beginning with the joining word-
And
-And do you have any questions before we begin?
-And what kind of learn is that learn when you learn about Clean Language?
-And what would you like to have happen when you learn about Clean Language?
-And what happens right before you learn Clean Language?
-And what happens right after you learn Clean Language.
-And when you learn, what’s that like? Or that’s like What? (which can lead to those magical metaphors.)
A few of these questions are used often in Clean Language:
-what kind of…
-anything else about…
-that’s like what?
When I first began using CL, it felt awkward and sometimes it still does. I use it because it honors the exquisite uniqueness of other people, feels good to me and because I pay better attention to what is happening now. I have witnessed transformation that’s rare in groups and individuals, without as much personal exhaustion within me.
Clean Language is a novel way of listening that helps the speaker to pay close attention to what they say. Often this attention promotes reintegration, connection to others and healing. CL is part method, part philosophy, and part technique; yet I find that it is hard to explain and easy to misunderstand.
Reflective listening is a near enemy: “a counterfeit of the real thing, appearing similar on the surface but differing in its root cause and effects.” Different from reflective listening, the goal is not to communicate understanding by adding your approximation in your own words and seek confirmation or disconfirmation.
The goal is for the person to understand themselves which means you stay as close as possible to their exact words, gestures, tone and quality, except often speaking more slowly.
THIS sounds weird to your ears, but when done with compassionate curiosity, the other person overhears themselves; the repeated words almost disappear.
Try it and see.
THAT is my best advice.
In a conversation, listen carefully for a word that is a bit open to interpretation, and clarify with “what kind of…” or “is there anything else about ….”
How was your vacation?
It was great!
What kind of great?
I took the cat to the vet: it does not sound good.
Anything else about not sound good?
Again, it’s best to learn by watching and practice. And I will give you more reading about Clean Language until we meet again.
Here are the Clean Language principles which were recently articulated by leaders in the field.
Clean Language principles
A person is ‘being clean’ when they:
Preserve others’ experience precisely as they express it (including metaphors and non-verbals)
and
Refrain from introducing concepts, metaphors, judgements, evaluations or assumptions
and
Invite others to attend to their experience without intending to change it
and
Only introduce words that do not suggest new content.
Clean Language Principles © 2025 by Leaders in Clean
Developed by a core contributor group within the Leaders in Cleancommunity.
Licensed under CC BY 4.0
If a TED talk is your way of learning, here is a good one called Clean Questions and Metaphor models. This is from 12 years ago.
TEDxMerseyside - Caitlin Walker - Clean Questions and Metaphor Models
If a short course sounds good; here is one for about $13
Caitlin Walker’s book is good:
From Contempt to Curiosity - Google Books
Though I believe that reading about Clean Language is the least effective introduction, here is more reading:
Clean Language is a way of listening that decreases interference from the listener. The effect is that the speaker goes deeper into themselves and their own internal and unconscious models of the world. The most important aspect is the philosophical conviction that each person has what they need.
While in a Clean stance, I am not persuading or giving advice or figuring them out. This is a way of paying attention that keeps me safe from myself and for others. When I am in a clean question mindset, I am empowered to remain as close as possible to the exact words, gestures, intonations, and body language of the other person. The focus is on helping the other person or group to be aware of the internal models the speaker has of the topic addressed.
The questions have been carefully constructed and refined to decrease interference or guiding of the person who is being modeled.
The questions have been developed to be used adjacent to the person’s exact words and experience, without the listener’s bias. The repeating of the words and gestures gives an active embodied acknowledgement and connection. The responses give a neutral acceptance of the person’s internal experience as being exactly what it is, without the desire for repair, progress, change or for affirmation. The speaker’s comments are accepted and joined. This atmosphere of careful and accurate representation of exactly what is said in a way that honors the person serves to propel the speaker to more deeply explore their unique inner reality.
Particular attention is paid to metaphors, which occur spontaneously and often in our speech. Metaphors occur about 6 times a minute in normal conversation and are often overlooked, yet they are more powerful and more unique to each person than we recognize. The importance of tracking metaphors is part of Clean that requires a deeper analysis than this summary can address.
Two of the questions are about the attributes are used 80% of the time; these are called the JEDI questions. Often the listener in our context will only ask about 2-3 questions about what the person said to start building a model of what they are expressing to you.
The two most common questions, that can be repeated many times, are:
Is there anything else about that … ?
What kind of … is that … ?
Other questions are:
Where is … ?
Whereabouts … ?
That’s … like what?
How many … are there?
Is there are relationship between … and … ?
Is … the same or different to … ?
Is … on the inside or the outside?
Questions containing the verb ‘to happen’ generally encourage the client to move time forwards or backwards:
Then what happens?
What happens next?
What happens just before … ?
What would you like to have happen?
What needs to happen for … to happen?
When … what happens to … ?
Questions which utilise other verbs are:
How do you know … ?
Does … have a size or a shape?
What determines … ?
Where does / could … come from?
Can … ?
The Syntax
The ‘and’ comes in when you combine one of these questions with the client’s words. A clean question has three functions:
To acknowledge what the client has said
To direct their attention to one aspect of their experience
To send them on a quest for self knowledge
So if I client says, “I would like to be more healthy.”
This is a 3-part syntax:
And you would like to be more healthy (acknowledge)
And when more healthy, (direct attention)
Is there anything else about that more? (quest for self knowledge)
The questions do not sound grammatically correct, they seem to make perfect sense to the one who is speaking. Overhearing your own words, with accurate tone, pace, and gestures, can be deeply satisfying. People report that they feel deeply heard.
There are branches to Clean Language.
One is “symbolic modeling” which uses the clean questions to develop the person’s internal, often metaphorical models.
For example
"when you are at your best at work, that's like what?"
“I’m like a mountain climber…”
“And you are like a mountain climber. And is there anything else about that mountain climber?”
Each question helps the person see more of their model, and with that awareness they make better decisions. By tracking the attributes and aspects of the metaphor, the Clean questions unearth the “unthought known” of the person.
What people report is that they come to surprising awarenesses and that the process is more fun and opening than they expected. As the symbols evolve in their model, they see more of the aspects of themselves that have remained largely out of awareness. These aspects have been subconscious yet they drive behavior, emotions and patterns.
Once in touch with this inner symbolic world, the person can strengthen their helpful metaphors and fix their out-dated or faulty ones in exactly the way that is most helpful. The changes ripple far beyond just thinking differently. On a deep level, the person will feel and act differently because the metaphors that guide them are now encouraging different strategies. People often report that making different choices or deciding on their course of action feels ‘natural’, ‘effortless’, or ‘easy now.’
Systemic modeling uses the clean questions to develop a team’s models to allow people to work together better. . Drama Free uses clean language to uncover ways that people and teams do not get what they want. Other parts of the frameworks are the PRO - problem, remedy, outcome, and evidence/inference/impact.
Here are a few more resources:
Gina Campbell Demo lesson
Judy Rees symbolic modeling
Judy Rees demo of business
Judy Rees spotting a metaphor
Caitlin Walker Clean Language Interviewing
BACKGROUND and outages: David Grove, (1950-2008) was an inventive counseling psychologist and coach who developed numerous processes to help people know and heal themselves, including Clean Language and Clean Space. Originally from New Zealand, with family of both Maori and European backgrounds, Grove lived in the United States for years, receiving his Master’s degree from the University of Minnesota. He analyzed therapist’s transcripts of their client sessions and came to believe that changing their clients’ words made the healing process less effective because the changes robbed the speaker of their unique experience.
David experimented with keeping his clients’ words intact, repeating them verbatim and asking precise questions place carefully so that the questions would contain fewer presuppositions, bias’ and projections and would not interfere with the speaker’s direction of thought.
For example, David did not to ask “What are you thinking?” Or “what are you feeling” or “how does that make you feel?” - all of which presupposes that a person is thinking or feeling something, and therefore limits their possible responses.
Questions like, “Can you tell me how you feel about that?” shifts the attention back and forth so the speaker has to take into account the listener - you – me – you – that.) David removed all pronouns, unless they were part of what the client was talking about. “Tell me more” also became, “Is there anything else about … ?”
David sought to precisely select the question he was about to ask for it to be effective in directing their attention to a particular aspect of a person’s experience. David dropped the word ‘thinking’ and used an even cleaner question: “Is there anything else about … ?”
David added two specific words: “that” and “and.”
The word ‘that’ allows for more specific ‘pointing’ at particular aspects of an inner landscape… e.g. If a client says, “I would like to feel more relaxed,” then asking, “What kind of relaxed is that relaxed?” directs their attention to the word relaxed and invites them to consider it in more detail. Also, David started each question with the word ‘and’ to acknowledge the client’s words and join the facilitator’s words in with them, so that the client stays in their own experience
Even if a person is recalling a memory or talking about what might happen in the future, the experience of recalling or envisioning is happening right now. All the questions are framed in the present tense, to enables the client to model ‘live’ in the room, and increase the chance for integration of new awareness.
Most verbs are dropped and most of the questions include only one of two verbs: ‘to be’ and ‘to happen’.
The questions containing the verb ‘to be’ help to keep time still and are mostly used for developing individual perceptions.