A mechanism is provided for adapting vocabulary levels in a collaborative session. A vocabulary level indicator is received for a first user in the collaborative session. During generation of an electronic communication by a second user in the collaborative session, text entered in the electronic communication is scanned in order to identify a vocabulary level associated with text. The vocabulary level associated with the text is compared to the vocabulary level indicator for the first user. Responsive to the text exceeding the vocabulary level indicator for the first user thereby indicating violating text, an indication is provided to the second user that the violating text is above a vocabulary level of the first user.