| 1.
| INTRODUCTION
This Style Guide is intended primarily for English-language staff and freelance translators working for the Commission's Translation Service. However, now that so much of the Commission's work is being drafted in English by native and non-native speakers alike, we hope these rules, reminders and handy references may be helpful to a wider readership as well.
In this Guide, “style” refers to recommended in-house usage, and not to literary style. Excellent advice on how to improve writing style is given in The Plain English Guide by Martin Cutts (Oxford University press, 1996) and Style: Towards Clarity and Grace by Joseph M. Williams (University of Chicago Press, 1995), both of which encourage the use of good plain English. See also our website 'Fight the Fog' at http://europa.eu.int/comm/translation/en/ftfog/index.htm.
Writing in clear, plain language can be difficult at the Commission as much of the subject matter is complex and more and more is written in English by (and for) non-native speakers or by native speakers who are beginning to lose touch with their language as a result of working in a multilingual environment. We as translators must nevertheless try to set an example by using language which is as clear, simple, and accessible as possible, out of courtesy to our readers and consideration for the image of the Commission. This is especially important where a text is for publication or wider circulation, and particularly so in our case, since the Commission lays itself open to misunderstanding or ridicule if it sounds “foreign” or fails to get an appropriate message across in the UK or Ireland.
Register is all important. In texts for a wider public it goes without saying that we must aim, sometimes against the odds, for accessibility and ease of comprehension, stripping out the “pursuant tos” and “with regard tos” of lazy officialese in favour of clear modern English. Be sparing, though, with cutting-edge neologisms. We are not competing for circulation, and not all our readers have English as their native language.
In legislative texts, too, accuracy and clarity are paramount. But legal or bureaucratic language which we might regard as pompous elsewhere has its place in both legislation and preparatory drafting, though the specialist terms must be embedded in rock-solid straightforward English syntax. The same goes for other types of formal document — colloquialisms may be frowned on in letters to foreign dignitaries, but we can at least keep our subjects, verbs, objects and commas in place. In some cases — departmental memos or papers for specialist committees — we may regard “Eurospeak” as acceptable professional shorthand; searching for “plain English” periphrases wastes time and simply irritates readers.
So “style” is very much a matter for the translator — or author — at the wordface, for whom we hope this guide will be a practical source of information and an aid to consistency. Also well worth consulting are the Official Publications Office's Interinstitutional Style Guide, the Council's Manual of Precedents (for legislative drafting) and the Commission's Legislative drafting manual and Style Guide for Press Releases.
|
