An edition of EU Clear English Tips for Translators
(2015)
EU Clear English Tips for Translators
by Nicolae Sfetcu
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Last edited by Nicolae Sfetcu
February 10, 2024 | History
Here are some tips to help translators avoid copying structure and wording from other languages that would be awkward in English.
They should be useful to non-native speakers, but may serve as handy reminders for native speakers too.
Publish Date
2015
Publisher
MultiMedia Publishing
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Table of Contents
English prefers to be simple, concise and concrete.
- Use simple words where appropriate.
- - This means avoiding archaic legalese.
- Leave out unnecessary words
- - This includes unnecessary initial phrases.
- Prefer a verb to an abstract noun
- - This includes lists.
- - Particularly avoid chains of abstract nouns.
- Prefer a gerund to an abstract noun
- Prefer participles to relative clauses
- - And eliminate participles entirely if appropriate.
- Use the passive voice sparingly
- - Inanimate subjects with animate verbs are fine.
- - The passive is appropriate in these sentences:
- Consider replacing negatives with positives
- Consider short forms and pronouns to avoid repeating full names …
- - … and instead of foreign or ad hoc abbreviations.
- Express conditions, including hidden ones, with ‘if’ ...
- - ... entitlement with ‘may’...
- - ... and exceptions with ‘unless’ or ‘however’ (or ‘subject to’).
- In general, cut out extra verbiage.
English prefers straightforward syntax
- Keep the subject close to the beginning of the sentence
- Avoid splitting up subjects, modals, verbs and direct objects
- If a sentence is too long, pull information out into separate sentences.
- - But don’t change sentence boundaries in legislation.
- Use topic-introducing phrases sparingly.
English may use different number, articles, gender or words from other languages
- Keep uncountable nouns in the singular.
- Use ‘a’ rather than ‘the’ for members of a class.
- - If appropriate, use the singular for members of a class to avoid confusion.
- - Use ‘the’ rather than ‘this’ to refer back to a document.
- Do not use gender pronouns for entities.
- Consider alternatives to ‘of’.
- Finally, avoid ‘false friends’ in translation.
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- Nicolae Sfetcu
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- MultiMedia Publishing
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| February 10, 2024 | Created by Nicolae Sfetcu | Added new book. |