Comments on: EU Clear English Tips for Translators – Use simple words where appropriate

By: Anna

Anna — Sat, 13 Dec 2014 21:41:50 +0000

I agree in general but eg. in an exam setting, this may be considered a poor vocab in some cases. Besides, we need to be careful when paraphrasing. The one before last:
“She suffered an armed attack = She was shot.” (How do we know that the offensive weapon was a gun, and not a knife, a bottle or even a sneaker, which is equivalent to a weapon sometimes?)

By: admin

admin — Sat, 13 Dec 2014 21:41:46 +0000

As you can see, the recommendations belong to the Directorate-General for Translation of the European Commission

Sources:

European Commission, How to Write Clearly
Agerbeek, F., The Essential Guide to Drafting Commission Documents on EU Competition Law
Gardner, J., A Brief List of Misused English Terminology in EU Publications
Russsell, Gayl and Mills, Louise, Clear Legal Writing [unpublished presentation]

By: Lukasz Gos-Furmankiewicz

Lukasz Gos-Furmankiewicz — Sat, 13 Dec 2014 05:49:35 +0000

Some of the proposals are good, but the author of the recommendations clearly has enough difficulties in his or her own English, especially the nuances of understanding the context, application and register. The ‘awkward’ phrases are often not at all awkward in English, except maybe in the author’s imagination. Look at ‘aware of’ => ‘know that’ — seriously? ‘To be aware of something’ in that meaning is clearly an English idiom, not any sort of foreign interference from whatever foreign language. There is a missing article in ‘in the light of’ as far as British English is concerned, which the EU is supposed to be using. Real experts should be used, not activists with agendas whose command of the language is noticeably imperfect to begin with.