In a multilingual and multicultural environment it is crucial to clarify concepts in order to properly understand terms used in communication. Indeed, this is also something to have in mind when formatting the text physically. The proper presentation of a document, its cohesion, is important because it is part of communication, as it also transmits messages and communicates. If besides these, the text is created by a multilingual institution, it is also necessary to come to an agreement among all the actors because sometimes the format of a text has a particular meaning depending on the culture. This affects simple options like using a comma at the beginning of a letter in French, while a colon in Spanish; and also more complex decisions, such as colour or shape selection. Those things are analysed by localisation, defined by the Localization Industry Standards Association (LISA) as “the process of adapting and manufacturing a product so that it has the look and feel of a nationally-manufactured piece of goods” [3, p. 3]. Actually, the advertising industry must take advantage of all this in order to make a product successful in a community. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to take cultural aspects into account when, for example, launching a new product abroad. In a certain way, we can compare this to body language where cultural influences are also crucial.
The European Union, as a multilingual and multicultural environment, is also aware of this, and since 1997 they have been publishing the Interinstitutional Style Guide, accessible in all the official languages of the European Union. This document presents guidelines in order to ensure that the texts of all European Union institutions and bodies are well organised and consistent. This is a process of harmonisation that has to take into “account the multilingual perspective of the institutions, which requires texts in all official languages to be comparable while retaining the specific character of each language” [1, p. 11].
Many institutions have their own style guide too. Actually, the European Commission itself has its own English Style Guide. Also, in the private sector we can find companies or newspapers which produce their guidelines or recommendations. Using uniform conventions helps readers and users to better understand the whole meaning of a document.
Even if the Interinstitutional Style Guide is aimed to be used within the institutions of the EU, it may be useful also to better translate texts related to the European Union or have an inspiration on how documents can be published. In order to consult this document, you can visit this web page: EU Book Shop and you can both order a print edition and download a PDF file. The last complete printed version was published in 2011, but you can always find the latest online version on the following page: Contents.
One of the sections that caught our attention is 3.6. Definition of an expression or of a word [1, p. 57], as it highlights the importance of terminology and concept clarification. Also, the part about Abbreviations, symbols and contractions in common use, not only because of the content, but also because this section is organised differently according to the specificities of each language, for example, in Spanish they just indicate the title of the section, while the English version includes a number. It is curious to notice how some parts of the different language versions might be adapted to the language’s written tradition. Finally, the section about punctuation and proper names may be very useful for everybody interested in translating European texts.
A very interesting part of this Guide is 6.3. Proof-correction marks [1, p. 105]. Proof-correction marks are symbols used in manuscripts to indicate suggested modifications, though nowadays many of these changes can be proposed onscreen. Some of these marks are uniform across languages, and seem to constitute a kind of standard terminology.
The Interinstitutional Style Guide, as well as other style guides, are very useful when writing a text, not only for the writer and the proof-reader, but also for the translator, as those professionals often have to proofread their own work, taking into account any specific information the client might have given in order to create a coherent and cohesive text.
Written by Ana Bennasar
Terminology trainee at TermCoord
Sources:
[1] EU Book Shop: Interinstitutional style guide 2011.
[2] European Commission, Directorate-General for Translation: English Style Guide. A handbook for authors and translators in the European Commission.
– Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SFEP), United Kingdom.
– TermCoord: “Interinstitutional Style Guide”.
[3] The Localization Industry Standards Association (LISA): The Localization Industry Primer, 2003.