Re: English usage

In alt.usage.english, Garrett Wollman wrote:
Vinny Burgoo <hlunnh@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

So it really will come down to language, as expected. We'll all agree to
call the constitution something other than a constitution as long as the
substance of the rejected constitution remains.

Given how many official languages the EU has now, I cannot fathom how
the bureaucrats can come up with a treaty (whatever you call it) that
actually has the same legal meaning in every member state. Do they
still bother with twenty-someoff official texts, or are some official
languages more equal than others?

I thought that one of the official languages was more official than the
others - that is, that one of the 23 official versions (usually the
language of the originating country) was always to be considered
authoritative - but it seems that this isn't so. When it comes to
legislation, all versions have equal weight. Tricky.

This document offers guidance on how to avoid semantic differences
between the different versions:

<http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/techleg/pdf/en.pdf>
(468 KB)

The language is usually unusually clear (for an EU document) and the
advice is usually sensible. In fact, it's an interesting read.

But its aims must surely be unachievable. To take just one example: the
term "acquis communautaire". It crops up everywhere in English versions
of EU documents. In down-to-earth English, we would speak of "the whole
body of EU law" but "acquis communautaire" appears to mean something far
more lofty, romantic and aspirational than that.

Does anyone know how "acquis" is used in French, particularly legal
French? My dictionary says it means "experience", which would be an odd
sort of word to apply to legislation, so I'll assume that the official
English translation - "patrimony" - is more accurate.

It's no less odd, though. "Community patrimony" - our communal heritage,
our inheritance. For sceptical Brits, the notion that those 170,000
pages of directives, regulations and pious exhortations are part of our
heritage is just risible. It's bonkers. (When I first encountered
"community patrimony", I reached for the dictionary to see if
"patrimony" had some meaning I didn't know about.) So you never, ever
hear the word "patrimony" used in connection with the EU and you'll
seldom find it used even in the acquis^Wpatrimony itself. The word
"acquis" or the full French phrase is almost always preferred, despite
strictures against the use of loan-words.

So the official translation of this most fundamental of EU concepts is
so philosophically alien that it is effectively meaningless. Instead, we
use a foreign term and pretend that it means what we would like it to
mean - "the whole body of EU law" - rather than what it does mean -
"zilch".

If you see what I mean.

So that puts item 5.4 of the Joint Practical Guide out of reach:

The aim is that, as far as possible, and taking account of the
specific nature of Community law and its terminology, those
called on to apply or interpret the act in each Member State
(officials, judges, lawyers, etc.) must perceive it not as a
'translation' in a negative sense -- but as a text which
corresponds to a certain legislative style. Texts peppered with
loan words, literal translations or jargon which are hard to
understand are the source of much of the criticism of Community
legislation which is, as a result, regarded as alien.

British drafters can't act on that advice. Their choice is between
loan-words, a literal translation (I assume) that has no useful meaning
and "the whole body of EU law", which appears to be an inaccurate or
incomplete translation. They usually go for the French loan-words and
hope that they are impenetrable jargon to most readers, which, though
dishonest, is probably about the best they can do.

(What's "a 'translation' in a negative sense", in English usage?)

--
"Article 1: Human dignity: Human dignity is inviolable. It must be respected
and protected." -- Charter of Fundamental Rights
Does anyone know what this means, in English usage?
.

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