[Individual-members-EL] the language question in EL

[Francis King]

Hello all

It occurred to me over the last two weeks that there are certain problems with the literary style of some of our material. So I have put together some thoughts on this. I apologise in advance a) for writing in English, and b) if anyone feels I am slighting their efforts. That is not my intention at all...

If the ELP hopes to attract more attention and gain more individual members, it will have to give some serious attention to the question of language. We are competing in the political marketplace with established national organisations producing slick propaganda written by native speakers of the local language. If we want to get our ideas across, we must try to ensure that our publicity material has the same level of professionalism. I have been helping polish up the English of one or two documents for the ELP website over the past week or so, and a few things struck me very forcefully: 1) So far as I can tell, many documents – the resolutions of the 2nd congress, for example - do not seem to have an “original” version written by native speakers of one or another European language. They seem to have been composed in English by non-native speakers. They make sense, the language is perfectly comprehensible, the political line is good, but it does not sound “right” to English ears. As a semi-professional translator, I can say from long experience that it can often be easier and quicker to translate directly from a good original than to sub-edit material in one's own language. 2) Ideally, only the British and Irish should be addressed in English. In France, Germany, Italy etc. the mass audience is for materials in French, German, Italian etc. We need to address those audiences (much larger and more important than the Anglophone audiences) in their own languages as far as possible. 3) We tend to use a lot of EU-jargon that ordinary people simply do not understand. I have never seen the word "flexicurity" in a British newspaper, for example, although it may well be a common term in other parts of Europe. As far as possible, we need to find ways of expressing our ideas and concerns in the everyday language of the people we are addressing. It may seem paradoxical, but to build a European left movement, we need to speak in local dialects.

In comradeship

Francis King
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