Semicolon, colon and lists

In Sections  2.5 - 2.10 of the English Style Guide published by the Directorate-General for Translation, you can find the rules on the use of colon and semicolon with the appropriate hyperlinks for other relevant issues, such as lists.

You can hereby find more information on the use of colon and semicolon as well as providing lists as it is presented in the Interinstitutional Style Guide.

Here you can find a document on the use of semicolon and colon, including the use of the latter to introduce lists.  The first rule on the use of colon in this document is at odds with what is said in the Commission's "English Style Guide" and  the "Interinstitutional Style Guide".

Here you can find a quiz on the use of colon and semicolon with the key and explanations.  In the explanation for the answer to question 21, you can find the capitalization rule in sentences after colon.

Phrase, idiom and expression reference

Here you can find an online multilingual dictionary for phrases, expressions and idioms.  Thank you Th!

The dont's for PowerPoint

Here you can find Don McMillan's standup on the dont's of a PowerPoint presentation.

The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint

Here you can find Guy Kawasaki's recommendations on the length (10 slides), duration (20 minutes) and font size (30 points) in a PowerPoint presentation.

Here you can find a stream of his pitch.

Preparation for 27th of May

Here you can find two articles which you can synthesize in a summary report.  The summary should be no longer than two 1.5-spaced pages. If you send me your summaries before our next session on 26th of May, we can talk about one of them during the workshop.

Acronyms and abbreviations used at the EI

Here you can find a list of the main acronyms and abbreviations used at the European Institutions.

Jargon used at the EI

Here you can find a list of the jargon commonly used at the European Institutions.

Here you can find the list of the same jargon along with their alternatives if you want to avoid the jargon while corresponding with an external party.

Searchable document archives

The links for searchable document archives for the Commission, the Parliament and the Council are hereby made available.

Searchable terminology database

Here you can find the link for the EI searchable terminology database.

Journalistic titles

Here you can find a brief explanation on journalistic titles used in, e.g., newspaper headlines.  We, however, should not use this style for our titles in administrative writing.  How would you change the headlines provided as examples in the hot-linked document into administrative style titles?

Lists of three and the rule of 3s: two speeches

Here you can find the first part of Steve Jobs's iPhone product launch speech.

Here you can find Barack Obama's inauguration speech.

In both of them, please pay attention to the usage of the lists of three and the rule of 3s.

Here is a stream where the rule of 3s is explained among other useful tips on making presentations.

Sound script

Here you can find a document on chunking, stress, pacing and intonation all of which are to be indicated in a sound scripted speech text.  Here you can find the key for the tasks in the document. (Source: Presenting in English by Mark Powell) As you know, the sound script is what appears on the teleprompter for the speaker to read from during a speech.

Mandatory and compulsory

Dear T.,

My initial reaction to your question is that they can indeed be used as synonyms in most contexts.  I have checked it in my Oxford Dictionary, which confirms what your dictionary says.  

I also like the first response in the forum at the following link:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080507075259AAR2USG

Here is a link for another forum which can be useful, as well:

http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2902/mandatory-obligatory-compulsory

It might help if you can give us more context.

If  you have a specific German word in mind, here are two links for online dictionaries, which I use for my German-English translation work:

http://www.dict.cc/

http://dict.leo.org/

The former one was recommended to me by a German translator working at DG Translation.

All the best,

John

Hi  John!

I would like to ask you a little question that came up during a  drafting session recently: It is about the correct use of "compulsory" and  "mandatory".

In the "Collins" if found following definition, which is not really  satisfying for me, since "compulsory" is given as a synonym for  "mandatory":

compulsory: required by regulations or law
mandatory:  obligatory, compulsory

In my feeling  (but it's only a feeling) "mandatory" is somehow weaker than "compulsory". So,  if something is "compulsory" you really have to do it, there is no room for  negotiations, whereas if something is "mandatory" there might be some  flexibilty in it.

Am I completely  wrong?

Thanks in advance for your answer and feel free to share it with  all the others in the course

Best Ti.

Sample reading summary

Cross-border co-operation or redrawing borders

A summary of Charlemagne’s article

In 1968 a language war took place at the University of Leuven splitting it into two parts. This was followed by a series of divisions within the Belgian Catholic church and major national political parties. The championing of the linguistic agenda eventually turned Belgium into a near-ungovernable state.

The last election in June 2010 left the Kingdom with a caretaker government for 230 days, thereby breaking a new European record. Nonetheless, due to its many-layered decentralised administration, daily life went on in Belgium. The country even chaired the rotating European Presidency without any problems during the second half of 2010. "Eurocrats", along with financial markets, seemed not to be worried about living in a paralysed country with a giant public debt close to 100% of its GDP.

Over the years up to the time this article came out, the break-up of Belgium had looked less and less unthinkable. Nevertheless, any hint of partition would trigger a dumping of Belgian bonds because of the uncertainty over who would pay back the federal debt.

Yet, some Flemish separatists, who are comforted by a strong euro and an ever-deeper integration of the EU, hope that Europe would be the acid that dissolves Belgium. As such, even though Europe overcame a lot of historic enmities within its borders as national sovereignties eroded through the EU integration, which is an antidote for violent nationalism, this integration process also enables non-violent groups, such as the Flemish separatists, to act up and receive broad support from voters. This means that a precedent of a rich region pulling away from a poorer one would concern many other EU Member States, such as Spain or Italy.

Luckily, conundrums created by overlapping communities are better solved with democratic tools, such as minority rights, autonomy or tolerance, rather than by redrawing borders.

Article with DG

Hi All,

As suggested by John, I have done some research on the name of my Directorate-General, the related acronym and the use of the article in official documents.

1) DG RTD/RTD DG.
In the official documents, I have found "DG RTD" (instead of "RTD DG") without the article (of course) as in the following examples:

• "As part of a broad initiative on fraud prevention at Commmision level, DG RTD has developed an Anti Fraud Control strategy." 

• "Participation of DG RTD will always include the Director-General."

2) DG Research and Innovation/Research & Innovation DG.
See the following official sentences (from official documents):

• "By changing the name of our Directorate-General to DG RESEARCH AND INNOVATION on 1 January 2011 [...]"

• "This year, DG Research and Innovation will present and promote the Innovation Union on our common stand with DG INFSO."

However, the following use is without article:

• "Please note that this page does not include all the calls for tender launched by THE RESEARCH & INNOVATION DG."

The same goes for the following:

• "The Directorate-General for Research and Innovation supports research and innovation."

• "Calls for Tenders related to THE DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR RESEARCH & INNOVATION"

I suppose we can sum up by saying that if the name starts with the acronym, such as in "DG Research", we use NO ARTICLE.

See you!

To.

Sample listening summary

A whistle-stop tour of the key EU institutions

The journalist gives us a tour of the European institutions starting from the Schuman metro station at the European district of Brussels, named after Robert Schuman, the French minister, who inspired the creation of the European Union (EU).

The EU was born after the Second World War as the European Coal and Steel Community founded by six countries, which decided to have common control over their war materials.  The Union then expanded to 27 Members States (MS), which have common policies and laws that affect many aspects of our daily lives, because it intervenes in matters such as price controls related to pollution prevention or chemical composition of materials regarding health safety.  The aviar flu and the Hungarian sewage system are mentioned as other examples for the areas in which the EU intervenes . These issues should also matter to us, because they are paid for with our money. In the EU the richer countries help the poorer ones.

Unlike national systems, the EU is composed of three main actors. One of them is the Commission, which is the engine of the EU, and the Commission is what people  mean when they say, e.g., “Brussels has taken a decision”. The Commission has 27 Commissioners, one for each country and each one in charge of a policy area. The Commission is very important, because they have the right to propose new laws. The Commissioners have weekly meetings on Wednesdays, during which they take decisions on laws, especially if they are controversial. They see themselves as the guardians of the soul of the EU. They do not, however, have unrestricted power to act, because they have to take national interests of MS into account. Given the balance of powers among the three main institutions, the EU is a unique experiment, since there is nothing similar to it in the world.

The second actor within this structure is the Council, where national civil servants or ambassadors regularly meet to discuss the legislation proposals initiated by the Commission on subjects such as defense or agriculture. Its building is just opposite from the main Commission building. The most important meeting, which is held at least three times a year, is the summit attended by presidents and heads of state. These summits are normally very tense, since each participant is used to getting his/her own way in his/her own country.

The third actor is the European Parliament, whose name is displayed in all the EU languages by its entrance. The Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are directly elected at the same time in each Member State.  Therefore, it is the most democratic institution of the three. The MEPs are seated according to their political groups. The three main groups are the socialists, the conservatives and the liberals. Their task consists mainly in debating daily issues and amending legistlative proposals. They also have the power to reject budget proposals, but they hardly ever use this power. Over the years up to the time this report aired, the Parliament had been getting more and more influence within the balance of powers among the three institutions.

In the end, it is, however, still up to national governments to accept or reject a proposal.

Memo

Here you can find an example for a memo.  Source: Market Leader Upper Intermediate Business English Course Book by David Cotton, et al.

Minutes

Here you can find an example for minutes.  Source: Market Leader Upper Intermediate Business English Course Book by David Cotton, et al.

Preparation for 6th of May

Here is a text from The Economist, which you can read and write a summary report on.  Those of you who could not join us on 27th of April, this article is to be read with the intention of writing a summary of not longer than one 1.5-spaced page.  If you can send me the summary before our next session on 6th of May, we can talk about it during our workshop.

Articles

Here you can find the document on articles along with the key for the exercises.