Pravdateam

This is the Main Section of a style guide for the English Version of Ukrayinska Pravda.

To see whether your lexical equivalents match our style policy and visit Lexicon. If you experience difficulties with finding an adequate lexical equivalent visit Hard Nuts to Crack. For useful links visit Reference.

If you would like to edit this style guide, please read the statement below first.

Statement for future editors
Please add only Ukrayinska Pravda specific rules here. Ukrayinska Pravda specific rules are those introduced after spotting a mistake made by our translator(s). You may also add rules related to translating modern Ukrainian realities if you would like to set a rule before the actual mistake is made.

In case you have some useful material, which is not directly related to Ukrainian realities, please leave a link in the relevant section. Do not include lengthy or copyright material here. Be short and to the point. The new rule should not be more then 5 lines. If in doubt, use discussion page or write a post to our blog.

Please use examples from modern Ukrainian life. Humor is welcomed.

The 10 Commandments of UP Translation Project
1. Be simple. The simpler the sentence, the better the reader's experience with the translation will be. Writing is all about the clear and direct communication of ideas from the author to the reader.

2. Go deep. Being simple does not mean being stupid. Do your best effort to ensure that the style and lexical equivalents used will be understood by the English-speaking reader. Check the lexical equivalents, set expressions and proper nouns using Google, Wikipedia and this Style guide.

3. Ask for advice. Don't be shy to ask for help at our blog, other blogs, forums and other interactive resources (please add the relevant link here). By asking questions, we make both ourselves and the people who answer the question more clever and experienced.

4. Voice your opinion. People who review and edit your translation are not always right. Tell them they are wrong if you can provide a good argument. A statement like "it is wrong because my high school teacher said so" is not an example of a good argument. Support your argument by live examples from internationally recognized media outlets like CNN, BBC, New York Times, The Guardian or Wikipedia. Use Google or any other search engine to prove that your lexical equivalent gives substantially more search results then the other.

5. Convey contents and style rather than emotions. Ukrayinska Pravda has emotional texts and this makes it different. Many translators try to convey the emotions of the Ukrainian author to the English reader. This makes the text less readable. Please put your main effort into helping the reader understand the basic contents of the translation. Then work on style of the text.

6. Priorities. First, please ensure the headline reads clearly. A clear headline is the best way to catch a reader's attention. Second, please ensure the main idea (or main ideas) of the article are expressed clearly. Short articles may have only one or two main ideas. Longer articles will have three or more. The main idea(s) should 'bounce out' at the reader so the reader can at least take them away. Third, try to express the remainder of the article clearly and work on style.

7 — 10. To be continued. Please suggest your variants at the discussion page.

Titles
Capitalize a title when it comes before or after a name, as in:

President Viktor Yushchenko issued a decree. Viktor Yushchenko, the President of Ukraine, issued a decree.

Do not capitalize a title when it refers to the office and is not accompanied by a name:

No one knows who will be the next minister of foreign affairs.

However, in case a title is used to specify the person, it shall be capitalized.

The country is watching a battle between the President and Mr. Yanukovich.

In Ukrainian language only surnames are used upon the second reference. Please use surnames with the title (Mr., Mrs., Dr., etc.) upon the second reference in your English translations.

President Yushchenko made a TV statement today. Bad: "These nasty PMs should go home," Yushchenko told the nation. Good: "These nasty PMs should go home," Mr. Yushchenko told the nation.

Headlines are the only exception when no titles are required.

Yushchenko will meet Putin this Friday

Commas
Commas shall be used only once per series:

Tymoshenko, Yushchenko and Yanukovych are rivals.

Commas should be used following the introductory word or phrase in a sentence.

Today, Tymoshenko will be speaking in European Square.

A comma can be used before a conjunction (eg. and) but not before the word "because" which is not a conjunction.

Yushchenko cancelled his visit to England, and also postponed his trip to Brussels. Yushchenko cancelled his visit to England because he will be visiting Brussels next week instead.

Commas should be used to set off a subordinate clause if it is contained within the sentence. Subordinate clauses often begin with the word "which". However, if the subordinate clause comes at the end of the sentence then no comma is necessary.

Abbreviations
Please use only internationally recognized abbreviations in the headlines. Do not use Ukraine-specific abbreviations like VR for Verkhovna Rada, OPG for the Office of the Prosecutor General, OU or NU for Our Ukraine, etc. However, you are welcome to use these abbreviations in the text of the news item or article. Use our common sense or advice from your peers to determine what is internationally recognized abbreviation.

Will President Yushchenko Visit US Next Week? — Good Moroz Generates New Ideas for the OPG — Bad Should be: Moroz Generates New Ideas for the Office of the Prosecutor General

List of Some Internationally Recognized Abbreviations that May be Used in the Headlines

 * BYuT
 * EU
 * MP
 * PM
 * UN
 * US
 * UK
 * WTO
 * NATO
 * OPEC

First reference rule
The first time the name of a government body, organization or company is shown in an article, the acronym should be shown in parenthesis immediately following it. The acronym then only need be used throughout the remainder of the article. This saves repeating the full name over and over again in the article. Once the name is stated in full, it may be worth considering whether the acronym be used in the headline (see above rule) as well for brevity and 'punch'.

The Office of the Prosecutor General (OPG) has come recently come under criticism. The OPG ...

Quotations
In Ukrainian, quotations usually involve a lot of punctuation. In English, only one comma is used, and when it is used inside the quotation marks:

“I enjoy eating salo, but only if it is progressive and socialist salo,” said Natalia Vitrenko, the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party. “I am the president of Ukraine,” said President Yushchenko.

The period and comma always go inside quotation marks. Semicolons, dashes, question marks, and exclamation points go inside the quotation marks when they apply to the quoted material, but put them outside the quotation marks when they apply to the whole sentence. Always use double quotes ("). Use single quotes (') to quote text inside a quote.

What to use after the quotes?
The words used after a quote are very tricky, because they can describe a large variety of different emphases. The order in which they are used, however, is fairly consistent. The verb comes first and then comes the name of the person speaking. This is true, except when the speaker is referred to by a pronoun. In that case, the pronoun comes first:

“I am the president of Ukraine,” said Victor Yushchenko. “I am the president of Ukraine,” he said.

However, if the sentence used after a quote is an extended one, the noun may come first. If the verb is a complex one or used in combination with other verbs, the noun comes first as well.

“These hands have never stolen,” President Yushchenko used to say during his pre-election campaign.

Please use only past tense when describing direct speech.

Please use pronoun only when the name of the speaker was indicated in the previous sentence.

References to Sources
Please expand this section and add more examples.


 * UNIAN news agency reported on Friday that during the meeting with representatives of the German political and business circles President Yushchenko had expressed an opinion that PM Yanukovych is a dirty old bastard.


 * During the meeting with representatives of the German political and business circles President Yushchenko had expressed an opinion that PM Yanukovych is a dirty old bastard, UNIAN news agency reported on Friday.


 * During his meeting with representatives of the German political and business circles President Yushchenko had expressed an opinion that PM Yanukovych is a dirty old bastard. This according to UNIAN news agency.

The last variant should be used only in case the sentence is too long and it will be difficult for the reader to understand the reference which was made using the first two constructions.

No quotation — no quotation marks
Use quotation marks sparingly if there are no words directly being quoted. Quotation marks are unnecessary in the following example:

Our Ukraine party (партія „Наша Україна”)

News headlines
The headline of the news item should be not more then 12 words long including pronouns and auxiliary verbs. The best headline is the one which fits two lines in the news panel. However, the idea of the headline should be clear to the reader. If the headline is too long, do not just cut off the words. Please change the idea of the headline instead.

Several things you may do only in headlines:


 * Skipping titles like Mr., Mrs. or Dr.

Bohatyryova Offers Yushchenko to Join the Parliament


 * Using a question mark (?) without structuring the sentence like a question. Make the words do the talking rather than a punctuation mark.

Poor:   Lukash Blurts out the Secrets of the Constitutional Court? Better: Did Lukash Blurt out the Secrets of the Constitutional Court?


 * There is limited time to 'grab' the attention of the reader. Headlines therefore should be clear and to the point.  'Weak' words such as articles (eg. the) can often be deleted.  Headlines can be a little like 'staccato' in music.  They should 'pique' the reader's attention to your article as quickly as possible.

Poor:   Our Ukraine Decides to Remove the Deserters Better: Our Ukraine Expels Deserters

Article headlines
Please draft.

Proper Nouns
See a separate section for more details. Also see our Lexicon for the ready-to-use translations.

Please note that if a proper noun already has its translation in the Lexicon, then only this variant of translation shall be used.

Vernacular or Lexical peculiarities
Please see a separate section for more details. Also see our Lexicon for the ready-to-use translations.

Please note that if some lexical peculiarity is already described in our style guide, you should pay attention to it while translating.

In political writing, use words that are suited to politics. The word "intrigue" is over-used and more suited to soap operas than politics. Bring the subject out from behind the 'veil' for the reader.

Passive voice
Recent proposals were made for this article. See Discussion.

Pronouns
More a matter for authors than translators but the best tense to use is the third person whenever possible. First person (eg. I, me, we) is most personal and second person (i.e. you) is also personal. Third person (i.e. he, she, they, it) is impartial, objective and most free of emotion. Readers pick up ideas more quickly when they are detached from the issue.

Poor:  If you think about it, the answer becomes clear. Poor:  The answer becomes clear if you think about it. Better: Thinking about it makes the answer become clear.

Inversions
Inversions occur when the most important part of a sentence (eg. noun or phrase) is put to the end instead of the beginning. It is better to be up front with the main idea of a sentence than make the reader go all the way to the end to finally get the most important part.

In case if
In case is indicator of condition and it equals to if. Therefore, when you use "in case if" you actually say if twice.

Ukrainian "у разі якщо" should translated using if, in case or subjunctive mood.

Inappropriate use of hyphen
Always check English equivalents of the Ukrainian words with hyphen.

Bad: Prime-minister, Vice-President Good: Prime Minister, Vice President

See hyphen in Wikipedia for examples of usage.

Do not use English analogues of Slavic complex adjectives like соціально-економічний. Use separate adjectives or rephrase your translation.

Social and economic reforms Areas of society and economy

Formal presentation
The written word is expressed differently than the spoken word.

In writing, fractions and numbers less than 20 are generally written-out.

Incorrect: About 2/5 the MPs were absent from the Rada. Correct:  About two-fifths of the MPs were absent from the Rada.

Incorrect: Initially, there were 3 MPs who changed factions. Correct:  Initially, there were three MPs who changed factions.

Incorrect: There are four hundred and fifty MPs in the Verkhova Rada. Correct:  There are 450 MPs in the Verkhovna Rada.

Words are not 'co-joined' in writing as they often are in speech. In writing, words are written out in full.

Incorrect: The PM hadn't indicated whether he agreed with the views expressed by the Council of Europe. Correct:  The PM had not indicated whether he agreed with the views expressed by the Council of Europe.

Verbosity
Occurs when too many words are used. May result when there is little to say but too much time or space to express it or when there is difficulty finding the correct words to express the idea concisely. Every word should 'work hard'. If a word (or phrase) is not making a contribution to a sentence then perhaps it does not belong. Avoid repetition and redundancies. Unneeded words confuse the reader.

Particular situations
Description to be drafted.

Time and Date format
Month DD, YYYY

Please do not use 'st' after the day number.

Bad: April 1st, 2007 was the second day of the rally. Good: April 1, 2007 was the second day of the rally.

In case Ukrainian text makes reference only to date, you may omit the year in your translation.

HH (AM/PM) : MM.

Please use 12 hours scale. Do not mix 12 and 24 hours scales.

Bad: The meeting was due to start at 17 o'clock but the President has arrived only at 5:30. Good: The meeting was due to start at 5 PM but the President has arrived only at 5:30 PM.

Using brief and full titles of the governmental agencies
Ministry of Finance vs. Finance Ministry. Please draft this section.

Legislation and Political Documents

 * Use verb stipulate when explaining the scope of application of the law.

Закон передачає кримінальну відповідальність за ...  The Law stipulates criminal responsibility for ...


 * Translating official titles

Use type of the document + preposition on + subject matter when translating the official tile of the legislative or regulatory document.

Law of Ukraine on the Cabinet of Ministers

You may use brief title of the document from the Lexicon.

Law on the Cabinet of Ministers