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 Pravdateam/Reference.

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

Statement for the future editors
Please add only Ukrayinska pravda specific rules here. Ukrayinska pravda specific rules are those which you introduce after spotting a mistake made by our translator. You may also add rules related to translating modern Ukrainian realities if you would like to set a rule before the actual mistake was made by our translators.

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

Please use examples from the modern Ukrainian reality. Humor is welcomed.

The 10 Commandments of UP Translation Project
1. Be simple. The simpler is your sentence, the better the reader's experience with your translation is.

2. Go deep. Being simple does not mean being stupid. Do your best effort to ensure that the style and lexical equivalents you use will be understood by the English-speaking reader. Check your 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 good questions you make ourself and people who answer your question cleverer and more experienced.

4. Voice your opinion. People who review and edit your translations are not necessarily always right. Tell them they are wrong if you can provide good argumentation. Statement like "it is wrong because my high school professor told so" are examples of bad argumentation. Support your arguments my 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, not emotions. Ukrayinska Pravda has emotional texts and this makes it different. Many translators are trying to convey emotions of the Ukrainian author to the English reader. This makes your text unreadable. Please use all your effort to ensure that the reader will understand the contents of your translation. After this is evident, work with the style of the text.

6 — 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 for 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

Passive tense
Please draft this section.

Commas
Commas shall be used only once per series:

Tymoshenko, Yushchenko and Yanukovych are rivals.

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

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 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 the 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.

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 People’s Union (Народний Союз „Наша Україна”)

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.

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 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.

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

Law of Ukraine on the Cabinet of Ministers Law on the Cabinet of Ministers