UB coordinates the ʻInteruniversity Style Guide for Writing Institutional Texts in Englishʻ of the Vives Network
The Working Group on Linguistic Quality of the Vives Network of Universities has published the Interuniversity Style Guide for Writing Institutional Texts in English, the first one developed in Catalan speaking territories, coordinated by the University of Barcelona. The guide is a product of the Vives Network of Universities Language Policy Plan 2012-2014, and it contributes to promote multilingualism in universities. The guide has a printed version and is available online.
The promotion of multilingualism is the general objective of the Vives Networkʼs Plan, which is further detailed in two specific objectives: the improvement of third-language communication skills of students, administrative and service staff and teaching and research staff, and the creation of English-language resources and guidelines. The Interuniversity Style Guide will help university community members to write better English-language institutional texts. Although one section focuses on how to write clearly, the word style in the title refers not to literary style but to those linguistic conventions concerning spelling, punctuation, typographical display and other editorial issues that are essential for consistent, clear and precise language layout.
According to Marta Juncadella, responsible for the Language Advisory Service and Terminology of the Language Services of the UB, “the Guide wants to meet the needs created by the European Higher Education Area and the increasing internationalization and globalization of universities”. The members of the Vives Network share these needs and objectives. “Probably, universities will share more and more common fields in which English texts are needed —explains Barnaby Noone, linguistic technician at the UB and coordinator of the guide—; if this happens, if the trend is to share fields of knowledge and degrees, we need a text standardization . There are more and more interuniversity degrees; therefore we need more linguistic coherence”. Juncadella adds: “The guide uses a formal register which is also useful in non-university areas, for example in Catalan administration”.
Loosely modelled on existing style manuals, such as the English Style Guide, of the European Commissionʼs Directorate-General for Translation, The Chicago Manual of Style, or The Oxford Manual of Style, the Guide is organised into sections dealing with spelling, punctuation, capitalisation, abbreviations and symbols, numbers, gender, singular and plural, translation, writing in English and digital text production. It also contains two appendices: one with lists of additional information and the other with a list of further references.
“It is important to highlight that the guide is well-structured; it has been written in a really clear and simple way”, remarks Juncadella. “Sub-sections are not long, nor complex; there are not too many exceptions to each analysed aspect. Besides, real examples about university aspects are provided”, she adds. “We try to encourage the reader —Noone states— to write in English; we want that mistakes do not obsess users, that they do not feel the need to ask a linguist to write a text in English for them”. The Guide has an educating aim; nearly all the linguistic technicians who collaborated in it were previously teachers.
The Vives Network of Universities is an association composed by 21 universities from Catalonia, Valencian Community, Balearic Islands, Northern Catalonia, Andorra and Sardinia and other territories with cultural, geographical, historical and linguistic bonds. Its mission is to promote inter-university collaboration and interaction to coordinate teaching activity, research and cultural activities and to foster the use and standardization of Catalan through more than 50 concrete lines of work each year.
The Working Group on Linguistic Quality of the Vives Network of Universities has published the Interuniversity Style Guide for Writing Institutional Texts in English, the first one developed in Catalan speaking territories, coordinated by the University of Barcelona. The guide is a product of the Vives Network of Universities Language Policy Plan 2012-2014, and it contributes to promote multilingualism in universities. The guide has a printed version and is available online.
The promotion of multilingualism is the general objective of the Vives Networkʼs Plan, which is further detailed in two specific objectives: the improvement of third-language communication skills of students, administrative and service staff and teaching and research staff, and the creation of English-language resources and guidelines. The Interuniversity Style Guide will help university community members to write better English-language institutional texts. Although one section focuses on how to write clearly, the word style in the title refers not to literary style but to those linguistic conventions concerning spelling, punctuation, typographical display and other editorial issues that are essential for consistent, clear and precise language layout.
According to Marta Juncadella, responsible for the Language Advisory Service and Terminology of the Language Services of the UB, “the Guide wants to meet the needs created by the European Higher Education Area and the increasing internationalization and globalization of universities”. The members of the Vives Network share these needs and objectives. “Probably, universities will share more and more common fields in which English texts are needed —explains Barnaby Noone, linguistic technician at the UB and coordinator of the guide—; if this happens, if the trend is to share fields of knowledge and degrees, we need a text standardization . There are more and more interuniversity degrees; therefore we need more linguistic coherence”. Juncadella adds: “The guide uses a formal register which is also useful in non-university areas, for example in Catalan administration”.
Loosely modelled on existing style manuals, such as the English Style Guide, of the European Commissionʼs Directorate-General for Translation, The Chicago Manual of Style, or The Oxford Manual of Style, the Guide is organised into sections dealing with spelling, punctuation, capitalisation, abbreviations and symbols, numbers, gender, singular and plural, translation, writing in English and digital text production. It also contains two appendices: one with lists of additional information and the other with a list of further references.
“It is important to highlight that the guide is well-structured; it has been written in a really clear and simple way”, remarks Juncadella. “Sub-sections are not long, nor complex; there are not too many exceptions to each analysed aspect. Besides, real examples about university aspects are provided”, she adds. “We try to encourage the reader —Noone states— to write in English; we want that mistakes do not obsess users, that they do not feel the need to ask a linguist to write a text in English for them”. The Guide has an educating aim; nearly all the linguistic technicians who collaborated in it were previously teachers.
The Vives Network of Universities is an association composed by 21 universities from Catalonia, Valencian Community, Balearic Islands, Northern Catalonia, Andorra and Sardinia and other territories with cultural, geographical, historical and linguistic bonds. Its mission is to promote inter-university collaboration and interaction to coordinate teaching activity, research and cultural activities and to foster the use and standardization of Catalan through more than 50 concrete lines of work each year.