Every profession has its in-group ways of using language, but not every profession requires native speakers of many different languages to communicate with each other every day.
The European Union requires just this, and the people who work there, hashing out, drafting, and translating documents use English in a very particular way. A 2013 EU report outlined some of the unusual qualities of EU English, pointing out that, “over the years, the European institutions have developed a vocabulary that differs from that of any recognised form of English.”
Much of that unrecognizable vocabulary is the result of translations or non-native-speaker errors that make a certain kind of sense, but depart from the usual English. Because documents in the EU influence the way other documents are drafted as well as the way discussions proceed, the unusual vocabulary items tend to spread around until they are part of the general professional jargon. Here are 11 examples of words used in EU documents in an odd new way.
1. TO PRECISE/PRECISION
The Committee urges the Commission … to precise which period before confinement is meant.
Without further precisions, this could lead to support for poorly justified financial instruments.
Precise is sometimes used in EU documents as a verb to mean “make precise,” or specify. It is also used in this sense as a noun, precision, which is supposed to mean “that which is used to make things precise”—in other words, details or specifications.
2. DISPOSE OF
The Commission may not be able to assess the reliability of the data provided by Member States and may not dispose of independent information sources.
There is an emerging tendency to use dispose of not to mean “get rid of,” but to have or possess. This strange usage probably comes from the fact that we say to have at one’s disposal to mean “have free use of.” In regular English it is not possible to transform that phrase into dispose of in this way.
3. IMPORTANT
The annual accounts give detailed information on the financial corrections confirmed, implemented and to be implemented and explain the reasons for which an importantamount is still to be implemented.
Important is sometimes used to mean large or significant. Something that is significant can be important, but important carries more connotations of being crucial or having an effect on things than significant does. It’s a subtle distinction that a non-native speaker really can’t be blamed for not having full control over.
4. OPPORTUNITY
The Court questioned the opportunity of introducing these measures in such an uncertain economic climate.
Here opportunity is used to mean “the quality of being opportune,” or “opportuneness.” According to the raw rules of word formation, there’s no reason it shouldn’t mean that, but we already have a set meaning for opportunity—favorable circumstances or a chance for success.
5. PUNCTUAL
The management of the above mentioned feed sectors is subject to close co-operation with the Member States through regular (generally monthly) meetings of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health, section on Animal Nutrition, and punctual expert groups meetings where appropriate.
Punctual should be able to mean “point by point,” or “from time to time,” as it does in German and other European languages. But it in English we only use it in the sense of “arriving at the agreed-upon time.” In EU documents it is used to mean occasional or periodic.
