“To save your words”

Newspapers are great producers of written language. In a 30-page newspaper they go in, To some extent, about 20,000 words, and we have to reckon that weekend editions double the whole thing. Based on these approximate numbers, an ARA newspaper can process one million words in one month. The prescriptive weight in terminological matters is quite clear, if only because of the quantity, but we must add the quality of the editors, who realize that journalism is a literary genre, I don’t know if since Herodotus and his herald Kapuscinski but certainly from Lara, Galdós, Zammar, Pla, Gaziel, Irene Polo and Montserrat Roig. Vásquez Montalbán, González Ledesma, Purcell, Espinas, and the last of the Mohicans, the beloved Manuel Cuyas… to the writers who today collaborate in opinion columns. Defensor del Lector studies the issue of language in its platform and will be attentive to everything related to it. On this occasion, I sent readers’ comments to our Head of Language Department, Pau Domenech, who carefully answered all the questions.

At the beginning of the pandemic, reader Oscar Schick did not understand the masculine treatment of “Covid,” the formula “America’s Cup” instead of “America’s Cup,” referring not to a continent but to a ship, and the “potential misunderstanding” that could result from… He concludes: “I don’t think everyone (Optimut, Termicat… and other media) was wrong and only ARA…”.

Dominic argues that at the beginning of the pandemic, there was no official standard: “Finally, official institutions opted for femininity, and although it may have taken us a while to make the change (inertia, you know), we adopted it a few months ago.” Covid With all due respect, if it continues to appear in the masculine form in any case, it is an oversight and deserves correction. Regarding the sailing competition, he explains that most media and administrations talk about the “America’s Cup,” and that despite the potential for confusion with the soccer tournament, “more often than not, the word ‘sailing’ is followed by the ‘America’s Cup’, which increases the restrictions.” “Its meaning.” Finally, he points out a typographical reason: “We italicize the name of the boats, so if we make that clear America Is the name of the ship, we would have to tag it, which would create a ‘Cup ofAmerica”“It’s not very useful for everyday life.”

The reader José Miguel Fuertes is often surprised by a question: “Texts appear in the newspaper where you see the question mark in front of the questions, something I did not know when I went to school (some time ago…) ‘He had to do.’” Pau Domenech counters that the formula The interrogative at the beginning is quite correct and is also a valid infinitive in Catalan, as is shown by the fact that Fabra has already opened the door to it, although he does not dare to organize it as in Castilian, and that the use of newspapers is especially in long sentences that do not begin with an interrogative.

Reader Jordi Portavilla told me that he would like the newspaper not to translate the titles of foreign films and series into Spanish. “Intelligible titles can be left in the original language (sometimes you translate them from Italian or French, for example, with complete transparency),” he says. The rest should be translated into Catalan, not Spanish. Do we think Catalan culture is as valid as any other culture or not? Should we look at the world or only at the Spanish navel province?

The head of the language explains; As you will see, it is a very complicated matter: “a) If we are talking about a film that has not yet been released here, and therefore the distributors have not translated it yet, the original title will be kept. b) If the film was released in cinemas here, the translated title is used. If unfortunately it was only released in Spanish, we use the Spanish title. Putting the title in Catalan might mislead people, who would go to the cinema looking for the Catalan version, when in fact it doesn’t exist. If it was released in Catalan, obviously we would put the title in Catalan. c) If we are talking about films that have not been shown for the first time, and if they were broadcast in Catalan at some point (mainly on Televisió de Catalunya), we use the title in Catalan. If it is not broadcast in Catalan but in Spanish, we will put the title in Spanish, because that is how people know it. d) With video on demand platforms, a new phenomenon occurs: films with titles that are not subtitled but have one of the options to watch them in Catalan (subtitles or dubbing). In these cases, if there is subtitles or dubbing in Catalan, we use the Catalan title, even if it has been translated by us.”

Jordi Busca mentions a more in-depth topic: “One of the added values ​​and main assets that I have appreciated in ARA since its beginnings is that it has brought us closer to the present in an understandable and relatable way. Either because today’s reality has become so complex that it has become difficult to explain or because I have grown older, I have to I confess that sometimes I think the newspaper’s journalistic language has become standardized with the language of other Rotarians, partly losing in my opinion the more learned language and partly helping me to understand what I was reading. I think we should make an effort to return to that practice and not be carried away into a certain style , which often forces me to re-read to understand certain contents.

Pau Domenech responds as a natural consequence of his contributions, which we appreciate, as well as the contributions of readers interested in such a fundamental issue: “It is true that the newspaper has been characterized from the beginning by choosing language that is clear and close to reality. The reader, with the aim of making it as easy as possible to understand the topics described. This remains the approach.” From the Corrections Department, we are committed to ensuring that the newspaper’s journalistic style continues in this way, always thinking about the reader.”

I have completed this article with the opinion of David Castillo, because he brings the journalist’s experience to the bottom of the page and the conclusion, and at the same time he is a great writer, winner – among others – of the two major literary awards Santa Lucia Night and Sant Jordi in novels and Carles Ripa in poetry. “It was – he says – an old battle, the battle of hard correction in the Catalan press. We have to look for the reasons why many writers and journalists are poorly trained in their language for reasons we all know. If the articles appear as they were delivered by some contributors, that will be a problem. However, That is, overcorrection drifts into a uniform style that leaves us all writing identically. We must find balance in the field of personal care, certainly outside the scope of regulatory arbitrators, who must only plan paths in which we must all panic.

“But we lived to keep your words, / To give you back the name of everything,” wrote Salvador Esperio and the poet Raymond sang. He cared as much about language as the content of his work, and eventually during his life he revised his linguistic approaches from head to toe, making the dynamic movements of language his own. Report by Jordi Nopka “Joseph María de Sagarra and cucaratxesHow should we read the Catalan classics?, which features the posh take on philologist Narciss Garolera, professor emeritus at UPF, and reflects the overcorrection of which Esperio himself was a victim. ARA, as a Catalan language newspaper, headed by its own language team, is an ideal tool to give air to a language with different registers, multiple and always in enriching debate. To improve editing, the newspaper has already made available to digital readers a tool that allows logical errors to be statistically corrected in a container containing several thousand words.

The Readers’ Ombudsman takes note of doubts, suggestions, criticisms and complaints about the contents of the newspaper in its digital and paper versions, and ensures that the treatment of information is According to moral laws.

for every Contact the reader’s attorney You can send an email to [email protected] or record a message of no more than one minute on the WhatsApp number 653784787. In all cases, it is required to be identified by name, surname, and ID number.