为减少阅读障碍 英政府禁止网站用拉丁文缩写

The government is to ban all Latin abbreviations on all its websites to avoid confusing non-English speakers, it has been announced.

英国政府日前宣布，为了减少非英语国家读者的阅读困惑，政府部门的所有网站将不再使用拉丁文缩写。

Phrases such as etc., i.e., and e.g. will be phased out from all sites because foreign speakers find them "difficult to read".

像etc.（等等）， i.e.（换句话说，也就是） e.g.（比如）等拉丁缩写将不会出现在英国官方政府的网站，因为很多外国读者觉得这些真的很难读。

A spokesman added the phrases could even confuse English speakers who were "under stress or in a hurry". Campaigners said the decision was to give up Latin was "short-sighted" because they have been part of common parlance for hundreds of years.

一名政府发言人补充说道，就连以英语为母语的人在匆忙和压力环境下都会产生困惑。但是反对人士表示，政府的这一举动缺乏远见，因为拉丁缩略词在英语中已有数百年历史，属于常见用法。

But the Government Digital Service (GDS) said the move was designed to promote "plain English".

但是政府数字服务委员会表示，该举动旨在推广简洁英语。

Writing on the blog Inside , GDS content manager Persis Howe explained: "We promote the use of plain English on . We advocate simple, clear language. Terms like eg, i.e. and etc., while common, make reading difficult for some. Anyone who didn't grow up speaking English may not be familiar with them. Even those with high literacy levels can be thrown if they are reading under stress or are in a hurry - like a lot of people are on the web."

政府数字服务委员会的内容经理珀西丝·豪在 的官网博客中发文解释称："我们旨在在网站上推广使用简洁英语。我们倡导使用更简单清晰的语言。像 e.g., i.e.和 etc.虽然很常见，但是确实给一些人造成了阅读障碍。对那些英语非母语的人来说，他们可能对这些缩略词并不熟悉。即使是那些文化水平不低的人，如果是在压力环境下或很匆忙的情况（很多在线阅读的人都是这样的）下，他们也会产生困惑。"

She added that programs that read the content for visually impaired people also mispronounced Latin abbreviations.

她补充说道，针对视力受损人群而提供的朗读服务中，其中有很多都不知道这些拉丁缩略词的正确发音。

She said: "We've found that several programs that read webpages for those with visual impairment read 'e.g.' incorrectly, so we're updating the style guide. There are better, clearer ways of introducing examples for all users."

她说："我们发现一些有声朗读栏目把e.g.读错了，所以我们对网站的书写规范做了更新。这样对于所有读者来说表达更加清楚、简洁。"

Roger Wemyss Brooks of the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales, which teaches Latin language courses, condemned the move.

英国及威尔士提供拉丁语课程的拉丁弥撒社团的罗杰·威姆斯·布鲁克斯对政府的这一举动提出严厉抨击。

He said: "Latin is part of our cultural heritage and it's part of the basis of English. It unites us with other cultures throughout Europe and the world who have a connection with the Romance languages. It's a very concise language which is used specifically for its precision and I think it's short sighted to be giving it up."

他说道："拉丁文是我们文化遗产的一部分，而且已经属于常用英语的范畴。正是拉丁文将我们和欧洲以及其它属于拉丁语系的地方联系起来。拉丁语是一门非常简练的语言，特别是它的精确性。我觉得禁用拉丁文的做法实在缺乏远见。"