Translate a Privacy Policy into English

GDPR vocabulary: the English terms are already set

The GDPR has an official English version, so the key terms of a privacy policy do not need inventing. Whatever your source language, the translation should land on the regulation’s own wording, or an English-speaking lawyer will wonder which concept you mean. Check these first:

• the party deciding why data is processed → controller (not data manager)
• the party processing on its behalf → processor; the classic error is subcontractor, which means something else
• the person the data relates to → data subject
• lawful basis and legitimate interests (plural, as in the regulation)
• right to erasure, right to restriction of processing, right to data portability
• Data Protection Officer (DPO); a processor’s own providers are sub-processors

National provisions have no ready-made GDPR term. A French policy may mention instructions on what happens to your data after death, a right under French law: it needs a clear paraphrase. Names of supervisory authorities, such as the CNIL, stay as they are, with their role explained.

British or American English: what changes and what does not

The variant mainly affects form. The update date is the sensitive point: 03/04/2024 reads as 3 April in the UK and 4 March in the US. Write it out (3 April 2024 or April 3, 2024) and the ambiguity disappears. Spelling follows the variant: organisation/organization, licence/license.

Substance does not change through translation. A policy written for the EU GDPR remains an EU GDPR policy in English. For UK users the framework is the UK GDPR and the regulator is the ICO; in the United States, obligations vary from state to state. Those adjustments are a lawyer’s job, not a translator’s: Manuce translates your text, it does not bring it into line with another legal system.

Length, tone and readability in English

English text is usually 10 to 15 % shorter than French. On a policy of about 2,500 words, retention-period tables and cookie panels gain a little room, which avoids overflowing cells.

Article 12 of the GDPR requires information that is concise, transparent and intelligible, in clear and plain language. In English that means:

• you and we throughout, rather than impersonal constructions
• short sentences: We keep this data for no more than 13 months rather than a passive clause about retention periods not exceeding a given duration
• will rather than shall to describe what you do
• cookies and similar technologies for tracking tools, the usual wording

What Manuce returns, and what it does not do

Your policy goes to the legal specialist, Thémis. Upload it as Word, PDF, HTML, plain text, Markdown, RTF or another accepted format (PowerPoint, Excel, CSV); it comes back in the same format, layout included. An HTML page from your website therefore returns as HTML, with headings and lists in place. A standard document is delivered within minutes and kept in your client area.

Before you pay, one paragraph of your file is translated free at the level you choose. Pick the one naming the controller and its processors: that is where vocabulary errors show.

Limits worth knowing:

• a scanned PDF (an image with no selectable text) cannot be read;
• Manuce does not provide sworn or certified translation;
• Manuce does not adapt the policy to the UK GDPR or any US law, and does not replace legal advice.

Preparing the file and checking the result

Before uploading:

• use the version currently in force, with its update date;
• make sure the PDF has selectable text, or upload the original Word file instead;
• check fixed details: company name, registered address, DPO email address.

When reviewing:

• search for subcontractor: it should only appear for a genuine commercial subcontractor, never for a processor;
• check every duration and figure (13 months, 3 years after last contact);
• confirm your company name and your providers’ names were left untranslated;
• align the date format and spelling with your chosen variant;
• if the policy targets UK or US users, have the substance checked by a lawyer.

In practice

1. Export the current version of your policy (Word, HTML, or a PDF with selectable text).
2. Upload the file: the quote appears at once, based on the exact word count.
3. Read the free sample and check controller, processor and data subject.
4. Pay, then download the English policy in its original format.
5. Review dates, durations and names, and get legal sign-off if it targets another country.