EMA (e-em-ei) or EMA?

English translation: the EMA

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

English term or phrase:	EMA (e-em-ei) or EMA?
Selected answer:	the EMA
Entered by:	Kreonia

14:42 Feb 28, 2019

English language (monolingual) [Non-PRO]
Science - Medical (general) / acronyms and article

English term or phrase: EMA (e-em-ei) or EMA?

Hello all, would you add an article before EMA (as in European Medicines Agency)?

I've just realised that I would always say 'NASA has launched the new shuttle/The new space centre inaugurated by NASA in...'
but 'The FDA ruled against the drug because ....', because I pronounce FDA as ef-dee-ei.

Is there an official position?
Would you use 'EMA approved the marketing authorisation for ...
or The EMA approved the MA for...

This is excluding when EMA is an adjective (The EMA headquarters in Amsterdam...)

Kreonia KudoZ activity Questions: 92 (none open) (2 closed without grading) Answers: 13 United Kingdom
Local time: 00:46

the EMA

Explanation:
Personally, I would always use the definite article, just as I would for 'the BBC' or 'the ESA' or 'the FDA' or 'the UN'
But that doesn't mean in the same document I would say 'the NASA' — it seems to me that there are exceptions like 'NASA' where it has become accepted (and is pronounced) as a word in its own right, just like 'NATO' or 'UNESCO' or 'UNICEF' — it seems to me that a rule of thumb might be whether it is pronounced as a word, or is spelt out; I'm sure no-one ever calls it "eema" or "eesa".
Sadly, I can immediately think of one exception to my own (entirely breakable!) rule of thumb, and that is the UK broadcasting sector ITV — there we spell it out as I.T.V. (we wouldn't say 'itva'!!); but, unlike the BBC, it is not a single body, but rather, a sector of the industry, and hence not strictly comparable. Taking another example from industry, but with no acronyms in sight, we would say 'the steel industry' but 'car manufacturing'.

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Note added at 2 hrs (2019-02-28 16:46:22 GMT)
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Phil kindly points out that the EMA itself omits the article; however, this is not uncommon on corporate websites, which often speak in a kind of 'royal we' first person. In any case, it is very much consistent with the kind of style typical of many websites, and indeed, slick modern journalism too.

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Note added at 20 hrs (2019-03-01 11:40:03 GMT)
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@ Asker
That's my point: there is little logic in the way we view plurals on currencies; no, I have never been asked for '5 pound' — but if I were, my immediate reaction would be a judgement about the person's educational level, as the singular is used within a certain social sphere.

Selected response from:

Tony M
France
Local time: 01:46

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

4 +4

the EMA

Tony M

Discussion entries: 5

Kreonia

United Kingdom

ASKER

11:06 Mar 1, 2019

Thanks for the input everybody - this is a report on advanced therapies and obviously asking for authorisations from the European Medicine Agency, so the acronym appears quite frequently. Thanks Phil - in cases like these I'd rather have the opinion of translators than simply googling it.

Charles Davis

Spain

@Kreonia

06:19 Mar 1, 2019

Your question about whether to use the article with EMA is phrased in a way that suggests a more general question about whether it is true that articles are used with initialisms and not used with acronyms. I would say this is quite often but not always true. It's not easy to think of an acronym (an abbreviation pronounced as a word, such as NASA) that takes an article, but there are certainly quite a few initialisms that do not take one.

philgoddard

United States

16:10 Feb 28, 2019

It's easy to find the answer by Googling. While the organisation calls itself EMA, most people in everyday speech say the EMA.

Björn Vrooman

@Phil (and Kreonia)

15:37 Feb 28, 2019

Because it's complicated. According to the organization's website and this video...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShezrN2gs_8
...it's what you call an initialism and not an acronym. The trouble is that some prefer a definite article for initialisms in general and some don't--the main point being that you need to be consistent. If you use no article for this one, you shouldn't use one for other initialisms.

And before you say that the EMA doesn't use a definite article on its website: You can find British .gov.uk sites that do, e.g.,
"However, most new medicines come to market via a licencing route overseen by the EMA."
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-medicines-med...

Unfortunately, the EU style guide doesn't help much:
http://publications.europa.eu/code/en/en-4100800en.htm

And there are exceptions:
https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2guides/guides/wrtps/in...

Some also say you don't need it if it's not part of the name. Messy...

Best

philgoddard

United States

15:08 Feb 28, 2019

Why don't you Google it?

Answers