I am translating Greek text into English, non fiction. A servant says “Even today the President always takes a sandwich with him when he travels”. She is talking about her employer, a Greek politician --let’s call him Mr. X-- who so far has been referred to in the text as Mr. X. This is the first time he is referred to as 'the President". The Greek reader understands what she means: Mr. X was given the title of honorary president of the political party of which he was a member. I would like, however, to add an explanation for the English text reader. I have added this phrase with which, however, I am not am not entirely comfortable: “using Mr.X’s honorific title of honorary president, conferred to him in 1993 by…”. Is “honorific” superfluous? Or is “honorary” superfluous? Is “conferred to” correct? I would appreciate your help.
If I were adding an explanation in the body of the text, I think I’d probably cut it down to this:
Even today, the President (Mr X) always takes a sandwich…
If I were providing a fuller explanation by means of a footnote:
Even today, the President[1] always takes a sandwich…
[1] The honorary title of ‘President’ was conferred on Mr X by the XXX political party in 1993.
The fuller explanation and footnote modell does it for me – many, many thanks! (and it’s conferred ON… got it!)
model (one “l” – sorry…)