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Translation Problem Areas
By John Neilan,
Translator
john at german-english-translator.com
Become a member of TranslationDirectory.com at just
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There are a lot of questions
still left up in the air in relation to how something
should be translated, especially when it comes to
translating into English. "Should it be in US English
or UK English (or International English)?" is a
question I constantly have to ask my clients. With
the help of the following graphs and tables I hope
to shed some light on the darker, less accessible
areas of English grammar. Let's hope it comes in
handy.
Before we start though,
I'd like to mention: Lynne Truss' best-selling,
yet reasonably vague, grammar compendium, Eats,
Shoots and Leaves, has itself been accused of
linguistic Stalinism (See Ian Sansom's article in
Sunday edition [Feb 11, 2006] of The Guardian)
for its attempts at setting down rules on how things
should be written and that these rules must be adhered
to. According to David Crystal, whose book is reviewed
in Sansom's article) it is this boxing-in of the
English language and non-embracing of the fact that
languages are constantly changing that are the main
flaws: "Language change is inevitable, continuous,
universal and multidirectional. Languages do not
get better or worse when they change. They just
- change."
Personally, I don't deny
that languages are changing, but surely, as a translator,
it's a good thing to have a set of rules to tell
you how to write correctly (although Truss' chapter
on commas doesn't really make it much clearer).
With that in mind, the
following topics will hopefully clear up any problem
areas that you may have been unsure about when translating
(they may, however, become obsolete in a few years,
who knows?)
Abbreviations
and Acronyms - What are the standards?
US
·
Use full stops with abbreviations
·
Do not use full stops in abbreviations, or spaces between initials:
US, 10 am, No 1, EJ Hoover
Exceptions: e.g./ etc. / i.e. / col. / p. / pp. /
no.
UK
·
Use full stops between initials:
U.S, 10 a.m., E.J Hoover
Exceptions: Do not use
full stops if e.g., the company you are referring
to does not - 'BBC' remains 'BBC'.
Capitalisation - When and when not to capitalise
After Colons
If introducing a list with a colon,
it is followed by a lower case character:
He had to buy the following: milk,
bread, cheese.
If introducing a sentence, an upper
case character follows:
We have already touched on this
point: Electricity is not something
you want to mess with.
North...south
North, South, East and West are capitalised if they make up part of a title
of an area or political division but not if they
are used in a descriptive sense:
East Germany, South-east
Asia, Northern Ireland, but not: northern
Germany, eastern France
Peoples' titles
When a title appears as part of a person's name, it is capitalised:
US Secretary
of State Colin Powell
Captions and Headings
Captions: You should not use a full stop
at the end of a caption unless the text is a full
sentence.
Headings:
US
Use a capital only for the initial character of the heading and proper nouns:
Understand and be understood by everyone
UK
Capitalise the first, last, and important words in a title:
Understand and be Understood by Everyone
Currencies - What are the standards?
Currencies should be written in lower case when the whole word is used:
euro, pound, dollar etc.
Dollars are abbreviated like this:
· US dollars:
US$50
· Australian
dollars: A$50
· Hong Kong
dollars: HK$50
For writing euro currencies:
cent, euro
Plural
cents, euro
€4.50 (preferred), EUR 4.50 (if the font does not
support the symbol)
Italics - When to use them
Should be avoided, but are acceptable for:
·
Non-English
·
The titles of books, periodicals, newspapers, films, plays and television
programmes etc.
·
The names of vessels and aeroplanes (but not the names and numbers of
types of aircraft such as Boeing 707 or Hercules
carriers)
Italics should not be used for the following:
·
Non-English names of organisations, institutions, firms, ministries
etc.
·
Emphasis
Numbers
Numbers expressed in
words
Spell out numbers to
ten inclusive; thereafter use numerals (the exceptions
being with units, e.g., 2 kg, 5 oz).
Numbers expressed in
figures
Numbers between 10 and
999,999 should normally be expressed in figures.
The following are always
expressed in figures:
· ratios
· times of
day
· numbers
with decimal
· statistics
· degrees
· dimensions
· weights
and measures
Numbers in millions should be written
as follows: 1 million, 3.4 million
Exception: 3,432,000 (if there is
more than one digit to the right of the decimal
point).
In strict British English usage
'billion' is equivalent to a million million;
in American usage, it is equivalent
to a thousand million.
US
To avoid international confusion,
it is preferable to write the date in full:
Friday, 15 January 2004
Reference to decades should be expressed in figures
the 1990s, the mid-1990s
(not the nineteen-nineties, the
90s or the 1990's).
Fractions should be spelled out:
three quarters of the amount
However, numbers with fractions
should be written in figures:
1 3/4 km
Fractions should only be hyphenated when used as an adjective
three quarters of the amount
three-quarters full
Place Names and Addresses
- Do I add the country?
When translating you should bear
in mind that your target audience may not be familiar
with the places. When referring to somewhere for
the first time you should always give its country,
even if the original text does not. For example:
Source Text: Der in KFln regierende BLrgermeister...
Translation: The mayor of Cologne
(Germany)...
Apostrophes
Some plural nouns take an apostrophe
before the 's':
children's games, gentlemen's outfitter,
old folk's home.
Apostrophes should be used in phrases
such as 12 years' imprisonment and 200 hours'
community service.
A common mistake is often made with
it's and its. The difference: 'Its'
is the third person possessive form of 'it'. 'It's'
is the contracted form of 'it is' and should only
be used in speech:
The car is blue. Its wheels are
black.
"It's very sunny today".
You should not overuse the colon.
This is very popular in German texts, where a
simple full point and new sentence would suffice
in English.
Commas
UK
In a series of three or more items
with a conjunction, use a comma after each item
except the one preceding the conjunction and the
last item:
This machine offers a number of
advantages: ease-of-use, economy, speed and flexibility
US
Use the commas after each item,
including the one preceding the conjunction and
the last item:
This machine offers a number of
advantages: ease-of-use, economy, speed,
and flexibility
Types of English
Clients can ask for three
kinds of English:
1. US English
2. UK English
3. International English
The third category is
a little vague, but generally it means the client
wants a text that will be understood by all kinds
of English speakers. The text should therefore be
easy to read and not be 'obviously' British or American
in style. It is up to the client to decide whether
'international English' uses UK or US spelling,
so you should probably check this before beginning.
John Neilan, M. Litt.
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