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How do I indicate the presence of a foreign text in a source text during translation?
Thread poster: lundeghe Terence Keming
lundeghe Terence Keming
lundeghe Terence Keming
Cameroon
Local time: 05:02
French to English
Dec 1, 2018

Dear all,
I am translating a document from English into French. This document seems to have been issuied in Hon Kong. Thus, there are English and Chinese texts in the same document. Question: How do I indicate in the target document that there are Chinese texts in the source document?
Thanks in Advance
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 05:02
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
It depends on the text... Dec 1, 2018

What kind of text is it?
 
Tina Vonhof (X)
Tina Vonhof (X)
Canada
Local time: 22:02
Dutch to English
+ ...
Copy or square brackets Dec 1, 2018

I would suggest you check with your client if they want you to copy the Chinese text and paste it into your translation in the appropriate places.

If that's not the case, then I would insert a notation in square brackets as follows:
[Not translated: Chinese source text]

Laura Diaconu
 
lundeghe Terence Keming
lundeghe Terence Keming
Cameroon
Local time: 05:02
French to English
TOPIC STARTER
I think so too Dec 1, 2018

Dear Tina,
I think so too. That is what I do to indicate the presence of signatures, stamps etc. I asked this question because a colleague used () rather than [] to indicate the presence of the Chinese text. I noticed that he only used [] to indicate signatures, logos and stamps. As such, I wondered if, perhaps, there was a general rule about this.
 
Tina Vonhof (X)
Tina Vonhof (X)
Canada
Local time: 22:02
Dutch to English
+ ...
Rules Dec 3, 2018

I'm not sure if this is a general rule but to my knowledge anything that is not part of the actual translation but that replaces parts of the source text that cannot be translated should be put in square brackets. This is also necessary to prevent confusion when the source text (and therefore the translation) already has ( ) in it.

Occasionally, when a word was used earlier on in the text but not in the current sentence, I may repeat that word in square brackets as a reminder and f... See more
I'm not sure if this is a general rule but to my knowledge anything that is not part of the actual translation but that replaces parts of the source text that cannot be translated should be put in square brackets. This is also necessary to prevent confusion when the source text (and therefore the translation) already has ( ) in it.

Occasionally, when a word was used earlier on in the text but not in the current sentence, I may repeat that word in square brackets as a reminder and for clarification. ▲ Collapse


lundeghe Terence Keming
 


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How do I indicate the presence of a foreign text in a source text during translation?







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