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Translation - art & business » Translation Theory and Practice »
Translating footnotes
Thread poster: jere_bilic
jere_bilic
jere_bilic
Local time: 14:59
English to Croatian
+ ...
Apr 13, 2008

I am a relatively green translator, and so this may come off as a stupid question to some, but here goes.

I am translating an academic document with a lot of footnotes referencing works in Croatian / Bosnian / Serbian which either a) haven't been translated into English or b) are unavailable to me. Should I leave the titles as they are or should I translate them into English?

Thanks!
 
Peter Manda (X)
Peter Manda (X)
Local time: 08:59
German to English
+ ...
footnotes Apr 13, 2008

leave them as they are but put a translation in a parenthetical after the work title and/or citation depending on what manual of style you use. see generally http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html, for example.
 
Kristina Kolic
Kristina Kolic  Identity Verified
Croatia
Local time: 14:59
English to Croatian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Original and translation Apr 13, 2008

Personally, if there is no "official" translation (as there would be in case of books translated and published in English), I always leave the original and add a translation in parenthesis
 
Margreet Logmans (X)
Margreet Logmans (X)  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 14:59
English to Dutch
+ ...
Never in scientific works Apr 14, 2008

For the very simple reason that scientific works always need to be referred to in such a way that the reader can find the books/articles/monographs or whatnot for further study.
If you start translating titles, this is impossible.

Always leave the titles as they are. If you happen to know there is an 'official' translation, you can add that in the bibliography that should be given at (usually) the end of the book/document. Like this: Book A, ...by mr. C (translated into Engli... See more
For the very simple reason that scientific works always need to be referred to in such a way that the reader can find the books/articles/monographs or whatnot for further study.
If you start translating titles, this is impossible.

Always leave the titles as they are. If you happen to know there is an 'official' translation, you can add that in the bibliography that should be given at (usually) the end of the book/document. Like this: Book A, ...by mr. C (translated into English under the title 'blah, blah, blah', published month, year, by...). ▲ Collapse
 
Paul Merriam
Paul Merriam  Identity Verified
Local time: 08:59
Russian to English
+ ...
Style Apr 14, 2008

You can always ask your client for preferred style in this regard (and I recommend it). But you should always include the original title. After all, any reader who wants to find the work is going to have to look for it under that title.
 


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Translating footnotes


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