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Should I translate school grades?
Thread poster: Marc Christian
Phil Hand
Phil Hand  Identity Verified
China
Local time: 16:00
Chinese to English
Anything but the footnote Aug 7, 2015

In general, I would avoid footnotes at all costs. They are a massive intervention in the format of the source text - if the source text doesn't have footnotes, why should the translation? And people hate reading them; they turn even the most interesting of texts into a trap for those who do not pay enough attention.

If this is meant to be a literary text of any kind, I think it is your job as the translator to find a way of conveying the information in the original in your translati
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In general, I would avoid footnotes at all costs. They are a massive intervention in the format of the source text - if the source text doesn't have footnotes, why should the translation? And people hate reading them; they turn even the most interesting of texts into a trap for those who do not pay enough attention.

If this is meant to be a literary text of any kind, I think it is your job as the translator to find a way of conveying the information in the original in your translation. So the suggestions above like "almost the best possible scores" are all good. In fact, I would consider omitting the actual score entirely. If the purpose of that sentence in the text is to tell you "his grades were good", then you are entitled as a translator to write it thus: "He had almost perfect grades." Unless you think that the number itself is important, then this would be my preferred option.
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Preston Decker
Preston Decker  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 04:00
Chinese to English
I like footnotes! Aug 7, 2015

Phil Hand wrote:

In general, I would avoid footnotes at all costs. They are a massive intervention in the format of the source text - if the source text doesn't have footnotes, why should the translation? And people hate reading them; they turn even the most interesting of texts into a trap for those who do not pay enough attention.

If this is meant to be a literary text of any kind, I think it is your job as the translator to find a way of conveying the information in the original in your translation. So the suggestions above like "almost the best possible scores" are all good. In fact, I would consider omitting the actual score entirely. If the purpose of that sentence in the text is to tell you "his grades were good", then you are entitled as a translator to write it thus: "He had almost perfect grades." Unless you think that the number itself is important, then this would be my preferred option.


Perhaps I'm in the minority on this one, but as a reader I love a well-placed footnote, even in works of fiction. I'd much rather take one second to look at the bottom of the page I'm on than flip to an endnote portion at the back of the book, or worse have to stop reading and research online.With that said, I don't think a footnote is a must have here, and as long as the author is notified I think any of the above suggestions (other than leaving this be as 1.1) are good ones.

[Edited at 2015-08-07 19:11 GMT]


 
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Should I translate school grades?







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