We translators are often misunderstood, or at least we have the reputation for being so. Where others only see an activity that can be carried out for free by a machine translation engine, we see a specific project framed within a particular context that requires individual and well thought-out localization strategies. Where others see a proposed translation that does not resemble the source text on which it is based, we see a translation option adapted to the way that one may express themselves in the target language, an option that is sometimes risky and that is the result of deliberate reflection and a desire to provide a quality translation. Where others think that we simply look up words in a dictionary and “rewrite something that is already written”, we know that we belong to a multidisciplinary sector that provides a great variety of services that sometimes are completely unrelated to translation, such as copywriting, linguistic consulting for sales strategies and marketing. In fact, the translator profession is a profession committed to all branches of communication, since we take part in interlinguistic relations in one way or another. This means that throughout all our work processes, we pay attention, or should pay attention, to aspects that our clients or other less professional translators have a greater tendency to overlook. Once again, this series of differences is what adds value to the contribution of a committed translator who pays attention to as many details as possible.
One of these very important aspects is the use of correct punctuation. Although we can find options in the target language that help us to reproduce the meaning of the words in the original language and their position in the syntactic structures, we must not forget that punctuation is just as essential when it comes to properly organizing information in any text. Punctuation allows us to add strategic pauses to the texts, which will facilitate better understanding of the message, infer the underlying intonations, avoid ambiguities, include clarifications and, in general, get the reader to read and assimilate the information more easily than if the words were written one after another. Interestingly enough, we managed to write without using any punctuation marks until the seventh century, as explained in this article.
However, speakers or, in this case, writers (which we all are) often do not know how to properly use some punctuation marks. As explained above, this can make it very difficult for those who read written material to understand it, and it can also generate confusion, hinder fluency in reading and, in general, worsen the literary quality of any text, a concept that should be considered to exist both in books and in magazines, emails and restaurant menus. Punctuation is so important that it is considered a basic notion in the academic and professional fields. If a student hands in a university exam with spelling and punctuation errors, their grade will be affected. If in certain jobs, especially those related to humanistic and communication tasks, punctuation, spelling and style errors are made, the professional responsible for them will surely be showing not a lack of knowledge, but rather an obvious lack of attention to detail and a bad habit of not checking the texts they have written. And, of course, in the sector of language service provision, it is of the utmost importance to produce translations that have a superior orthographic and typographic quality—this also includes punctuation. In fact, the situation is even more complicated if we bear in mind that each language (and even each variant of a language) has its own conventions and punctuation rules, so the translator must be able to detect and localize them correctly. For example, in French, unlike in Spanish, a space is left between the word and the final question mark/exclamation point (e.g., “Quel dommage !” or “Ce tableau est magnifique !“); nevertheless, in Canadian French this sign is written next to the word. Furthermore, many languages use different signs to enclose a quotation: “like this”, «like this» or „like this”, among others. For this reason, in order to correctly determine which signs should be used in each case, it is best to consult the institutions that regulate their use or that disclose correct use, such as the Royal Spanish Academy or Fundéu in Spain.
More specifically, in Spanish there are signs with a use that is less clear than others, probably because they are used less or because there isn’t an opportunity to use them. Therefore, in this article we will discuss some punctuation marks and their most frequent uses, always with reference to what is cited by these regulatory institutions.
Naturally, we first mention the semicolon, in Spanish “punto y coma“, in French “point-virgule“, in Portuguese “ponto e vírgula“, in Russian “точка с запятой” and in Greek “άνω τέλεια” (the latter literally means “raised point”, since the semicolon sign in Greek is “·”. This is one of the signs with a more subjective use, since it represents an intermediate pause between the comma and the period and it can often be replaced by one of them.
The Spanish Royal Academy informs us that the semicolon has essentially four possible uses:
- To separate the elements of a list when it comes to complex expressions that include commas: Each group will go on a different side: the first, on the left; the second, on the right; the third, in front.
- To separate syntactically independent sentences that share a close semantic relationship: It was necessary for the hospital to stay open all night; shifts had to be established.
- Semicolons are written in front of contrast, cause & effect or sequence connectors, such as but, yet, however, therefore, consequently, etc., when the sentences they start have a certain length: The players trained intensely throughout the month; however, the results were not what the coach expected.
- A semicolon is placed after each of the elements in a list when they are written on independent lines and begin with a lower-case letter, except after the last item which ends with a period.
Once we learn to use this sign correctly, we can encourage ourselves to enrich the punctuation of our translations by localizing them with the correct punctuation. In fact, as a point of interest, we end by pointing out that in English the hyphen (-) is often used where a semicolon (;) would be used in Spanish; and sometimes English uses the semicolon (;) where Spanish would use the colon (:).
Image reference: https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/honest-dating-profiles-of-punctuation-marks
