Learning to write correctly is one of the most important requirements for a translator to master. As is well known in the profession, translators usually must have a broad command of terminology in the sectors in which they work and, moreover, they should have specialized knowledge or the ability to properly inform themslves before starting any interlinguistic language service task. This is because in the translation sector, great emphasis is placed on skills related to the source language: translators must demonstrate significant knowledge of the source language, there is a desire to know if their profile includes specific knowledge in any specialty field, there is mention of their writing skills in said language, etc. In short, candidates who master the source language are sought and this is, in fact, an essential quality for any language services professional. How could we translate without the ability to analyze a text and understand all its nuances in order to extract its true meaning and reproduce it in our target language, ensuring that it has the same effect on the intended audience? How could we translate a scientific, legal or technical text without having resources that allow us to find the equivalences of certain terms in our language? Without a doubt, being knowledgeable of the source language is fundamental.
However, it is curious to note that, often, the same attention is not given to skills in the target language. It is commonly assumed that if the translator translates into their native language, they will have an innate ability to produce perfectly localized, accurate texts, and this aspect is overlooked when evaluating potential candidates for an agency or for a specific project. As a maxim, we could say that just as speaking a second language does not automatically make us suitable translators for providing professional language services, being a native speaker of a language does not give us the ability to master everything that relates to correctly writing in the target language. This is important because although many texts are technical and require greater terminology precision, there are other types of texts in which information must be presented in an easily interpretable and appealing way for readers, thus increasing the likelihood that their behavior matches that of the customers’ expectations. This is easier to achieve when we translate into our native language, but we must keep in mind that, as native speakers, we also use internalized unsuitable structures and incorrect uses of the language. We should be aware of this in order to correct them and evolve towards a grammatically correct writing style that shows the linguistic mastery of the translator involved in a project.
One of the aspects that affects our writing the most, apart from the obvious use of lexicon and grammar, is punctuation. As mentioned in Punctuation marks: Keys to Writing I, punctuation is important because it helps us set the pace for reading a text, thus allowing the reader to take breaks at the appropriate time, either to rest or to organize the information correctly. It is also important to remember that punctuation is key when clarifying meaning, since its absence can lead to a completely opposite meaning or hinder the ability to understand the text. As such, we consider it appropriate to clarify the meaning and use of some punctuation marks in Spanish and differentiate them from their uses in other languages. In today’s article, we are going to focus on quotation marks.
Quotations marks (“comillas” in Spanish, “guillemets” in French, “aspas” in Portuguese, “virgolette“in Italian, “Anführungszeichen” in German, and “кавычки» in Russian) are a punctuation mark that has several uses in written language. Although they are mainly known for their use to delimit direct quotes attributed to other speakers, they can, in fact, contribute much more to our writing if we know how to use them properly. Next, we mention all of their uses in Spanish as explained by the Spanish Royal Academy:
- To frame verbatim quotes that have been reproduced.
- In narrative literary works, to enclose texts that directly reproduce the thoughts of characters.
- To indicate that a word or expression is improper, vulgar, comes from another language or is used ironically or with a special meaning.
- When a term is commented on from a linguistic point of view in a manuscript text, it is written in quotation marks.
- In linguistic works, single quotes are used to frame meanings.
- Quotation marks are used to quote the title of an article, a poem, a chapter of a book, a report or, in general, any dependent part within a publication.
In Spanish, there are several types of quotation marks: angular/French («a»), straight/English (“a” or “a”) and simple (‘a’ or ‘a’). Which ones should we use? In the world of translation, many clients actually have their own preferences, but the truth is that the order of use is the same order that we have presented them in. Therefore, when quotation marks need to be used several times in the same text in Spanish, we will apply a hierarchical order, as shown in the following example: «Antonio me dijo: “Vaya ‘cacharro’ que se ha comprado Julián”».
Of course, each language has its own conventions regarding the use of quotation marks, and they may even have different types of quotation marks all together. That is why it is most important to learn how to identify and localize them correctly in the target language in order to impart greater accuracy in the translations we write.
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