French-English translation
Kate Campbell-StoreyAssured language presentation is vital in any field:
If your text contains errors, simple or otherwise, it could raise questions on your integrity in general. This can be highly damaging if you are selling a product or service.
My Translations:
I currently translate for leading French holiday accommodation firms. I also translate for Regetel a hotel chain in Paris, among others.
You may speak the language very well and gloss over any small errors easily, however the written word is there for all to see and if the terminology and syntax are not correct, your readers will notice and it could prevent them from dealing with you.
What I suggest:
The editing of your documents by a native language translator.
If you have the original documents, I would ask you to supply these also, so that I have a true reference point.
In the meantime, here are a few tips on some basic errors:
Typography:
Your surname: in English only the first letter of your surname should be capitalised i.e. Surname and not SURNAME
Punctuation marks:
Generally, there is no space between the word and the punctuation marks
that follow (or in the case of parentheses before the word): colon, semicolon,
brackets (parentheses), quote marks, question marks, exclamation marks,
etc.
Stylistic exceptions can be made for presentation purposes to highlight
the information you are providing:
Telephone numbers can be expressed: Tel. Tel: or Tel : but not normally
Tel. : E-mail addresses are sometimes more visible if you use a space before
the colon.
Two part titles can look better if the colon separating them is centralised
with a space before and after, rather as printers would use the em-dash.
Quotation marks: English quote marks are "_" or “_” and '_' or ‘_’ they are not « _ »
The ellipsis (or a set of three dots or a dash in English) is used both in English and French to indicate the omission of words in a sentence. It is not a replacement for the colon, which is used to precede a list of items, a quotation, an expansion or explanation.
The semicolon is a punctuation mark indicating a more pronounced pause
that than indicated by a comma and is used in formal writing to separate
clauses that are closely related and could be written as separate sentences,
or that are linked by 'and', 'or', 'but', or 'yet'.
" I can see no remedy for this; one cannot order him to do it."
" He knew everything about me; I knew nothing about his recent life."
It is also sometimes used between items in a list.
"When working with the things he seemed to like: their horse, Bonnie;
the cart he brought the empty bottles home in; bits of old harness; tools
and things."
A rule common to both languages:
There is no space before a comma or full stop in either French or English!
Numbers:
Separators: In English commas separate thousands where French uses a space
or a full stop.
E.g.: 15,000 in English, but 15 000 or 15.000 in French.
Decimals: In English the decimal separator is a point (full stop) French
uses a comma.
Some common errors:
Million: No matter whether a number or an amount of currency, if a quantity
is used, the word million is invariable in English:
"Fifteen million people demonstrated."
However, without a qualifying number:
"Millions of people demonstrated."
Twenty million pounds/euros not twenty millions pounds/euros or twenty millions
of pounds/euros
€157 million not €157 millions
The lower case letter "m" is the abbreviation for million when using figures
and is expressed as: €157m
Currency signs: Note the signs €, $, £, etc., come before the figures in
English and there is no space between the sign and the figures
Pluralization of English words:
Information is invariable in English
Communication is equally invariable when used alone, but in it can be plural
in certain contexts:
"The communications industry"
Star in invariable in English when describing a hotel, restaurant, etc.
"A three star hotel"; (but "the chef has three stars in the
… guide")
Weekend is English! Week-end is French.
There may be an association of "barmans" in France, but the true English
plural is barmen and the correct name of the French association is "Association
des Barmen de France".
British journalists and TV presenters may like to take note: The correct English is "What do you think of this?" and not "What do you think to this?"
Leaving out of French words: A bus or train ticket, an "aller-retour", is, depending on context, a "return ticket" or even just a "return".
...to be continued!
Click on the links for further information on my translation services, or on the "French" link for the French website.
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