citing sources in foreign languages

Sources in foreign languages | Tisa | March 30th, 2005

Hi everybody,

Nice to read all the correspondence lately, even if I never contribute much these days.

I was wondering if anyone could tell me or guide me regarding quoting sources in foreign languages. What are the general guidelines for this? A few of my sources for my present assignment are in French and I don't know if I should leave them as is, translate them word for word, or simply paraphrase them in English.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Enjoy the rest of your day!

Tisa

Re: Sources in foreign languages | Susy Schlaufer | March 31st, 2005

Hi Tisa,

I've had some quotes in German and I paraphrased them. I never got any feedback that it was not correct. Of course there is a difference if you translate talk and analyze it as I did in the IIC assignment- I had to practically translate it word by word. Hope that helps. Just do it the way you feel it makes most sense.

Best wishes

Susy

Re: Sources in foreign languages | Robert Haines | March 31st, 2005

Hi Tisa,

Here's what the APA Style Guide that Julian Edge recommends in the FND has

to say about referencing such texts:

Translations and Non-English Text

Translation:

Freud, S. (1920). A general introduction to psychoanalysis (J. Riviere, Trans.). New York: Pocket Books.

Non-English Text:

Raynaud de Lage, G. (1975). Introduction à l'ancien francais (9e ed.). [Introduction to Old French (9th ed.)]. Paris: Société d'Edition d'Enseignement Superieur.

That doesn't answer your question about translation though, does it? I would paraphrase the text unless you need to focus on form instead of meaning. This seems like the most reader-friendly way to go about it. But, again, it depends on your purposes: maybe you want the reader to try to make her/his way through the text in an unfamiliar language. If content is key, I would paraphrase and place the original text in an Appendix or elsewhere. That is one approach, and it might not follow the guidelines of a particular module or even this MSc program, but I've seen it done in scholarly work before.

Rob

Re: Foreign language sources | Tisa | March 31st, 2005

Hi Maria, Paul, Rob, and Susy,

Thanks a lot for your comments. Personally, I never I thought my French would ever be good enough to be confronted with such a 'dilemma'! Anyway, what it boils down to is that I'm not a translator, even though I do understand what I read. I think I will do a mixture of both direct quotation and paraphrase, but I will check with Maureen McGarvey before sending anything off.

My sources are not academic in that they come from the local press. Two particular ones represent several of the very 'visions' I am trying to describe in my EMT assignment--I am looking at how a non-academic language provider (my employer) is attempting to meet the changing needs of an academic client (the local university where I teach). The notions of vision and building shared vision (Senge) are key to my investigation.

Thanks again for your help Pinkies. Hope all's well with you and that you're being productive like me, of course...

Bye for now,

Tisa

Re: Foreign language sources | Sue Garton | April 5th, 2005

Hi Tisa and everyone else,

I don't think there are standard guidelines on this one. What I've always done is translate the quote myself, specify that the translation is mine and then give the original page references. Just to be certain, I asked Malcolm and he confirmed that's what he'd do too, unless he knew that the reader(s) can understand the original language.

I think we can say these are the guidelines for Aston assignments from now on!

Hope that helps.

Best,

Sue