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Let the style guide your way

Writer: Reed JamesReed James

If you are given a style guide by a client, follow it! I don't mean the Chicago Manual of Style, although it could come in handy at some point. Clients sometimes their texts translated according to a set of standards. This can be good in a way. The more guidance you get, the less prone you are to having to make corrections per the client's needs. Here are some things to expect in a style guide:


  • Using text in brackets to represent non-text items: [signature] [emblem] [handwritten] or to indicate the way the text is or isn't [illegible] [sic]

  • Dates: 12/22/1983 22DEC1983 December 22, 1983 22 December 1983

  • Acronyms: MOP (Ministerio de Obras Públicas [Ministry of Public Works])

  • Proper Names: Ministerio de Salud [Ministry of Health] or: Ministerio de Salud (no translation in brackets)

  • Conversion of Units of Meausure: 57 km 35 miles

Follow these style guides to a T and keep your clients happy. Otherwise, you may be faced with having the document sent back to you and spending extra time correcting it.

 
 
 

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