Common pitfalls when translating from English into Scandinavian

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Tess Whitty tess@swedishtranslationservices.com www.swedishtranslationservices.com

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Interview from WW2: – My father died defending a steel plant in Stalingrad – Min far dog försvarandes en stålplanta i Stalingrad

The movie ”Roxanne”: – Check the box if you like me. – Kolla lådan om du gillar mig.

HP Printer User Manual: Settings: a. Factory default b. Manual a. Fabriksinställningar b. Användarhandbok

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Outline Examples of error categories General guidelines Prepositions and conventions Possessive pronouns Sentences beginning with To Tricky words False friends Characters Measurements Capitalization

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General guidelines

Sentence structure – complicated long sentences in English – break up – reorder

Rewrite! Use the possibilities of compound words

and free word order

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Example of free word order

I det svenska språket är ordföljden relativt fri, vilket bör utnyttjas.

Att ordföljden i det svenska språket är relativt fri bör utnyttjas.

Något som bör utnyttjas är att ordföljden i det svenska språket är relativt fri.

Ordföljden är relativt fri i det svenska språket

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One word or two?

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Prepositions and conventions

Prepositions differ between English and Scandinavian

Pay attention to the English “to” or “on” Passive form is created differently in

English – Was documented… Plural option in English ”Attach the

file(s)”

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Examples - prepositions

EN SV + NO + DA ≠ In the menu På menyn I menyn

From the list I listan På listan, från listan

Protect from Skydda mot Beskytte mot

Skydda från Beskytte fra

Click OK Klicka på OK Klicka OK

Add a name to the list Lägga till ett namn i listan

Lägga till ett namn till listan føje sig på listen

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Possessive pronouns and personification

”Sin”, ”sitt” och ”sina” (dens, dens deres) is missing in English

English use possessive pronouns for body parts, relatives etc.

English personification of objects

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Examples

Eric handed over his dog to John

She told her classmates a joke

She sprained her ankle badly Your camera has an interchangeable lens Turn on your computer

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To-sentences

Common with to-sentences followed by imperative in user manuals To create a new document…

Conditional clauses Choose New on the File menu to create a new document

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Tricky words in English Data Cannot Spend Modify Edit Skip Related Technology Please

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Examples

Write the data on a CD You cannot infringe on the copyright He spends his day writing Do not modify the program He wants to edit her writing Do not skip breakfast The subjects are related This is a new technology 14

False friends

EN-SV SV-EN + NO + DA

Actual – faktisk Aktuell – present, current

Wrist - handled Vrist – fotled/ankel

Athlete – idrottsman, idrottskvinna Atlet – strong man, hunk (not DA)

Beef – nötkött Biff – beef steak

Billion – miljard (oftast) Biljon – trillion (oftast)

Civil rights – medborgerliga rättigheter Civilrätt – civil law

Genus – släkte Genus – kön

Eventually – slutligen Eventuellt – possibly, if need be

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Those ¤#^& characters

Quotation marks (” ”) (“ ”) (" ") Placement of quotation marks En/em-dash (— , −, -) #, & and ! Punctuation rules and commas in English Percentage, degrees, number sign (#) $, %, ºC

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Examples

Press the “Select” button His answer was “Absolutely.” The most likely causes are listed below—you'll find information on… Pilot #5 is a war film about The budget increased by 12%

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Measurements

Not only do we have different measurements, but the same measurements are written differently in English and Scandinavian

Abbreviations and their placement Capitalization

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Examples

Administer 100mg/mL of XX or Placebo It is 20˚C He ran 300 mts. An electric eel produces 500 Volts

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Different capitalization rules

Headings and titles Countries and languages Weekdays, months Titles Organizations and parties Laws and legal texts

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Examples

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo The Christian Church is divided into three different churches The International Monetary Fund is an international institution The famous Dr. Smith speaks German

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References SV-SE

Svenska skrivregler – Språkrådet Skrivregler för svenska och engelska – Terminologicentrum Översättnings-rekommendationer – Wikipedia

Myndigheternas skrivregler – Regeringskansliet Lista över falska vänner mellan svenska och engelska – Wikipedia Olika stilguider från kunder

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References – DA-DK

Dansk sprogbrug from Gyldendal Nudansk Grammatik from Politiken Retskrivnings-ordbogen from Dansk

Sprognævn

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References NO

Bokmålsordboka (http://nob-ordbok.uio.no/perl/ordbok.cgi)

Skriveregler – by Finn-Erik Vinje

Språkrådet (www.sprakrad.no)

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Questions or comments? tess@swedishtranslationservices.com

Copyright © Tess Whitty 2013

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