colonic quotes

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vic joseph - 26 Aug 2004 23:52 GMT

I'm translating (from Dutch) a magazine article about an artist, based
on an interview. Here's an example:

[lots of text]
... Why does Von Woffelen regularly resort to using photographs from her
own past in her work? Amelie von Woffelen: 'My grandmother intrigued me
because she was a poet and author. The photos of her are obviously if
unconsciously posed. Blablabla for another dozen sentences...'
[lots more text]

That way of introducing the quotes, with just a name and a colon, is
quite common in this sort of text in Dutch, but I don't recall ever
seeing it done that way in an English text. I wonder, is it acceptable
to an English readership? Or do I have to introduce a verb, as in:

[***]
... Amelie von Woffelen comments, 'My grandmonther etc....'
[***]

(for the purists:)?

regards, Vic Joseph

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David - 27 Aug 2004 00:13 GMT

> I'm translating (from Dutch) a magazine article about an artist,
> based on an interview. Here's an example:

> [lots of text] ... Why does Von Woffelen regularly resort to using
> photographs from her own past in her work? Amelie von Woffelen: 'My
> grandmother intrigued me because she was a poet and author. The
> photos of her are obviously if unconsciously posed. Blablabla for
> another dozen sentences...' [lots more text]

> That way of introducing the quotes, with just a name and a colon, is
> quite common in this sort of text in Dutch, but I don't recall ever
> seeing it done that way in an English text. I wonder, is it
> acceptable to an English readership? Or do I have to introduce a
> verb, as in:

> [***] ... Amelie von Woffelen comments, 'My grandmonther etc....'
> [***]

> (for the purists:)?

I far prefer that (latter) method; although should you decide to use
the colon, the form "...comments:" or "...says:" is probably preferable
in English. The trend is to minimise punctuation, so you might even
consider -- ... Amelie von Woffelen comments 'My grandmonther etc...."
without comma or colon.

Incidentally, I was listening to Lynne Truss's "Cutting a Dash" on BBC7
this early evening when she was discussing the various methods of quote
or speech marking. One form was to do away with the standard double or
single quotes and substitute an introductory dash, which method was
acknowledged (by the author, I believe) as sometimes confusing.

Signature

http://www.dacha.freeuk.com/photo/
Scenic Snaps: Photographs of Yorkshire, and beyond

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vic joseph - 06 Sep 2004 22:50 GMT

Belated thanks, David.

You have persuaded me to introduce a verb for these quotes. But there
will be times when I am tempted to copy the original verbless 'colonic'
form, for example when there is a succession of short quotes from
different interlocutors, as might happen in a reported interview with a
group of people. Then I think I would prefer a colon to a dash for thse
instances.

regards, Vic Joseph.

>>I'm translating (from Dutch) a magazine article about an artist,
>>based on an interview. Here's an example:
[quoted text clipped - 27 lines]
> single quotes and substitute an introductory dash, which method was
> acknowledged (by the author, I believe) as sometimes confusing.

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Giles Todd - 27 Aug 2004 02:42 GMT

> I'm translating (from Dutch) a magazine article about an artist, based
> on an interview. Here's an example:
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
>
> (for the purists:)?

The name:quote method is a bit like a play or film script. If you
want to produce your translation like that then I can see no reason
why you shouldn't. The only thing I would suggest if you choose to go
down this road is that you use line breaks to separate the name:quote
stuff from the narrative. You might also want to rephrase the
questions in the same manner, if only for the sake of consistency.

Another approach would be to use quoted speech in the narrative
throughout. I wouldn't mix the two approaches, however.

Giles.

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vic joseph - 06 Sep 2004 22:32 GMT

Belated thanks, Giles.
I can see the playscript style of quoting being useful for a series of
short exchanges. As I'm translating, however, I prefer to preserve
stylistic aspects of the original text as long as I feel they are
consistent with good English. The same applies to swapping direct and
reported speech. But those colonic quotes still bug me a bit...
regards, Vic Joseph

>>I'm translating (from Dutch) a magazine article about an artist, based
>>on an interview. Here's an example:
[quoted text clipped - 28 lines]
>
> Giles.

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Discussion Groups / British English / September 2004

colonic quotes