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I have the translation of a work in front of me and want to quote it. The translation reads:

"This is the right decision, and yet it is the wrong [one]"

The translator added the 'one' in brackets to make sure to indicate that he added this for comprehension etc. but that the original did not have this word. Fair enough. Now to my question.

  • How do I cite this? I want to take it over completely like it reads here (that is, incl. the translators note). Will I have to somehow indicate that this was added by the translators and not me?

Also, out of curiosity: Do these bracketed explanatory words in translations have a certain name?

Matthias Neumann
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2 Answers2

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The bracketed annotation is a gloss to support readability. When you quote this translation, verbatim, just cite the quote and have the bibliographic entry identify the translation (rather than allowing the reader to conclude that you did the job).

Aaron Brick
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    Could you give an example, please? What will it look like? "This is the right decision, and yet it is the wrong [gloss by Mr. Translator: one]"? – O. R. Mapper Aug 24 '16 at 05:57
  • I think this information goes in the citation. The last example on this page shows how a translated work may appear in a bibliography: http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2012/12/citing-translated-works-in-apa-style.html – Aaron Brick Aug 24 '16 at 15:18
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    So, again, what does the quotation concretely look like then? "This is the right decision, and yet it is the wrong [gloss by translator: one]" (the translator's name being mentioned in the bibliography)? – O. R. Mapper Aug 24 '16 at 15:36
  • "This is the right decision, and yet it is the wrong [one]"^123 ... then bibliography entry 123 describes a translated work like in the above link. I don't think the bracketed terms change the citation style at all, and I am editing my response to reflect that. – Aaron Brick Aug 25 '16 at 01:20
  • Then how does the reader know who inserted the "[one]", the cited translator or the citing author? That's what the question is about, after all ... – O. R. Mapper Aug 25 '16 at 04:41
  • the gloss is part of the quote and the quote is cited as coming from a particular source. What reader would ascribe it to the quoting author? – Aaron Brick Aug 25 '16 at 05:54
  • Ok, let's put it differently: If the citing author adds a gloss of their own, how would that be expressed, compared to the gloss by the translator? – O. R. Mapper Aug 25 '16 at 06:01
  • For my money, the author shouldn't do that without an explicit explanation -- way more detail than a pair of brackets. "Given translator X's principal concern about topic Y, it's worth considering another way the original can be interpreted and represented, emphasizing its Z quality...." – Aaron Brick Aug 26 '16 at 19:38
  • I see then. I doubt that opinion is shared by everyone, and I am convinced that when reading a sentence like "This is the right decision, and yet it is the wrong [one]", plenty of readers will be unable to tell whether one was added by the translator or by the citing author, but I see how this answer makes sense for yourself. – O. R. Mapper Aug 29 '16 at 19:01
  • Go ahead and answer the question using your own conclusions. – Aaron Brick Aug 30 '16 at 01:54
  • I am as interested in finding a solution as the OP – O. R. Mapper Aug 30 '16 at 04:12
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The content in the square brackets it's not necessarily part of the translation/transliteration but added for clarity. Cite the translated document as you would do normally.

In APA style:

Original Author (Year). Translated article title (Translator, Trans.). Place: Publisher

E.g.,

Piaget, J. (1969). The psychology of the child (H. Weaver, Trans.). New York, NY: Basic Books.

If you are concerned about attributing the added content in favor of the translator, you may do so as a footnote right after the square brackets.

You may refer this post.

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Ébe Isaac
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