CPP Multilingual Proofreading Considerations 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A proofreader finds that a product name has been translated into Japanese when it should have been kept in its original English form. This error is best described as:
- Improper handling of a non-translatable term (Correct answer)
- A style inconsistency requiring a transposition mark
- A spelling error in the source language
- A punctuation deviation from the style guide
Correct answer: Improper handling of a non-translatable term
Brand names, trademarks, and product names are typically non-translatable and should be preserved in their original form; translating them is an error the proofreader must flag.
Question 2: When proofreading a multilingual document, the proofreader encounters a segment marked 'do not translate' (DNT) in the translation memory but finds it has been rendered in the target language. The correct action is to:
- Flag the segment for restoration to the original source text (Correct answer)
- Accept the translation if it reads naturally
- Verify the term against a bilingual glossary before deciding
- Consult the designer about layout implications before flagging
Correct answer: Flag the segment for restoration to the original source text
DNT tags in translation memory explicitly instruct translators to leave designated text unchanged; any translated segment bearing this tag must be flagged for reversion.
Question 3: A German document localized from English retains 'Mr.' as an honorific instead of using 'Hr.' (Herr). A proofreader should:
- Flag the honorific for correction to the German equivalent (Correct answer)
- Leave it, since English honorifics are widely understood in Germany
- Delete the honorific entirely as a cultural adaptation
- Mark it with a stet if the client approved the English version
Correct answer: Flag the honorific for correction to the German equivalent
Proper localization requires replacing English-language honorifics with their culturally appropriate target-language equivalents, which for German is 'Hr.' (Herr).
Question 4: Which of the following best describes 'back-translation' as used in quality assurance for multilingual documents?
- Translating a document back to the source language to verify accuracy of the translation (Correct answer)
- Translating a document from right-to-left to left-to-right layout
- Reversing the order of paragraphs to check logical flow
- Creating a glossary by translating from the target language into the source language
Correct answer: Translating a document back to the source language to verify accuracy of the translation
Back-translation involves re-translating a document into the original source language by an independent translator to identify errors or meaning shifts in the primary translation.
Question 5: A multilingual style guide specifies that em dashes should not be used in French, which prefers a space before and after a regular hyphen in certain constructions. The proofreader finds em dashes throughout the French text. The correct response is to:
- Flag all em dashes for replacement according to the style guide (Correct answer)
- Accept em dashes as internationally understood punctuation
- Replace em dashes with ellipses as a neutral alternative
- Query the author since em dashes are correct in English source
Correct answer: Flag all em dashes for replacement according to the style guide
Punctuation conventions differ by language, and the proofreader must enforce the language-specific style guide rules rather than applying English conventions to French text.
Question 6: In Spanish, adjectives generally follow the noun they modify, while in English they precede the noun. When proofreading a Spanish translation, noticing that adjectives precede the nouns throughout most likely indicates:
- A syntactic calque where the English word order was imposed on the Spanish (Correct answer)
- Correct usage in formal written Spanish
- A regional dialect feature acceptable in Latin American Spanish
- A style choice permitted when translating technical documents
Correct answer: A syntactic calque where the English word order was imposed on the Spanish
A syntactic calque occurs when the grammatical structure of the source language is copied into the target language, making the translation unnatural or incorrect.
Question 7: A proofreader reviewing a localized mobile app UI finds that several button labels are truncated in the Italian version but display correctly in the English version. The most likely cause is:
- Text expansion from English to Italian exceeded the fixed character limits of the UI elements (Correct answer)
- The Italian font is larger by default in mobile operating systems
- The translator used longer synonyms than necessary
- The developer set different character limits for the Italian build
Correct answer: Text expansion from English to Italian exceeded the fixed character limits of the UI elements
Italian text is typically longer than English equivalents, so fixed-width UI components designed for English strings often truncate the expanded Italian translations.
CPP Multilingual Proofreading Considerations 3
A proofreader finds that a product name has been translated into Japanese when it should have been kept in its original English form.
This error is best described as: