SuttaCentral translation style guide

SuttaCentral encourages and supports the development of different perspectives and approaches to translation. It is not our role to edit or assess the work of any translations in detail. Nevertheless, we have a responsibility to ensure that translators working with us maintain a good standard of quality and reliability.

The fundamental role of a translation is to make the teachings available to people in their own language. For this reason, it is important to ensure that a translation be idiomatic and accessible. We encourage translators to read a little background on the theory of translation so as to be familiar with the different approaches.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translation

When making an idiomatic translation, ask yourself, “Does this sound like something a native speaker might actually have said?” Try to avoid using unusual or Buddhist-specific terms, especially when it comes to rendering technical terms from English. Remember that the existing English translations stems from more than a century of work, research, and discussion, yet still have many areas needing improvement.

A translator should try to balance consistency, readability, and accuracy. Finally, they should take care of all the little details.

Consistency

Where a term, passage, or phrase appears more than once it should generally be translated the same way, unless there is a reason to change it. Person, number, and tense may all change, but in addition the force or sense of the passage might change due to context. Don’t be afraid to render differently when required, but don’t allow inconsistencies due to inattention.

Consistency helps a reader make connections between disparate passages, and it helps search engines find things.

Readability

Readability is the ease with which a reader can understand a written text.

• Simplify vocabulary.
• Use short sentences.
• Construct sentences so that the primary meaning is at the start.
• Avoid ambiguity or unclarity.
• Avoid obscure or overly colloquial usages.
• Punctuate carefully.
• Read text aloud to see if it flows.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Readability

I recommend avoiding using any Pali or Sanskrit words in your translation. It is a translation, translate it.

Accuracy

While there is no one correct way to translate a text, there are many incorrect ways. Not everything is a matter of opinion, and your choices must be informed by the facts. If you are not an expert in Pali or other original languages, defer to the opinions of experts.

Generally speaking, each generation of translators has the benefit of previous translations, so they get better over time. If you see contradictions between translations, this is often because the later translator has access to more knowledge. So avoid making an "average" of different translations. If you are unsure, ask.

Accurate does not mean literal. To paraphrase Isaac Asimov, literalness is the last resort of the incompetent. That's not always true, of course, since there is a genuine place for literal translations. However, it is true that when making a translation if you do not really understand it, the temptation is just to make a literal rendering in lieu of true understanding.

Little details

Following are the conventions for English. Conventions for quote marks, dashes, and other things vary by language, so ensure you are using the proper conventions for your language.

• Check spelling.
• Use correct grammar.
• Use correct punctuation.
• Always use Unicode. We do not support any non-Unicode text.
• When writing Ā in Pali, make sure to use the Latin Ā not the Greek Ᾱ. They may look the same, but they are different letters.
• Always use ellipsis (…), never three dots (...).
• Ellipsis takes a space on either side.
• Use dashes correctly:
  • Hyphen joins words (station-master).
  • En-dash indicates range usually of numbers (AN 3.43–7)
  • Em-dash indicates a break in a sentence—like this.
• Dashes never take a space on either side.
• Always use “proper curly quote marks” not "straight quotes".
• One space after period.
• No space before .?!:;
• Use the Oxford comma.
• Use proper conventions for capitalization for names.
• Bilara supports simple markdown:
  • underscore indicates a quoted word in another language, typically Pali.
  • asterisk indicates emphasis (italics).
  • double asterisk indicates strong emphasis (You don't want to use this.)