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Guidelines for writing Poems, Stories and Tales

The use of footnotes to translate foreign words in a novel

What is the use of footnotes in literary translation?

Footnotes are paratextual elements which appear at the bottom of a page in a text. In translated literary texts, translators may employ footnotes to assist readers in their understanding of the translation.

How do you footnote a translation?

Author(s) of the book. Title of the book. Translated by Translator(s) name. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication.

Why do books have footnotes?

Footnotes are relevant notes placed at the bottom of your page, and are referenced from within the page (usually with superscript numbers). The primary purpose of a footnote is to add additional information, without interrupting the flow of the writing. That additional information can include: Citations.

How do you translate a novel into another language?

How to translate a book: Everything you need to know

  1. Establish an end-goal. Think about why you want to translate your book into another language.
  2. Determine a target market.
  3. Consider using machine translation for common phrases.
  4. Hire a professional translation service.
  5. Edit and proofread.
  6. Publish, market and monitor.



How do footnotes help the reader?

Advantages of Using Footnotes

  1. Readers interested in identifying the source or note can quickly glance down the page to find what they are looking for.
  2. It allows the reader to immediately link the footnote to the subject of the text without having to take the time to find the note at the back of the paper.

How do you use footnotes in a book?

The footnote usually includes the author’s name, publication title, publication information, date of publication, and page number(s) if it is the first time the source is being used. For any additional usage, simply use the author’s last name, publication title, and date of publication.

How do you quote a foreign language source and its translation?

If you want to present a quotation in both a foreign language and in translation, place the foreign-language quotation in quotation marks if it is less than 40 words long and in a block quotation without quotation marks if it is 40 words or more.

How do you cite a foreign language source?

Formula for citing a foreign language source in APA:



Author Last Name, First Initial. (Year Published). Title in the original language [Translated title]. Place of Publication: Publisher.

How do you reference translated text?

Reference: Author/Editor Last name, Initials. (Year translation published) Title. Translated by translator(s) Initials and Last name. Place of publication: Publisher.

What is the benefit of a footnote?

The advantages of using footnotes are that they provide the reader with a fast reference and link to additional information. They are easy to insert and will automatically print. The advantage of using endnotes instead of footnotes is that their placement is less distracting.