Abbreviations and Acronyms- What are the standards? 

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Capitalisation – When and when not to capitalise

After Colons

If introducing a list with a colon, it is followed by a lower case character:

He had to buy the following: milk, bread, cheese.

If introducing a sentence, an upper case character follows:

We have already touched on this point: Electricity is not something you want to mess with.

North...south

North, South, East and West are capitalised if they make up part of a title of an area or political division, but not if they are used in a descriptive sense: 

East Germany, South-east Asia, Northern Ireland, but not: northern Germany, eastern France

Peoples' titles 

When a title appears as part of a person's name, it is capitalised: 

            US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

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Captions and Headings 

Captions: You should not use a full stop at the end of a caption unless the text is a full sentence. 

Headings: 

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Currencies – What are the standards?           

Currencies should be written in lower case when the whole word is used: 

euro, pound, dollar, etc. 

Dollars are abbreviated like this:

·         US dollars: US$50

·         Australian dollars: A$50

·         Hong Kong dollars: HK$50

            For writing euro currencies:

          €4.50 (preferred)

          EUR 4.50 (if the font does not support the symbol)

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Italics – When to use them

Should be avoided, but are acceptable for:

• Non-English

• The titles of books, periodicals, newspapers, films, plays and television programmes, etc.

• The names of vessels and airplanes (but not the names and numbers of types of aircraft such as Boeing 707 or Hercules carriers)

Italics should not be used for the following: 

• Non-English names of organisations, institutions, firms, ministries, etc.

• Emphasis

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Measurements and Units 

An invaluable source for converting measurements and units (a program called convert) is available for free download. Click here to download convert.

The following table can be used for checking the standard abbreviations for measurements: 

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Numbers           

          Numbers expressed in words           

Spell out numbers to ten inclusive; thereafter use numerals (the exceptions being with units, e.g., 2 kg, 5 oz).

        Numbers expressed in figures 

Numbers between 10 and 999,999 should normally be expressed in figures.

The following are always expressed in figures:                       

·         ratios

·         times of day

·         numbers with decimal

·         statistics

·         degrees

·         dimensions

·         weights and measures

Millions 

Numbers in millions should be written as follows: 1 million, 3.4 million 

Exception: 3,432,000 (if there is more than one digit to the right of the decimal point). 

Billions and trillions 

In strict British English usage 'billion' is equivalent to a million million;

in American usage, it is equivalent to a thousand million. 

Time of day 

        Dates           

To avoid international confusion, it is preferable to write the date in full:                       

Friday, 15 January 2004           

            Decades           

            Reference to decades should be expressed in figures           

                        the 1990s, the mid-1990s

(not the nineteen-nineties, the 90s or the 1990's).

Per cent/percent

Fractions           

            Fractions should be spelled out:                       

                        three quarters of the amount

However, numbers with fractions should be written in figures:                       

                        1 3/4 km 

Fractions should only be hyphenated when used as an adjective           

                        three quarters of the amount

                        three-quarters full 

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Place Names and Addresses – Do I add the country? 

When translating you should bear in mind that your target audience may not be familiar with the places. When referring to somewhere for the first time you should always give its country, even if the original text does not. For example:

Source Text: Der in Köln regierende Bürgermeister…

Translation: The mayor of Cologne (Germany)… 

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Punctuation  

Apostrophes

Some plural nouns take an apostrophe before the 's':

children's games, gentlemen's outfitter, old folk's home.

Apostrophes should be used in phrases such as 12 years' imprisonment and 200 hours' community service.

A common mistake is often made with it's and its. The difference: 'Its' is the third person possessive form of 'it'. 'It's' is the contracted form of 'it is' and should only be used in speech:

The car is blue. Its wheels are black.

"It's very sunny today".

Colons

You should not overuse the colon. This is very popular in German texts, where a simple full point and new sentence would suffice in English.

Commas

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Types of English

In all cases, it is the responsibility of the translator to check which form of spelling should be used. Consult my A-Z Checklist before translating.

Clients can ask for three kinds of English:

1.      US English

2.      UK English

3.      International English

The third category is a little vague, but generally it means the client wants a text that will be understood by all kinds of English speakers. The text should therefore be easy to read and not be 'obviously' British or American in style. It is up to the client to decide whether 'international English' uses UK or US spelling, so you should probably check this before beginning.

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