Paragraph indentation in legal & admin documents Thread poster: AllegroTrans
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AllegroTrans 
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:10
Member (2011)
French to English
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I translate French to English. Many French legal documents retain what I regard as a very dated style of indenting the first line of each paragraph and often making further multiple indentations to the extent that the document looks as if it's been chewed up by a dog.
This style has virtually disappeared in English (I speak for UK). I would like opinions on whether translators replicate the French-style indentation or re-format to modern English style (e.g. a line space between para... See more I translate French to English. Many French legal documents retain what I regard as a very dated style of indenting the first line of each paragraph and often making further multiple indentations to the extent that the document looks as if it's been chewed up by a dog.
This style has virtually disappeared in English (I speak for UK). I would like opinions on whether translators replicate the French-style indentation or re-format to modern English style (e.g. a line space between paragraphs and full indentations for such things as lists and sub-paragraphs, but with no first line indentation). ▲ Collapse
| | | | William Tierney
United States
Local time: 04:10
Member (2002)
Arabic to English
| Translate the formatting too | Aug 27, 2022 |
I translate both the words and the formatting. I restructure the document to meet English standards anywhere it does not affect the semantic content. In your case, since it is common to provide a line space between paragraphs in English, there is no need for the indentation. I apply this standard to my English output, regardless of the source document.
| | | | | To indent or not to indent that is the question… | Aug 27, 2022 |
I translate from French, English, Spanish and Italian into Portuguese. When translating legal documents, I always try to reproduce the same format as the original unless the client requires me to do otherwise. I recall a case where my client’s style guide (a US client) required me not to indent the first paragraph after a title or section heading and to indent every succeeding paragraph…
| | | | | The same formatting as the original | Aug 28, 2022 |
This is especially true for certified, sworn or notarized translations where the formatting must be as close as possible to that of the original document, provided it does not create a risk of confusion with the original, have the same pagination and the end of the document needs to be indicated. These are precautions to protect the content of the document by preventing fraudulent additions.
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We have the same thing here in Soviet Russia, and I hate it. The indentation thing is called "the red line." Sometimes they have it in the form of an arbitrary number of spaces, sometimes they use the "Tab" key, but most of the time it's a mix of the two. I always have the "Show non-printing characters" enabled wherever it's possible, and these things cause pain to me. Separating paragraphs by hitting "Enter" two or more times, using tabulation to move things to the end of the line, etc. So mess... See more We have the same thing here in Soviet Russia, and I hate it. The indentation thing is called "the red line." Sometimes they have it in the form of an arbitrary number of spaces, sometimes they use the "Tab" key, but most of the time it's a mix of the two. I always have the "Show non-printing characters" enabled wherever it's possible, and these things cause pain to me. Separating paragraphs by hitting "Enter" two or more times, using tabulation to move things to the end of the line, etc. So messy. But most of the time, I just let it be. It takes time to correct. However, when I do take time to format the document to my liking, I make sure it's as neat as a new pin with no indentation, all paragraphs properly spaced, tabulated content placed in invisible tables, so lovely. Rant over, sorry ▲ Collapse
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