Anyone who is professionally involved in translation is aware of the amount of reference material that exists and that it is necessary to have at hand in order to respect the rules of style. Therefore, each and every decision we make must be based on a reliable and authoritative source in order to provide a valid and reasonable explanation to our client.

[This is an automatic translation, not a professional translation]

It is recommended that the professional translator prepares his own style guide in order to treat all documents from the same point of view, regardless of the translation decisions we make under certain circumstances. Having said that, below are some basic and fundamental rules that must be respected in order to achieve coherence and uniformity in the text and consequently achieve a quality translation service.

• To translate following the Spanish rules of punctuation we can consult https://lema.rae.es/dpd/srv/search?id=qXGSxldBKD6hqrTMMo. A very important aspect of translation is to put an end to everything, EXCEPT the titles.
• Although we think we know how to use capital letters, we probably don’t know all the cases in which they should be used and, for that, we can access https://buscon.rae.es/dpd/srv/search?id=BapzSnotjD6n0vZiTp for a more extensive explanation.
• For many, it is quite confusing the subject of bold, italics, underlined words… In that case, if we access the Panhispanic Dictionary of Doubts, we will get all the information we need.
• Once the translation is completed, it is essential to eliminate double spaces so that the text is uniform and formally written. To do this, press control + L and replace two spaces with one. Really easy.
• We may also encounter several difficulties in the translation of acronyms and abbreviations, so by consulting https://www.fundeu.es/recomendacion/siglas-y-acronimos-claves-de-redaccion/ we will solve all our doubts and get a totally correct translation.
• Despite the various translation strategies that we are taught in our training, it must be stressed that the omission of information has a negative impact on the client and/or reader. For this reason, it is important not to omit such information so that important details are not lost along the way.
• Essential: if it is a text in which units of measurement appear, you must modify these units and change them to their equivalent in the target language. Within this section, it is important to remember that you must write “inches” instead of putting quotation marks. For the rest of the products, you must write between parenthesis both inches and cm, but outside the parenthesis, you must leave our unit.
• Numbers are one of the most confusing elements when translating. Do they have a dot? Do they have a comma? Are they written with letters? To know exactly what to do in each case, we can go to https://buscon.rae.es/dpd/srv/search?id=QHaq7I8KrD6FQAyXTS.
• On the other hand, alphabetizable symbols are really important and it is logical that we do not know all of them. Thanks to the following list, https://www.rae.es/diccionario-panhispanico-de-dudas/apendices/simbolos-alfabetizables, we will have them at hand and will be able to consult them whenever we need to.
• Although it is the first thing they teach us both in universities and in any other field of education related to the field of translation, we translators are interpreters: we must interpret the intention of the author of the TO, as well as give a style of our own and make the text natural to adapt it to our audience. In order to do so, it is important to move away from the original and write it in a “Spanish” way. In this way, the target audience will feel more comfortable and will identify with the text.

In short, to think that just because we are Spanish natives we can be quality translators is a big mistake. It is one thing to know how to speak our language and quite another to translate properly and ALWAYS respecting the rules imposed by professionals in this field. If we follow these rules, we will be able to eliminate serious errors and offer quality and consistency.