Quoting text from a country with different internationalization
I'm writing my doctoral dissertation here in the United States, and quoting some text from an English-language paper written in Germany. In Germany, the convention for writing numbers is to use a comma as the decimal separator (3,5 meters), but in the United States, the convention is to use a period as the decimal separator (3.5 meters).
Is it appropriate to reformat the numbers to the American convention when I quote this paper, or is it more appropriate to leave it as-is?
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In academic writing, following style guides is particularly important for citations and notes.
Are you editing to APA style or another style guide? I'd absolutely check that first and do as the style guide instructs.
Your department may also have a style guide for you to follow. (I don't have a copy of APA or I'd check.)
Barring any such guidance: If you're quoting verbatim, I would leave the quotes as-is, keeping it clear that the quoted material's source clear, unless it causes confusion. If this happens more than once, you can leave a note explaining the difference if you feel it's needed. If you're paraphrasing, use the U.S. convention.
Disclaimer: I've not worked on academic papers, and don't know APA well, so get another opinion on that last part.
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How about adding [sic], meaning "intentionally so written," to indicate that you are quoting something which is written "incorrectly"?
"3,5 meters [sic]"
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If the original paper is in English but uses the German convention for decimals, and you are going to hold to that convention in the quoted material, I would put a footnote by the first use to explain you are doing so, then simply quote as is.
Alternatively, if the dissertation is for an English audience and you feel uncomfortable using the German numerical conventions, convert them and footnote the first usage explaining that to your audience. Either way you've covered the bases. You could also preface your first quote with the explanation, or explain your decision in a foreword. One explanation is enough, however. The quotations will get tedious if you call out each usage.
Whatever you do, it would be a good idea to run the idea by your advisor.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/2788. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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