Poll: How often do your clients provide you with style guides? Inițiatorul discuției: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "How often do your clients provide you with style guides?".
View the poll results »
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I don't need no style guide. I got style for miles, baby.
Though most specify "British English", which should be enough of a style guide for anyone.
| | | | neilmac
Spania
Local time: 11:53
din spaniolă în engleză
+ ...
Not that I recall. And as far as my regular clients are concerned, I'm their "style guide"… 
And if they did, I would probably find it a constraint, as if they were saying "here, just slip into this straitjacket and put this bag over your head…"
[Edited at 2018-02-13 09:07 GMT]
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In over 40 years only one client has provided a style guide ! I translate a lot for the European Institutions and “The Interinstitutional Style Guide” contains all the stylistic rules and conventions which must be used…
http://publications.europa.eu/code/en/en-000500.htm
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Muriel Vasconcellos 
Statele Unite
Local time: 02:53
Membru (2003)
din spaniolă în engleză
+ ...
For one of my main clients, I wrote their 200-page style manual.
| | | | Diana Obermeyer
Regatul Unit
Local time: 10:53
Membru (2013)
din germană în engleză
+ ...
A few agencies primarily keep me working on assignments for the same end client. Most of these end clients have a style guide, some also have an in-house translation team and only outsource certain subject areas.
Two of my agencies have an agency style guide.
A few direct clients have asked me to set up a style guide as part of the project. This was primarily organisations having material translated for the first time, or having previous translations re-worked and aligned after reali... See more A few agencies primarily keep me working on assignments for the same end client. Most of these end clients have a style guide, some also have an in-house translation team and only outsource certain subject areas.
Two of my agencies have an agency style guide.
A few direct clients have asked me to set up a style guide as part of the project. This was primarily organisations having material translated for the first time, or having previous translations re-worked and aligned after realising that there was inconsistency in their existing texts. ▲ Collapse
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I proofread academic papers for one client, and they often ask me to use the APA style guide.
I have the Chicago Manual of Style and use it occasionally - I ought to do so more often!
Otherwise I have my UK gurus - updated editions of Ernest Gowers' Plain Words, Greenbaum & Whitcut's Guide to English Usage, and Michael Swan.
I have thumbed through them and adopted my own style based on them. If clients question it, I can quote my books, and if the client insists, ... See more I proofread academic papers for one client, and they often ask me to use the APA style guide.
I have the Chicago Manual of Style and use it occasionally - I ought to do so more often!
Otherwise I have my UK gurus - updated editions of Ernest Gowers' Plain Words, Greenbaum & Whitcut's Guide to English Usage, and Michael Swan.
I have thumbed through them and adopted my own style based on them. If clients question it, I can quote my books, and if the client insists, offer them an alternative that we can agree on. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Mike Sadler (X)
Regatul Unit
Local time: 10:53
din spaniolă în engleză
+ ...
I do a lot of work for UN agencies (as the subcontractor at the end of the supply chain...) and often consult the UN editorial manual at http://dd.dgacm.org/editorialmanual/. I'm so used to it that that's what clients who don't specify any particular style get, though they don't know that, of course.
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Mario Freitas
Brazilia
Local time: 06:53
Membru (2014)
din engleză în portugheză
+ ...
Not often, considering a formal style guide. Very often, considering sporadic rules and standards they simply inform in their e-mails, but not in a style guide format.
| | | | Kay Denney
Franţa
Local time: 11:53
din franceză în engleză
| with you there! | Feb 13, 2018 |
neilmac wrote: Not that I recall. And as far as my regular clients are concerned, I'm their "style guide"… And if they did, I would probably find it a constraint, as if they were saying "here, just slip into this straitjacket and put this bag over your head…" [Edited at 2018-02-13 09:07 GMT]
You said it far more eloquently than I could!
I usually include my style guide with their company-specific glossary, so that they know how to make any changes. I freaked out totally earlier this week when a client sent me back my "corrected" translation complete with US dates (and mistakes of course but that's a whole different topic)
| | | | DZiW (X)
Ucraina
din engleză în rusă
+ ...
Working for [direct] clients for awhile does require new instructions for specific jobs only, not very oft
[Edited at 2018-02-14 07:48 GMT]
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Accented capitals, curly apostrophes, use of uppercase, punctuation, quotation marks, text formatting, terminology/phraseology lists...
Style guides are helpful to set the stage and ensure some kind of consistency and "brand identity" across a variety of media (printed, web, UI, marketing, communications...).
But past a few "specificities", style guides are all the same and only require translators to write properly. And it's not a given, apparently, because I have seen some... See more Accented capitals, curly apostrophes, use of uppercase, punctuation, quotation marks, text formatting, terminology/phraseology lists...
Style guides are helpful to set the stage and ensure some kind of consistency and "brand identity" across a variety of media (printed, web, UI, marketing, communications...).
But past a few "specificities", style guides are all the same and only require translators to write properly. And it's not a given, apparently, because I have seen some that contain really basic kindergarten spelling and grammar tips. Sadly, It defeats the purpose by drowning those "specificities" into an ocean of obvious reminders.
Philippe ▲ Collapse
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