French Dialogue Punctiation: EmDashes Spaces and Non-Breakable characters.
Thread poster: Nastasia
Nastasia
Nastasia
Local time: 20:37
English to Russian
+ ...
Mar 16, 2021

Good day everyone.
I am currently working on a kids book in InDesign and dying to know what is the right way to print a French Dialogue. I found ifferent examples in different books and I wonder if it's ok to use any of it or there is a standard?
Here's an exmaple. 2 kids talking.

— Bonjour Martin !
— Bonjour Selvie !


So my question is. Should I insert space after the EmDash every time the dialogue starts? Or sould I insert non-bre
... See more
Good day everyone.
I am currently working on a kids book in InDesign and dying to know what is the right way to print a French Dialogue. I found ifferent examples in different books and I wonder if it's ok to use any of it or there is a standard?
Here's an exmaple. 2 kids talking.

— Bonjour Martin !
— Bonjour Selvie !


So my question is. Should I insert space after the EmDash every time the dialogue starts? Or sould I insert non-breakable space after EmDash or... Should I not put anything except the Capital Letter after EmDash?

P.S. I also wonder if I should place any spaces after EmDashes when the first guy keeps talking. Like "— Mais quel rêve je viens de faire ! — Sasha ouvrit les yeux." Is there an EmDash or EnDash before "Sasha"? Is there "non-breakable spacing" or no space at all? =)
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Veronica Montserrat
Veronica Montserrat
France
Local time: 18:37
Member (2020)
English to French
+ ...
. Mar 16, 2021

Hello Nastasia,

You should insert a non-breaking space after the emdash of the dialogue and before any punctuation mark such as ! ? : ;

Hope that helps.


Nastasia
bris97
 
Barbara Carrara
Barbara Carrara  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 18:37
Member (2008)
English to Italian
+ ...
Nastasia Mar 16, 2021

Hi

French is not listed among your languages. Is that correct? If so, I wonder how you can handle French-only book layouts (irrespective of their target audience), not knowing what the main style guidelines are in that language, also keeping in mind that those may vary depending on the publisher.


 
Nastasia
Nastasia
Local time: 20:37
English to Russian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
No worries. Mar 16, 2021

Barbara Carrara wrote:

Hi

French is not listed among your languages. Is that correct? If so, I wonder how you can handle French-only book layouts (irrespective of their target audience), not knowing what the main style guidelines are in that language, also keeping in mind that those may vary depending on the publisher.


I dont translate from/to French but I can speak a little so my task is only the layout. The text itself was given to me but sadly without edits like special characters. I know main guidlines and for things that I am not sure of I came to ask for your help wich is I think the best thing to do in the situation.


 
Barbara Carrara
Barbara Carrara  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 18:37
Member (2008)
English to Italian
+ ...
Thanks for clarifying. However... Mar 16, 2021

Nastasia wrote:
I dont translate from/to French but I can speak a little so my task is only the layout. The text itself was given to me but sadly without edits like special characters. I know main guidlines and for things that I am not sure of I came to ask for your help wich is I think the best thing to do in the situation.


Thanks for clarifying things for me, Nastasia.

However, I do find it peculiar that you are only involved in the layout, but are also adjusting/adding special characters (would these include accents at all?) and punctuation, which is a task normally performed by a professional native proofreader, who would be in charge of checking the French for grammar, typos and... punctuation.

I don't necessarily agree with you about ProZ being the first place that would come to mind when seeking help with the guidelines of – say – French dialogue for a specific publication, as this, as I mentioned in my previous post, would be the publisher's choice, according to their own guidelines.


Christine Andersen
Laurent Di Raimondo
 


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French Dialogue Punctiation: EmDashes Spaces and Non-Breakable characters.







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