"Punctuation" refers to the marks that indicate how a sentence is to be read or understood. Examples include the indicators of pauses, such as the comma or period, and the quotation marks that surround the exact words of a speaker. In order for the reader to be able to read and understand the translation correctly, it is important that you use punctuation consistently.
It is helpful if the translation team decides on the methods of punctuation that you will use in the translation, before you begin. It may be easiest to adopt the method of punctuation that the national language uses, or that a national language Bible or related-language Bible uses. Once the team decides on a method, make sure that everyone follows it. It may be helpful to distribute a guide sheet to each of the team members with examples on it of the correct way to use the different punctuation marks.
Even with the guide sheet, it is common for translators to make mistakes in punctuation. As you go through the different levels of checking, keep your eye open for inconsistancies in punctuation. Additionally, you can ask some with appropriate education from your language group to read through and edit the translation for punctuation, make notes of questionable areas for the translation team to review and edit.
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