How to change all "quotation" marks to »Guillemet« marks, in an English text?
Thread poster: Editor in EU
Editor in EU
Editor in EU
Belgium
Feb 25, 2021

I am proofing/editing an English-language volume for a German publisher. The texts are in English (Microsoft Word), but the publisher wishes to use only German-style »pointy« quotation marks (single and double). I have attempted various ways to "Find" and "Replace All" the "curly" quote marks (alt 0147, 0148) with their »pointed« equivalents (alt 0187, 0171), but Word always automatically converts them back to curly marks. I have tried various options, such as resetting the Document language... See more
I am proofing/editing an English-language volume for a German publisher. The texts are in English (Microsoft Word), but the publisher wishes to use only German-style »pointy« quotation marks (single and double). I have attempted various ways to "Find" and "Replace All" the "curly" quote marks (alt 0147, 0148) with their »pointed« equivalents (alt 0187, 0171), but Word always automatically converts them back to curly marks. I have tried various options, such as resetting the Document language to German, adding a space before and after the pointy mark, etc., but the auto-change always reverts them back to curly quotes.

Does anyone know of how this change might be applied to the whole document, other than by doing it manually for each of the hundreds of quotation marks? Thank you very much in advance for any feedback!

[Edited at 2021-02-25 14:05 GMT]
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Tony M
Tony M
France
Local time: 21:18
Member
French to English
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Try this: Feb 25, 2021

'Select All', change document language to German; turn OFF the 'replace quotes by smart quotes' feature in 'Tools' > 'Auto Correction options' > 'Auto correct', and then try 'search and replace' Alt 0147 or Alt 0148 replacing with Alt 175 / Alt 174 respectively.

Dan Lucas
 
Dan Lucas
Dan Lucas  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:18
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
Turn off smart quotes Feb 25, 2021

Editor in EU wrote:
Does anyone know of how this change might be applied to the whole document, other than by doing it manually for each of the hundreds of quotation marks?

In Word, File -> Options -> Proofing -> AutoCorrect Options -> AutoFormat and turn off 'Straight quotes with smart quotes'. See if that works.

Dan


Tom in London
 
Editor in EU
Editor in EU
Belgium
TOPIC STARTER
turning off all "'Straight quotes' with 'smart quotes'" appears to be the key Feb 25, 2021

Turning off "'Straight quotes' with 'smart quotes'" in both the "Autoformat" and "Autoformat as you type" boxes appears to have done the trick.

THANK YOU for the excellent assistance!!! It is greatly appreciated!


 
Barbara Carrara
Barbara Carrara  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 21:18
Member (2008)
English to Italian
+ ...
Editor in EU Feb 25, 2021

Sorry to barge in with a 'style' question for you.
Is it a German thing to invert the guillemets as you did in your example (»...«), or you've just inadvertently switched them as in the standard style («...»)?
I'm asking this because for a number of years I translated a quarterly magazine for a German publisher, who made it a rule that the 'inverted guillemets' (»...«) had to be used throughout the publication, but had intended that as their very own contribution to the overal
... See more
Sorry to barge in with a 'style' question for you.
Is it a German thing to invert the guillemets as you did in your example (»...«), or you've just inadvertently switched them as in the standard style («...»)?
I'm asking this because for a number of years I translated a quarterly magazine for a German publisher, who made it a rule that the 'inverted guillemets' (»...«) had to be used throughout the publication, but had intended that as their very own contribution to the overall 'look' of the mag.
Now that I've seen it used again, and reminded of that experience, I'd be curious to know.
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Eva Stoppa
Eva Stoppa  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 21:18
English to German
+ ...
Google search Feb 26, 2021

Provided me with the following result:

See more
Provided me with the following result:

https://www.google.de/search?q="Guillemet"%20deutsch&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=vs6xN6Ybk7k7WM%2CTbUEzvvKgHozyM%2C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kRg4pbjvTRoPB26xGyF_ioyyRj4MQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjVie6mrofvAhU0pnEKHX8ABOEQ9QF6BAgGEAE#imgrc=vs6xN6Ybk7k7WM

Im Deutschen sind Guillemets neben den deutschen Anführungszeichen („…“) ebenfalls zulässige Anführungszeichen. Sie werden im Deutschen allerdings meist
umgekehrt, also mit den Spitzen nach innen, verwendet. Man findet sie im Deutschen vor allem im Buchdruck, wo eine elegantere Erscheinungsform erwünscht ist.
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Barbara Carrara
 
Editor in EU
Editor in EU
Belgium
TOPIC STARTER
Direction of quote marks varies by country Feb 26, 2021

Really interesting question. It appears that the direction of the guillemet marks (and whether there is a space between them and the word they bracket) varies from country to country (as do the upper/lower placement and direction of curly quote marks). Some countries (e.g., France and Italy) use «outward» ones, others (e.g., Germany) use »inward« ones. See this fascinating map: https://jakubmarian.com/map-of-quotation-marks-in-european-languages/

Barbara Carrara
 
Barbara Carrara
Barbara Carrara  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 21:18
Member (2008)
English to Italian
+ ...
Thanks! Feb 26, 2021

Editor in EU wrote:

Really interesting question. It appears that the direction of the guillemet marks (and whether there is a space between them and the word they bracket) varies from country to country (as do the upper/lower placement and direction of curly quote marks). Some countries (e.g., France and Italy) use «outward» ones, others (e.g., Germany) use »inward« ones. See this fascinating map: https://jakubmarian.com/map-of-quotation-marks-in-european-languages/


I admit to not having searched the topic before I posted my query, so thank you for this inside information. And the map, which I have bookmarked for future reference.

As an Italian native used to stick to Italian style guidelines, I wasn't -- still am not -- too happy with the publisher's decision to overrule them in favour of the inward guillemets, given that I was asked to localise the end client's content for their Italian readership. At the time, I did voice my concern that they would be perceived as a 'fad', but eventually had to comply.

[Edited at 2021-02-27 14:18 GMT]


 
philgoddard
philgoddard
United States
German to English
+ ...
Why on earth... Mar 1, 2021

...does the publisher want to use German punctuation in an English text? Have you tried to dissuade them?

 
Editor in EU
Editor in EU
Belgium
TOPIC STARTER
German punctuation for overall uniformity. Mar 2, 2021

Some of the other articles will be in German, and the publisher wants to have everything uniform. (I was unclear in original post.) My initial reaction was that English text with German punctuation would look »odd«, but I thought maybe this was simply because I was unfamiliar with the look. Having worked on the text for a while, it still looks odd to me, so I'm glad to hear other people have similar thoughts.

Barbara Carrara
 


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How to change all "quotation" marks to »Guillemet« marks, in an English text?






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