How to mix Latin and Chinese script with style?

Question

I am currently writing a Chinese translation for a webpage about a Go meeting. The section about how to get there contains a lot of mixed Chinese and Latin text:

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社團處所在 Lehrter Straße 53，附近有 Kruppstraße, Perlenberger Brücke 和 Quitzowstraße

自 Hauptbahnhof 搭乘１２３號線公車前往 Mäckeritzwiesen

自 Turmstraße 地鐵站搭１２３號線公車前往 Hauptbahnhof

從Ｕ７號線各站乘坐Ｍ２７號線公車前往 Pankow

Can you give me a short stylistic guide about how to mix these two scripts? I am especially interested in how to handle punctuation

score 4 · Answer 1 · edited Jan 16 '13 at 04:54

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If I understand your question correctly, you're asking how to format a mixed Chinese-Latin sentence... I don't think there is a set of rules on this...

The way I think of it is:

Use the punctuation appropriate for that given sentence/word...

我明天要跟我女朋友去看"Les Misérables"电影。 (It's a latin movie title, so use latin quotes... but a Chinese sentence, so use Chinese 句号)

edited Jan 16 '13 at 04:54

deutschZuid

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answered Jan 14 '13 at 18:30

user3871

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How about spacing between latin and chinese characters? – FUZxxl Jan 14 '13 at 18:39
@商榮沛 My personal opinion is that the spacing rules you used in your question are the best ones (spaces between latin-script words; spacing between latin-script words and chinese characters, unless it's a number). – Stumpy Joe Pete Jan 14 '13 at 18:48
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In Chinese, movie names should be embraced in Guillemet marks (书名号) even if it's in a Latin language. Mainland/Hong Kong style: 《》. Taiwan/Japanese style: 『』. – NS.X. Jan 14 '13 at 18:49
What about interpunctuation? – FUZxxl Jan 14 '13 at 18:53
@商榮沛 Maybe use half-width for all alphanumeric for consistency. – John Siu Jan 15 '13 at 02:45
@商榮沛 What do you mean by "interpunctuation"? – Stumpy Joe Pete Jan 16 '13 at 05:20
How should I choose between füll and half-width commas, full-stops, colons etc – FUZxxl Jan 16 '13 at 07:48

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 16 '13 at 09:39

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First, I don't think there are any prescriptive conventions for text format in mixed languages/character systems.

Secondly, I don't think the example in your question is real 'mixed language'. I think it's Chinese translation with proper nouns, specifically street names, left in its original language, which actually makes sense.

So for this example, I would suggest using Chinese format standards including using full width punctuation symbols.

For real mixed language usage, I would determine the 'primary language' by checking of which language is the grammar in effect, and stick with the format standards for that language. By this definition, your example is using Chinese grammar with a mixed vocabulary, so Chinese format standards should apply.

answered Jan 16 '13 at 09:39

NS.X.

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Your answer gives absolutely no information to me. Please elaborate on "Chinese format standards". My question is about "what is the formatting standard?" and you answer: Use the formatting standard... – FUZxxl Jan 16 '13 at 11:13
@商榮沛 I mentioned that full width punctuation marks should be used. Is there anything else? If you intend to ask how Chinese punctuation works, it is on wikipedia: http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A0%87%E7%82%B9%E7%AC%A6%E5%8F%B7 – NS.X. Jan 16 '13 at 18:56
Where did you day that? – FUZxxl Jan 16 '13 at 19:01
@商榮沛 in the 3rd paragraph. – NS.X. Jan 16 '13 at 19:14
Even between latin words such as 社團處所在 Lehrter Straße 53，附近有 Kruppstraße ， Perlenberger Brücke 和 Quitzowstraße – FUZxxl Jan 16 '13 at 19:17
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@商榮沛 Yes. That's what I mean by "determine primary language and stick with its format standards". – NS.X. Jan 16 '13 at 21:02

How to mix Latin and Chinese script with style?

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