Translator CreditTranslator Credit — illustrated emblem for the Mr. B Quotes glossary, category Attribution & CitationTATTRIBUTION & CITATION
Attribution & Citation

Translator Credit

Naming the translator, because a quotation in translation is also that translator's wording.

A translator credit names the person whose English you are actually quoting. When you cite a line from Rilke or Basho or Marcus Aurelius in English, the diction, rhythm, and word choice belong to a translator; the author supplied the sense. Style guides therefore treat the translator as a named contributor: 'trans. Gregory Hays' in Chicago, 'Translated by Gregory Hays' in MLA.

The practical consequence for quotation is large. Different translations of the same passage produce different famous lines, and readers who compare them often find they have been quoting a translator's invention. Meditations is the standard demonstration: the Hays, Farquharson, and Long versions of the same paragraph diverge enough that a memorable phrase in one may be absent from another.

Where you have translated a passage yourself, say so — 'my translation' or 'translation mine' in a note. Where a translation is out of copyright and you have modernised it, that too is a change readers are entitled to know about.

Common mistake: quoting an unnamed translation found online. Anonymous internet translations of classical texts are frequently loose paraphrases, and they are a major source of quotations that no scholarly edition can confirm.

Example
You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
Marcus Aurelius, trans. Gregory Hays · Meditations — widely circulated without the translator's name, though the phrasing is Hays's rather than a literal rendering of the Greek.
Related terms

Keep reading the glossary