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4.1. How to use punctuation marks
4.2. Punctuation in greetings and closings
5.1. Grammatical and Lexical Registers
1. Post-edition at Unbabel
At Unbabel we have a unique approach to translation: each text submitted by a customer is translated by our Machine Translation system, and then corrected by our community of editors in an online platform. By editing the output of the software, the editors ensure the quality of the translations and confirm that the message is accurate (i.e., has the same meaning as the original), fluent (i.e., can be easily understood and sounds natural) and is in line with the style requested by the clients (i.e. respects their register and terminology). In order to help editors do the best job possible, we provide various types of information:
- Customer instructions, which include the identification of the client and his requests to personalize the translation, such as the register that must be used to address the recipient of the message. Following these instructions is vital to deliver translations that match the client’s expectations.
- Glossaries, which correspond to specific vocabulary and expressions used by the client, and that must be respected by the editors.
- Translation Memories, which correspond to stored segments (expressions, sentences or paragraphs) that have previously been translated and accepted for customer usage. They are useful for ensuring consistency across translations.
We also have Smartcheck, which is an application that checks the grammar, morphology, orthography and style of the translations while being edited. By using a large set of rules, Smartcheck flags words or groups of words that may present some kind of issue.
Finally, in order to deliver the best possible translation, we also provide these guidelines about your language specifications. Please, read them carefully and always follow these instructions in your editions.
2. Grammar
2.1. Agreement
The plurality or singularity of a verb typically agrees with the noun. This means that if the noun is in singular form then the verb should be in singular form as well, and if the noun is in plural then the verb would usually be in plural, too.
Examples
Source text: The house is old.
✓ Talo on vanha.
Source text: The houses are old.
✓ Talot ovat vanhoja.
There are, however, some exceptions to this rule where the verb needs to be in singular form even though the noun is in plural form. Below are four of the most common exceptions that you should keep in mind.
Example (passive structure)
Source text: The houses were built in the last century.
✘ Talot ovat rakennettu viime vuosisadan puolella.
✓ Talot on rakennettu viime vuosisadan puolella.
Example (existential clause)
Source text: There are maps on the table.
✘ Pöydällä ovat reittikartat.
✓ Pöydällä on reittikartat.
Example (the noun is plural but refers to an entity)
Source text: The Defense Forces are committed to protecting the environment.
✘ Puolustusvoimat ovat sitoutuneet suojelemaan ympäristöä.
✓ Puolustusvoimat on sitoutunut suojelemaan ympäristöä.
Example (the subject is the word puolet)
Source text: Half of the respondents disagree.
✘ Puolet vastaajista ovat eri mieltä.
✓ Puolet vastaajista on eri mieltä.
2.2. Pronouns
The first-person and second-person pronouns (minä, sinä, me, te) can be (and often should be) omitted because the person is already indicated in the noun or in the predicate:
Examples
Source text: Welcome to our platform.
✘ Tervetuloa meidän palvelumme käyttäjäksi.
✓ Tervetuloa palvelumme käyttäjäksi.
Source text: We will send the information as soon as possible.
✘ Me lähetämme tiedot mahdollisimman pian.
✓ Lähetämme tiedot mahdollisimman pian.
The first-person or second-person pronoun usually only needs to be specified if it is needed for emphasis and it would not sound natural to leave it out:
Example
Source text: Do not take it. It's my bag.
✘ Älä ota sitä. Se on laukkuni.
✓ Älä ota sitä. Se on minun laukkuni.
2.3. Verbs
Using verbs correctly is straightforward for the most part, but even native speakers can sometimes make mistakes in the way they use tenses and participial phrases.
2.3.1. Tense
The perfect tense and imperfect tense are sometimes used differently in Finnish compared to other languages. Pay attention to whether a direct translation of the tense would sound natural. If not, feel free to change it, as long as the intended meaning remains the same.
Example
Source text: This house was built in the 17th century.
✘ Tämä talo rakennettiin 1600-luvulla.
✓ Tämä talo on rakennettu 1600-luvulla.
There is no future tense in Finnish, and we typically use the present tense to refer to future events. The tulla tekemään structure may be used in some rare cases, but if it’s clear from the context that the sentence refers to a future event, you should always use the present tense.
Example
Source text: We will get back to you as soon as possible.
✘ Tulemme palaamaan asiaan mahdollisimman pian.
✓ Palaamme asiaan mahdollisimman pian.
When using the pluperfect tense in a passive structure, make sure not to use the double passive form (ei oltu):
Example
Source text: The mail had not been checked for two weeks.
✘ Postia ei oltu tarkistettu kahteen viikkoon.
✓ Postia ei ollut tarkistettu kahteen viikkoon.
2.3.2. Participial phrases
Participial phrases refer to the following types of verb forms: tehden, tekevän, tehdäkseen. They are not incorrect as such, but it is very easy to use them incorrectly or against the recommendations of the Institute for the Languages in Finland.
Examples
Source text: I'm sorry to hear that you have problems using the service.
✘ Ikävä kuulla sinulla olevan ongelmia palvelun käytössä.
✓ Ikävä kuulla, että sinulla on ongelmia palvelun käytössä.
Source text: Could you please send us a screenshot so that we can investigate further?
✘ Selvittääksemme ongelman lähettäisitkö meille kuvakaappauksen?
✓ Lähettäisitkö meille kuvakaappauksen, jotta voimme selvittää ongelman?
Source text: We always listen to the requests of the users and take them into account in product development.
✘ Kuuntelemme aina käyttäjien toiveita huomioiden ne tuotekehityksessä.
✓ Kuuntelemme aina käyttäjien toiveita ja huomioimme ne tuotekehityksessä.
3. Orthography
3.1. Abbreviations
The most common way to form an abbreviation in Finnish is to leave out as much as possible of the word and end it in a dot.
Examples
telephone number: puh. (puhelinnumero)
million: milj. (miljoona)
for example: esim. (esimerkiksi)
Note: If both parts of a compound word are abbreviated, there should be no whitespace between the abbreviated parts.
Example
Source text: managing director
✘ toim. joht.
✓ toim.joht. (toimitusjohtaja)
Other types of abbreviations include units of measurement (km, m, t, vrk) and abbreviations that consist of the first and last letters of the word (klo, Hki, tmi, nro). These types of abbreviations do not end in a dot.
3.2. Capitalization
In addition to people’s names, the following need to be capitalized in Finnish:
- The first word in a sentence.
- The first word in a title (Näin leivot parhaat pullat, Seitsemän veljestä, Tuntematon sotilas).
- The first word in a proper noun (Euroopan unioni, Suomen käsityön museo).
Note: Country names are capitalized, but nationalities and names of languages always start with a lowercase letter: Etelä-Amerikka, eteläamerikkalainen, Slovakia, slovakialainen, slovakki.
3.3. Compounds
There are main rules of whether to write compound words together or separately:
- If both words are in nominal form, they should be written together.
Example
Source text: bank account
✘ pankki tili
✓ pankkitili
- If the last letter of the first word is the same as the first letter of the second word, there is a hyphen in between.
Example
Source text: administrative court
✘ hallintooikeus
✓ hallinto-oikeus
- If the first word of a compound is in the genitive form, it can sometimes be challenging to tell whether the word should be written together or separately. In most cases, you can find out the correct form by looking it up in the dictionary or other language resources.
Example
Source text: feel-good
✘ elämän myönteinen
✓ elämänmyönteinen
- There are also some cases where the meaning is different depending on whether the words are written together or not. For example, talonpoika refers to a peasant when written as one word, but when written separately as talon poika, it means the son of a house.
- If the first part of a compound is a foreign word, an acronym or a proper noun, a hyphen needs to be used in between. Note that if there is a space in the first part, there also needs to be space before the hyphen.
Examples:
economy class: economy-luokka
offline mode: offline-tila
all stars team: all stars ‑joukkue
EU country: EU-maa
flat-screen TV: taulu-tv
Thames river: Thames-joki
Tomb raider videogame: Tomb Raider ‑videopeli
There is one exception to the above: if the foreign word is already used in an established way in Finnish as if it were a Finnish word, there is no need for a hyphen.
Examples:
bungee jump: benjihyppy
product design: designtuote
website: internetsivusto
3.4. Foreign words
In most cases, foreign words can and should be translated. In some cases where the meaning is very specific and it makes sense to keep that meaning rather than translate it into something more general, it’s okay to use the foreign word in the text and attach an explanatory translation if needed.
Example
Source text: ryokan inn
✓ ryokan-majatalo
3.5. Numerals
Regarding numerals format (written in numbers or words), you must always respect the source text: if they are written as digits in the source text, this should be maintained in the translation; on the other hand, if they are written as words, they should be translated to the target language.
When translating numbers, you should also pay special attention to punctuation. English uses a comma as a thousand separator, but in Finnish it should be changed to a non-breaking space (ALT+0160):
Example
✘ 55,685
✓ 55 685
The correct decimal separator is a comma in Finnish:
Example
✘ 2.5 litraa
✓ 2,5 litraa
3.6. Symbols
Unlike in English, there should be a non-breaking space between a number and a percent symbol:
Example
✘ 30%
✓ 30 %
Note: If the percent sign needs to be read in a grammatical case, that case should be attached to the percent sign: Jos tilaat heti, saat 5 %:n alennuksen.
As for slashes and the use of whitespaces around them, the rule is simple:
- if there are only single words on both sides of a slash, no whitespaces should be used: naimisissa/naimaton/leski/eronnut.
- if there are more than one word on either side, whitespaces need to be added around the slash: kauppa- ja teollisuusministeriö / maa- ja metsätalousministeriö
4. Punctuation
4.1. How to use punctuation marks
- Comma
There should always be a comma between a main clause and a subordinate clause. A subordinate clause typically begins with one of the following words: kun, kunnes, koska, että, jotta, jos, ellei, vaikka, joka (jonka, jotka, joita, jossa etc.) and mikä (mitkä, minkä, mitä etc.).
Examples
Source text: You can leave when you're done.
✓ Voit lähteä, kun olet valmis. / Kun olet valmis, voit lähteä.
Source text: I did not know this was my job.
✓ En tiennyt, että tämä kuuluu minun tehtäviini.
Source text: Please let me know immediately if there is anything about this that you don’t understand.
✓ Ilmoita heti, jos tässä on jotakin epäselvää. / Jos tässä on jotakin epäselvää, ilmoita heti.
Source text: A young woman with a baby in her arms sat on the bench.
✓ Penkillä istui nuori nainen, jolla oli vauva sylissään.
If a subordinate clause is in the middle of a sentence, it needs to be separated on both sides with a comma.
Example
Source text: The item you are interested in is currently unavailable.
✓ Tuote, josta olet kiinnostunut, ei ole tällä hetkellä saatavilla.
A comma is also used between two main clauses if they do not share any elements. You can recognize a sentence made up of two main clauses from the fact that they are joined by one of the following coordinating conjunctions: ja, sekä, eli, tai, vai, sillä, mutta, vaan.
Examples
Source text: The taxi stopped in front of the door and the man got in.
✓ Taksi pysähtyi oven eteen, ja mies nousi kyytiin.
(There is no shared element ® use a comma)
Source text: Anna had breakfast and went to work.
✓ Anna söi aamiaisen ja lähti töihin.
(There’s a shared element [Anna] ® no comma)
Note that commas should NOT be used before or after participial phrases.
Examples
Source text: After checking the calculations again, he sent them to their supervisor.
✓ Tarkistettuaan laskelmat vielä kerran hän lähetti ne esimiehelleen.
Source text: I will contact you later to tell you more about this.
✓ Otan sinuun myöhemmin yhteyttä kertoakseni lisää tästä.
There should also not be a comma between co-ordinate clauses.
Example
Source text: He went home early because he was not feeling well and it was quiet at work.
✓ Hän lähti aikaisin kotiin, koska hänellä oli huono olo ja töissä oli hiljaista.
- Colon
When deciding whether to use a colon, consider whether the part preceding the potential colon forms a complete sentence or not. If it forms a complete sentence, a colon is needed. If not, the colon should be left out, even if there is one in the source.
Examples
Source text: For more information, visit the following address: URL-0.
✓ Katso tarkemmat tiedot seuraavasta osoitteesta: URL-0.
Source text: See the details here: URL-0.
✓ Katso tarkemmat tiedot täältä: URL-0.
The sentences above are grammatically complete without URL-0, so a colon is needed. However, the sentences below are grammatically incomplete without URL-0, so no colon should be added.
Examples
Source text: See URL-0 for more details.
✓ Katso tarkemmat tiedot osoitteesta URL-0.
Source text: For details please visit URL-0.
✓ Tarkemmat tiedot ovat osoitteessa URL-0.
- Hyphen
As mentioned in the part about compounds, a hyphen (-) should be used in compounds that contain a foreign word, proper noun or acronym.
Examples
XYZ product: XYZ-tuote
Facebook page: Facebook-sivu
all inclusive hotel: all-inclusive-hotelli
If there are spaces in the first part of the compound, there should also be a space before the hyphen.
Example
Source text: Internet Explorer browser
✘ Internet Explorer-selain
✓ Internet Explorer -selain
- En dash
An en dash (–) may look almost the same as a hyphen, but it has its own specific uses. In the cases mentioned below, you should always use an en dash, not a hyphen.
Case 1. In ranges of numbers, dates or distance:
Examples
1–25
klo 10–15
ma–pe
3.–7. kesäkuuta
Helsinki–Pariisi-lennot
Case 2. Between parts of sentences:
Examples
Source text: Discover the colorful sweaters in the spring - get three for the price of two.
✓Tutustu kevään värikkäisiin puseroihin – saat kolme kahden hinnalla.
Source text: All shirts - including children's shirts - are now with discount.
Kaikki paidat – myös lasten paidat – ovat nyt alennuksessa.
Case 3. In lists:
Example
Muista ottaa mukaan
- passi
- matkaliput
- varausvahvistus.
- Quotation marks
The standard quotation marks to use in Finnish are double quotes (” ”). Single quotes (’ ’) are very rare, and are mainly reserved for when you need to use quotes within quotes. If you see single quotes in the source text, you should remove them from the translation if the text is clear without them, or replace them with double quotes if it seems clearer.
Note: In most cases, you should not use quotes around names of buttons or other options when referring to user interfaces.
Example
Source text: Click ‘Sign out’ and then click ‘Change User’
✘ Valitse ’Kirjaudu ulos’ ja sen jälkeen ’Vaihda käyttäjä’
✓ Valitse Kirjaudu ulos ja sen jälkeen Vaihda käyttäjä
4.2. Punctuation in greetings and closings
You should only use a comma after a greeting if the first sentence of the message begins with a lowercase letter. If the message starts with a capital letter, you need to remove the comma or replace it with an exclamation mark.
Regarding closings, no comma should be used after the closing before the sender’s name.
Example (greeting)
Source text: Hi, Thank you for your feedback.
✘ Hei, Kiitos palautteestasi.
✓ Hei, kiitos palautteestasi.
✓ Hei! Kiitos palautteestasi.
✓ Hei
Kiitos palautteestasi. (written in different lines)
Example (closing)
Source text: Sincerely, Matti Meikäläinen
✘ Ystävällisin terveisin, Matti Meikäläinen
✓ Ystävällisin terveisin Matti Meikäläinen
5. Register
5.1. Grammatical and Lexical Registers
Register refers to the level of formality used in the text. It shows how our clients address their customers and contributes to the voice of the brand itself. Register may vary depending on the company, the brand, the service they offer, the customers, and the target language.
We make a first main distinction between grammatical and lexical register: the first one regards the the use of pronouns and verb person (for the languages to which this morphological feature is applied), while the latter is related to lexical choices, since some words and expressions also have a degree of formality or colloquialism.
Both these registers are also divided into formal and informal, as shown below.
5.2. Formal Register
Formal register is becoming increasingly rare in Finnish. Some companies still prefer to use formal register in all customer communication, but more and more companies are taking on a more informal approach.
Consider client preferences and context as well as the age range and status of the intended audience when deciding whether to use formal or informal register. If you do opt for formal register, remember to make sure that you use it consistently.
|
Category
|
Examples
|
Type of Register
|
|
Personal pronoun
|
Te
|
Grammatical
|
|
Verb forms
|
Olette
Olette ollut
|
Grammatical
|
|
Greetings
|
Hyvä asiakas
Arvoisa asiakas
|
Lexical
|
|
Closings
|
Yhteistyöterveisin
Ystävällisin terveisin
|
Lexical
|
5.3. Informal Register
Using informal register is a neutral choice and almost always acceptable. Please note, however, that informal register is not the same as colloquial language. Colloquial expressions (e.g. sä, moi, terkuin) are overly informal and never appropriate in written language.
Also note that if the reader is addressed by their first name, you should always use informal register.
|
Category
|
Examples
|
Type of Register
|
|
Personal pronouns
|
Sinä
|
Grammatical
|
|
Verb forms
|
Olet
Olet ollut
|
Grammatical
|
|
Greetings
|
Hei!
Hei Elisa!
|
Lexical
|
|
Closings
|
Terveisin
Ystävällisin terveisin
|
Lexical
|
6. Localization challenges
6.1. Proper nouns
Proper nouns refer to unique entities, such as persons, places, organizations, brands, events, etc. As foreign proper nouns are concerned, languages may adopt different rules regarding whether they should be translated or kept in the original language. When editing a text, you should follow your languages rules for all different types of proper nouns listed below. However, please note that if there is a glossary provided by the client that includes these types of units, you should always apply the glossary items.
6.1.1. Persons
People’s names should generally not be translated. The only exceptions are the names of famous historical figures and fictional characters that have an established Finnish translation.
Examples
✘ Catherine of Aragon
✓ Katariina Aragonialainen
✘ SpongeBob SquarePants
✓ Paavo Pesusieni
6.1.2. Places
Names of cities, countries and monuments should be translated if an established Finnish translation exists. If there is no established Finnish translation, you should use the local name and add an explanatory word if necessary. Do not use the English translation of place names.
Examples
✘ Tiananmen Square -aukio
✓ Taivaallisen rauhan aukio
✘ Roomassa sijaitseva Basilica of Saint Clement -kirkko
✓ Roomassa sijaitseva Basilica di San Clemente -kirkko
6.1.3. Organizations
Names of organizations should typically only be translated if an established Finnish translation exists. If there is an acronym attached to the organization name, the acronym should not be translated.
Example
✘ World Health Organization (WHO)
✓ Maailman terveysjärjestö (WHO)
6.1.4. Brands and products
Names of brands and products should never be translated.
Example
✘ PeliAsema
✓ PlayStation
6.1.5. Other entities
Names of other entities, such as paintings, films and books, should be translated if an established translation exists. If there is no established translation, you should use the original name.
Example
✘ One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
✓ Yksi lensi yli käenpesän
6.2. Acronyms and initials
Acronyms and initials should not be translated unless an established translation exists, such as YK for the UN (Yhdistyneet kansakunnat / The United Nations).
The most common issue with acronyms in Finnish concerns case endings. The correct method of adding a case ending to an acronym depends on the type of the acronym as described below.
Case 1. If it is an acronym, i.e. can be read as a word, the case ending should be added directly to the acronym without a space and without a colon.
Example
✘ UNICEF: ssa
✓ UNICEFissa (pronounced as unisefissa)
Case 2. If it is an initial, i.e. would be pronounced as a combination of letters, the case ending needs to be chosen based on the way the last letter is pronounced and there should be a colon between the acronym and the case ending.
Example
✘ WWFssa
✓ WWF:ssä (pronounced as vee-vee-äffässä)
Case 3. If it’s possible to read the unit either as a word or as a combination of letters, either way of adding a case endings is acceptable, as long as these two forms are not mixed:
Example
✘ iOS:in (incorrect mixed form)
✓ iOS:n (pronounced as ii-oo-ässän)
✓ iOSin (pronounced as iosin)
6.3. Date format
The time format used in Finnish differs from English and most other languages. The correct format is d.m.yyyy (if the day or the month is a single digit, no zero should be added in front of it).
Example
Source text: 05/26/2017 (May, 26th 2017)
✘ 26/05/2017
✓ 26.5.2017
6.4. Time format
Finnish uses a 24-hour time format, and the separator between hours and minutes is always a period, not a colon. Zeroes should not be added.
Example
✘ klo 09:30
✓ klo 9.30
6.5. Measures
Measures should always keep the format of the source text and should never be converted. You should only translate them when they have an equivalent term in your language.
Examples
Source text: The nearest grocery store is 5 miles away.
✘ Lähin ruokakauppa on 8 kilometrin päässä.
✓ Lähin ruokakauppa on 5 mailin päässä.
Source text: 50” flat-screen TV
✘ 127-senttinen taulu-tv
✓ 50-tuumainen taulu-tv
6.6. Currency
Currency values should be left as they are in the source text, only translating the currency.
Example
Source text: 100 euros
✓100 euroa
The currency symbol (€, $, £) should always be placed after the number and preceded by a non-breaking space.
Example
✘ €15
✓ 15 €
Do not translate currency initials (USD, GBP, RUB, INR, DKK, NOK, etc.) as they are a convention accepted worldwide. They should, however, always be positioned after the number and preceded by a non-breaking space.
Example
✘ EUR15
✓ 15 EUR
7. Most frequent errors
The most frequent error categories in edited Finnish texts are overly literal translations, wrong use of punctuation and use of inconsistent register.
- Overly literal
Overly literal translations follow the source structures too closely, which leads to a translation that sounds awkward and unnatural in Finnish. It’s very important to consider what the main point of the source sentence is and how you would express the same idea in natural Finnish.
Examples
Source text: It may be that the problem is caused by your Safari browser.
✘ Se voi olla, että ongelma johtuu Safari-selaimestasi.
✓ Ongelma voi johtua Safari-selaimestasi.
Source text: If this doesn’t work, please contact us back and we will investigate further.
✘ Jos tämä ei toimi, ota yhteyttä takaisin ja tutkimme tarkemmin.
✓ Jos tästä ei ole apua, ota meihin uudestaan yhteyttä, niin jatkamme asian selvittämistä.
- Punctuation
The most common punctuation errors concern the correct use of commas, hyphens, en dashes, punctuation in email greetings and closings, as well as the use of spaces around slashes. All of these errors are easy to avoid by carefully reading and referring back to the punctuation section of these Language Guidelines.
Examples
Source text: You do not have to do anything - automatic renewal is already disabled!
✘ Sinun ei tarvitse tehdä mitään - automaattinen uusiminen on jo poistettu käytöstä!
✓ Sinun ei tarvitse tehdä mitään – automaattinen uusiminen on jo poistettu käytöstä!
Source text: Hi, Thank you for your message.
✘ Hei, Kiitos viestistäsi.
✓ Hei! Kiitos viestistäsi.
Source text: water / gas / electricity / TV / landline / ADSL Internet
✘ vesi / kaasu / sähkö / TV / lankapuhelin / ADSL internet
✓ vesi/kaasu/sähkö/TV/lankapuhelin/ADSL-internet
- Inconsistent register
Inconsistent register refers to cases where formal and informal registers have been mixed by mistake. This error is very easy to make when working fast, so extra care should be taken to check that the register is consistent.
Examples
Source text: It seems that you are a registered company, but we do not find your id.
✘ Vaikuttaa siltä, että olet rekisteröitynyt yrityksenä, mutta emme löydä y-tunnustanne.
✓ Vaikuttaa siltä, että olette rekisteröitynyt yrityksenä, mutta emme löydä y-tunnustanne.
Source text: Could you send the link to the website?
✘ Voisitteko lähettää linkin verkkosivustollesi?
✓ Voisitko lähettää linkin verkkosivustollesi?
8. Useful online resources
Bilingual dictionaries
Finnish dictionary
Finnish grammar, punctuation and spelling guides
Thesaurus
English grammar guide
English dictionaries
English Thesauruses
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