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1. Post-edition at Unbabel

2. Grammar

2.1. Agreement

2.1.1. Tense, mood, aspect, person (for verbs)

2.1.2. Gender and number (nouns and adjectives)

2.2. Pronouns

2.3. Verbs

3. Orthography

3.1. Abbreviations

3.2. Apostrophes

3.3. Capitalization

3.4. Compounds

3.5. Foreign words

3.6. Numerals

3.7. Symbols

4. Punctuation

4.1. How to use punctuation marks

4.2. Punctuation in greetings and closings

5. Register

5.1. Grammatical and Lexical Registers

5.2. Formal Register

5.3. Informal Register

6. Localization challenges

6.1. Proper nouns

6.1.1. Persons

6.1.2. Places

6.1.3. Organizations

6.1.4. Brands and products

6.1.5. Other entities

6.2. Acronyms and initials

6.3. Date format

6.4. Time format

6.5. Measures

6.6. Currency

7. Tricky cases

8. Most frequent errors

9. Useful online resources

 

 

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:

1. 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.
2. Glossaries, which correspond to specific vocabulary and expressions used by the client, and that must be respected by the editors.
3. 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.

 

2.1.1. Tense, mood, aspect, person (for verbs)

Verbs can inflect according to mood and time, in which case they are called finite verbs; alternatively, they can be non-finite verbs and inflect according to a non-finite category.

 

Example

Source text: Otherwise I would have voted for him.

✘ Men ellers have jeg stemt på ham.

✓ Men ellers ville jeg have stemt på ham.

 

2.1.2. Gender and number (nouns and adjectives)

There are two grammatical genders in Danish: common and neuter. All nouns are divided into these two classes. The singular indefinite article (‘a'/’an’ in English) is en for common nouns and et for neuter nouns. Unlike English, singular definite nouns in Danish are rendered by placing the indefinite article as a suffix at the end of the noun.

 

The articles and suffixes for plural nouns are more complex. There is a certain degree of predictability of the plural form based on the gender and the number of syllables in a word. However, even among regular nouns, the choice between -er and -e for common gender nouns is not predictable in monosyllables. There are also many irregular nouns.

 

Adjectives, which must agree in gender and number with the noun which they qualify, generally form the neuter by adding -t, and their plural by adding -e to the abstract singular form (as in en god mand, et godt barn, gode drenge).

 

When the adjective is preceded by the independent demonstrative article (den, det, de), it generally takes an –e (as in den gode mand, det gode barn, de gode drenge).

When the adjective ends in -e or -s, these letters remain unchanged (as in den stakkels mand, det stakkels barn).

 

Example

Source text: Everyone can freely use all facilities.

✘ Alle kan frit benytte samtlige facilitet.

✓ Alle kan frit benytte samtlige faciliteter.

 

Danish pronouns include the following:

• personal pronouns (which refer to the persons speaking, the persons spoken to, or the persons or things spoken about);
• indefinite pronouns (which refer to an identifiable but not specified person or thing);
• relative pronouns (which connect parts of sentences);
• reciprocal pronouns (which are used when each of two or more subjects is acting in the same way towards the other);
• reflexive pronouns (which are used when the object of a sentence is the same as the subject);
• demonstrative pronouns (which can be used for both pointing and identifying a noun or something, and also to refer to the distance among “the thing”, the speaker and the listener);
• possessive pronouns (which refer to possession or belonging);
• interrogative pronouns (which allow us to build a question around the thing that the pronoun refers to).

 

Please note that personal pronouns are declined according to their position in the sentence, i.e. whether they are the subject or the object of the sentence. Pronouns have the same form in both indirect and direct objects.

 

Example

Source text: I am talking to you.

✘ Mig taler til du.

✓ Jeg taler til dig.

 

The class of verbs covers regular and irregular verbs, modal auxiliaries, etc. Note that the morphosyntactic category is dependent on the syntactic use of the word. For example, in the sentence ‘Man bruger det til at tilpasse hjemmesiden til den enkelte bruger', the word 'bruger' is a verb in the context 'man bruger det', but it’s a noun in the context 'til den enkelte bruger'.

 

The category of participles includes perfect participles and progressive participles. In addition to verbs, participles can also function as adjectives or nouns.

 

Note how the word class of a participle is determined by the context: when a participle appears as part of the verb chain (Jeg er blevet fornøjet) or when there is a predicate complement or an adverbial connected with it (blevet ganske fornøjet), it obtains a verbal reading. On the other hand, when a participle is preceded by a premodifier (ganske fornøjet), it obtains a nominal reading.

 

Example

Source text: I've been quite happy.

✘ Jeg bliver ganske fornøjet.

✓ Jeg er blevet ganske fornøjet.

 

Abbreviations for months, dates, etc. are always followed by a dot. On the other hand, abbreviations for measurements of weight, height, etc. are never followed by a dot.

 

Example

Source text: I lost 10 kg since Jan.

✘ Jeg har tabt mig 10 kg. siden jan

✓ Jeg har tabt mig 10 kg siden jan.

 

Apostrophes can occur in Danish in several instances, as can be observed here.

• If a noun or name ends in -s or -x, the possessive -s will be replaced by an apostrophe (Carlos’ røde bil).
• In written slang (Ta’ mig med).
• With abbreviations without a dot (hf’er, GPS’en).
• With numerals and symbols (80’erne, P3’s).
• When letters and words are being used as values (h’er, 3’ere).

  

In Danish, only names, countries, 'special' places, cities, titles, etc. can  occur with capital letter.

And, unlike in English, nationalities (dansker), languages (dansk), days (mandag) and months (august) are not capitalized.

 

In Danish, compound words are written in one word. In some cases, the meaning even changes depending on whether it is one or two words.

 

The compound needs a hyphen if:

• It includes a foreign word (it-afdeling);
• if a part of the compound is an abbreviation, regardless of the abbreviation is foreign or not (S-togsstation, TV-skærm).

 

Danish is very adaptive when it comes to foreign words, and, regarding more modern and technological concepts, it seemed easier to simply adopt the English words rather than creating a new one. Some examples are: computer, upload & download.

 

Example

Source text: I downloaded the game on my computer.

✘ Jeg har nedlastet spillet på min datamat.

✓ Jeg har downloadet spillet på min computer.

 

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.

 

Note that the conventions for punctuating large numbers differ between languages. For example, English uses a comma to indicate groups of thousands while Danish uses a dot.

 

Example

Source text: 10,000 crowns

✘ 10,000 kroner

✓ 10.000 kroner

 

Also, English uses a period to indicate the decimal place and, on the other hand, Danish uses a comma: 2.5 dollars (EN) → 2,5 dollar (DA). Note that this applies to all numbers with decimal place, not just in currencies.

 

Example

Source text: 3.5 dollars

✘ 3.5 dollar

✓ 3,5 dollar

           

Pay particular attention to the translation of large numbers in Danish. For example, the English term “billions” is not translated to Danish into billioner. It’s a false friend.

 

Example

Source text: 15 billions

✘ 15 billioner

✓ 15 milliarder

 

The rule in Danish regarding the use of the percentage symbol (%), is that it is always preceded by a whitespace. For other symbols (/, |), there should be no whitespace.

 

Example

Source text: Hats/shoes are 50% cheaper.

✘ Hatte / sko er 50% billigere.

✓ Hatte/sko er 50 % billigere.

 

 

 

• Comma | ,

Always place a comma between independent clauses and always place a comma after a dependent clause (the fixed final comma). On the other hand, it is optional to place a comma before a dependent clause (the optional start comma).

 

• Colon | :

This form of punctuation is used similarly to how it is used in English.

 

• Semicolon | ;

This form of punctuation is used similarly to how it is used in English.

 

• Period | .

In Danish, there are no full stops after headings or titles.

Full stops should be used:

•  after bullet points if they are not simple lists; 
•  if the points include sentences, a full stop is used at the end;
• after figures in dates (24. december)

 

Also, when brackets are used, the full stop appears outside the brackets.

 

• Exclamation point | !

Important: Danish uses exclamation points much less frequently than English does. In fact, exclamation points are hardly ever used in Danish. They are used in connection with orders or instructions like "Give me that!", "Be quiet!" etc. and therefore, they may come across as offensive. In a customer service context, exclamation points can be perceived as bossy and the customer may take offense, so it is much better avoided.

 

• Question mark | ?

This form of punctuation is used similarly to how it is used in English.

 

• Hyphen | -

Danish uses hyphens when a foreign word part is followed by a Danish word, and when a name is followed by a Danish word (SCSI-disk).

 

• En dash | –

This form of punctuation is used similarly to how it is used in English.

 

• Em dash | —

This form of punctuation is used similarly to how it is used in English.

 

• Quote marks | “ ”

This form of punctuation is used similarly to how it is used in English.

 

• Brackets | ( ) [ ] { }

This form of punctuation is used similarly to how it is used in English. 

 

You should not insert a comma between the greeting and a name, and  you should not insert a comma either - or a full stop, for that matter - after the greeting, regardless of whether you use 'Hej', 'Kære' or 'Godmorgen'. The line spacing after the opening greeting serves as a sign. Therefore, you should also start the following paragraph with an initial capital.

Hello Paul,

✘ Hej Paul,

✘ Hej, Paul

✘ Hej Paul.

✓ Hej Paul

 

Hello,

✘ Hej,

✘ Hej.

✓ Hej

 

A closing should not be followed by a comma either, as pointed out here (Paragraph 41, 2e). Closings with commas are anglicisms.

 

Example:

Source text: 

Sincerely,

Mike

✘ Venlig hilsen,

Mike 

✓ Venlig hilsen

Mike

 

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 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.

 

The pronouns listed below are rarely used nowadays, as they belong to a high level of formality.

Category	Examples	Type of Register
Personal pronouns	De, Dem, Deres	Grammatical

 

 

Informal register is the most common register used in Danish, and it includes the following pronouns.

Category	Examples	Type of Register
Personal pronouns	du, dig, din	Grammatical

 

 

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

A person’s name is kept untranslated in Danish, except for certain celebrities or cartoon/movie characters. Depending on the context, it is sometimes possible to replace the foreign celebrity with a Danish equivalent, in order to enhance the comprehension of a joke or reference (e.g. Donald Trump becomes Lars Løkke Rasmussen).

 

Example

✘ Britney Spyd

✓ Britney Spears

 

6.1.1. Places

Place names are mostly untranslated in Danish, except for certain places (Ny Guinea). Depending on the context, it is sometimes possible to replace the foreign place with a Danish equivalent, in order to enhance the comprehension of a joke or reference (e.g. Texas becomes Sønderjylland).

 

Example

Source text: I live in New York.

✘ Jeg bor i Ny York.

✓ Jeg bor i New York.

 

6.1.3. Organizations

Organizations (e.g. University of Birmingham) are kept untranslated in Danish. Depending on the context, it is sometimes possible to replace the organization with a Danish equivalent, in order to enhance the comprehension of a joke or reference (e.g. MIT becomes DTU).

 

Example

Source text: A new study from the University of Birmingham.

✘ Et nyt studie fra Birmingham-universitetet.

✓ Et nyt studie fra University of Birmingham.

 

6.1.4. Brands and products

Brands (e.g. Sony) and products (e.g. PlayStation) are kept untranslated in Danish.

 

Example

Source text: Available at all Apple retailers.

✘ Kan købes hos alle æbleforhandlere.

✓ Kan købes hos alle Apple-forhandlere.

 

6.1.5. Other entities

Entities such as art (paintings), events (festivals, theatre plays, etc.), names of boats (e.g. Titanic), etc. are kept untranslated in Danish.

 

Example

Source text: A concert from the Burning Man festival.

✘ En koncert fra Brændende mand-festivalen.

✓ En koncert fra Burning Man-festivalen.

 

Acronyms usually follow the English positioning. If the acronym doesn’t exist in Danish, keep source abbreviation.

 

Example

Source text: Denmark is a member of NATO.

✘ Danmark er medlem af OTAN.

✓ Danmark er medlem af NATO.

 

In Danish, the official and traditionally date format standard is DD.MM.(YY)YY.

 

Example

Source text: The meeting is on 01/31/2018.

✘ Mødet er d. 01/31/2018.

✓ Mødet er d. 31/01/2018.

✓ Mødet er d. 31/01/18.

 

Contrary to English, which uses a 12-hour format, followed by AM/PM, In Danish, time needs to be changed to a 24-hour format.

 

Example

Source text: The time is 4 PM.

✘ Klokken er 4 PM.

✓ Klokken er 16.00.

 

Measures should always keep the format of the source text and should never be converted. Only translate them when they have an equivalent term in Danish.

In Danish, measure terms such as inches, feet, centimeters, etc. are translated. However, note that abbreviations should be kept (e.g. 2 ft, 20 cm).

 

Example

Source text: The boat was 20 feet long.

✘ Båden var 20 feet lang.

✓ Båden var 20 fod lang.

 

Currency values should be left as they are in the source text, only translating the currency.

 

Example

Source text: I'll send you 50 euros.

✘ Jeg sender dig 50 euros.

✓ Jeg sender dig 50 euro.

 

In Danish, the position of the currency symbols (€, $, £, etc.) follows the national standard for that symbol and if they come after the value, they are always preceded by a whitespace.

 

Example

Source text: It costs 100 kr.

✘ Den koster 100kr.

✓ Den koster 100 kr.

 

Do not translate currency initials (USD, GBP, RUB, INR, DKK, NOK, etc.) as they are a convention accepted worldwide. They are positioned after the value and they are preceded by a whitespace.

           

Example

Source text: The total price is 100 USD.

✘ Samlet pris er 100USD.

✓ Samlet pris er 100 USD.

 

 

Sometimes, it is easy to mix up English and Danish, especially when using common words and terminology. Pay attention to use the correct Danish words or expressions rather than the English, and if in doubt, look it up.

 

Example

Source text: It is very confortable.

✘ Det er meget komfortabelt.

✓ Det er meget behageligt.

           

Below you can find the most common errors observed in machine translation.

 

• Overly Literal

 

The classic example is the English expression “It’s raining cats and dogs”, which has different translations in the different languages. Pay special attention to use the correct Danish translations.

 

Example

Source text: Have a good one. [meaning ‘have a good day’]

✘ Hav en god en.

✓ Hav en god dag. [In Danish, this is the expression with the closest similar meaning]

 

• Compound words

 

As previously explained, in Danish, compound words are written together into one word or separated by a hyphen. Be careful not to leave the elements of a compound separated.

 

Example

Source text: Facebook profile

✘ Facebook profil.

✓ Facebook-profil.

 

• Punctuation

 

Watch out for missing punctuation, but make sure it still matches the source text. Danish uses more commas than English, so be alert for conflicting or missing commas.

 

Example

Source text: Click here to play now.

✘ Klik her for at spille nu.

✓ Klik her for at spille nu.

 

Danish grammar guides & dictionaries

Sproget.dk

Dansk Sprognævn

Den Danske Ordbog

 

Bilingual dictionaries

WordReference

Linguee

 

English verb conjugator

Reverso

 

English grammar guide

English Grammar Online

 

English dictionaries

Oxford English Dictionary

Collins English Dictionary

Cambridge English Dictionary

 

Thesauruses

Thesaurus.com

Oxford English Thesaurus

Collins English Thesaurus