Principles of punctuation in English and Russian

It is difficult to overstate the importance of proper punctuation in written translation. Readers of translation evaluate not only the content but also the form of the translation. A translator’s accuracy, neatness, efficiency and carefulness are assessed by the completed translation. Moreover, a firm’s reputation can depend on the accurate and neat documents prepared by the translator.

The semantic role of punctuation is crucial when a comma can decide vital things (remember the Russian joke: Казнить нельзя помиловать. Or the analogous English phrase: Some time after the actual date was set.)

English and Russian punctuation “provide a fresh challenge” for both Russian and English students because it is based on different principles in both languages. In Russian, punctuation is, first and foremost, structurally dependent, which means that specific structures (such as parallel (homogeneous) parts of the sentence, participial phrases, subordinate clauses etc.) are singled out in the sentence. Russian punctuation is regulated by syntactic rules - for many Russian schoolchildren syntax is associated with punctuation. English punctuation is logically and communicatively bound. It depends much more on semantics and intonation; therefore, it is likely that Russian students consider it to be more subjective. Optional information segments and rhythmic groups are normally separated by a comma: At the back of good English dictionaries, there is usually a list of current abbreviations. Also, we noticed that the salaries declined after the first year. In general, the principle of English punctuation can be formulated as follows: the closer semantic bonds, the closer the word position should be. The more optional information is, the more separated (by punctuation marks) the sentence parts are.

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