Are hyperlinks to other texts in the original text included in the translated text?
Thread poster: Paul Marshall
Paul Marshall
Paul Marshall
Spain
Local time: 11:14
Spanish to English
+ ...
Oct 3, 2019

Hello, I am translating an article from Spanish to English and would like to know if hyperlinks in that original Spanish text should be included in the translated text? Since they are in another language, most readers of the translated text will not understand them so ... ? But some will. Any ideas?

 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 11:14
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Paul Oct 3, 2019

Paul Marshall wrote:
I would like to know if hyperlinks in that original Spanish text should be included in the translated text.


This depends on what the English translation will be used for.

Are these actual hyperlinks (i.e. you click them, they take you somewhere) or are they just web addresses?


 
Paul Marshall
Paul Marshall
Spain
Local time: 11:14
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
They are actual hyperlinks Oct 3, 2019

The article will be published in a digital media.

 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 10:14
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
@Paul Oct 3, 2019

I always leave the hyperlinks and quite often I’m asked to localize them.

 
Paul Marshall
Paul Marshall
Spain
Local time: 11:14
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
@Teresa Oct 3, 2019

What does localising the hyperlinks involve?

 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 11:14
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Paul Oct 4, 2019

Paul Marshall wrote:
I am translating an article from Spanish to English and would like to know if hyperlinks in that original Spanish text should be included in the translated text? Since they are in another language, most readers of the translated text will not understand them.


I recommend including them. If the hyperlink's link text is the URL, then simply adding "(in Spanish)" next to the hyperlink, so that English users know that the pages are in Spanish before they click them.

(I see now the Wikipedia article on hyperlinks refer to the link text in HTML hyperlinks as the "link label". Some web sites refer to it as the "anchor text", but in the HTML world the term "anchor" has a specific meaning. W3C calls it "link text". Anyway, I'm sure you know what I mean.)

You should also tell your client what you have done. If the client understands English, he will be able to replace the URL with an English URL later and will know that he must remove the "in Spanish" from the text, but if he doesn't understand English (or the person who is charged with replacing the URLs does not understand English), he'll end up with "in Spanish" next to URLs to English pages.

Alternatively, if the hyperlink's link text is normal Spanish text, then translate it, but retain the hyperlink, and add "(in Spanish)" next to the hyperlink. Make sure you know how to edit a hyperlink in your program and be aware that there may be viewing modes in which the hyperlink is either visible or invisible to the user.

If the link text is or includes a name (e.g. book title, organisation name, etc.), then translate it like you normally would (or not). If you translate such names by having something in brackets, consider making only the Spanish text a hyperlink, so that users get another hint that the link links to something in Spanish.

You can also translate other translatable elements within the hyperlink. I'm assuming you're referring to an HTML-style hyperlink, and these hyperlinks can also have a "title" (which may show up as a tooltip in certain viewers), so if there is a Spanish title, I would definitely translate it. In fact, most people who omit the link title in hyperlinks do so out of ignorance and not deliberately, so I think it would even be safe to add a link title of your own composition.

Only change the URL itself if you are sure that a page exists at that URL and that the client would want you to link to that page. Do not make changes to the URL only because some part of the URL appears to be language-specific, unless told by the client. For example, do not change http://aaa.bbb.ccc/es/index.html to http://aaa.bbb.ccc/en/index.html unless you know for certain that there such a page and you know that that page is the English equivalent of the Spanish page.


 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 10:14
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
@Paul Oct 4, 2019

When I’m asked to localize hyperlinks it involves changing the language. I’m quite often asked to do this when translating EU documents.

 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 11:14
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Teresa Oct 4, 2019

Teresa Borges wrote:
When I’m asked to localize hyperlinks it involves changing the language. I’m quite often asked to do this when translating EU documents.


How does one change the language of a hyperlink? Can you give us an example of what you mean?

I know that hyperlinks in HTML can contain a "language" attribute, but one should not change that attribute unless the page that the hyperlink points to, is in that other language.


 
Paul Marshall
Paul Marshall
Spain
Local time: 11:14
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
@ Samuel Oct 4, 2019

Many thanks for your long explanation Samuel. That was very helpful.

 
Eva Stoppa
Eva Stoppa  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 11:14
English to German
+ ...
Include hyperlinks Oct 4, 2019

I know a few People who -- although they do speak English -- prefer to read the translated Version of an article. So including a Hyperlink will be perfect for those Readers.

@Teresa: I was also going to ask how you localize a hpyerlink.


 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 10:14
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Explanation Oct 4, 2019

In some cases, I’m asked to edit the hyperlink by checking if the document in question was translated (into Portuguese in my case) and if yes to edit the hyperlink by changing the language:
... See more
In some cases, I’m asked to edit the hyperlink by checking if the document in question was translated (into Portuguese in my case) and if yes to edit the hyperlink by changing the language:

For instance:
https://epale.ec.europa.eu/en/faq#faq-answer-14
https://epale.ec.europa.eu/pt/faq#faq-answer-14

In cases where there are a lot of hyperlinks, as one I did last week, this is extremely tedious and time consuming (but rest assured that I'm paid accordingly).

[Edited at 2019-10-04 14:05 GMT]
Collapse


 
Paul Marshall
Paul Marshall
Spain
Local time: 11:14
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
@ Teresa. Oct 4, 2019

Thanks Teresa.

 


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Are hyperlinks to other texts in the original text included in the translated text?







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