Target-Language Writing and Style
Write to target norms, not source shapes
Target-language writing is judged by how the text reads as a target text. Candidates must control information structure (given before new, theme before rheme), sentence length and subordination habits, voice and agency, nominal versus verbal style, and the cohesive devices native writers actually use. Genres differ: a compact noun phrase that is normal in one document type is clumsy in another, and clause chaining versus embedding is a language-level preference, not a free choice.
Interference is the main defect
Translationese shows up as source word order, overuse of passives or of empty framing phrases, sentence-initial adverbials no native writer would place there, and collocations that are grammatical but unidiomatic. Calques of idioms and of prepositional patterns are frequent, and punctuation and capitalisation habits migrate too.
Traps
- Polishing sentence by sentence and never reading the paragraph aloud; cohesion errors hide between sentences.
- "Improving" the source - the target must be well written and faithful.
- Inconsistent style: mixing formal and colloquial registers, or US and UK spelling, within one document.
- Over-editing terminology so a key term drifts in form across the text.
Rule of thumb
Set the draft aside, then read the target text alone, as though it had been written in that language. Mark every place where you stumble, where a pronoun is unclear, or where a sentence could only have been produced by translation. Revise those; leave the rest alone.