Getting quotation marks right per language in Layout
Layout by Zaweba sets typographer's quotes to suit the language of the text, from English and German to French guillemets, Nordic, Polish and Japanese.
Quotation marks look like a detail, and they are. But they're also one of the first things a careful reader notices, because the right marks differ from language to language. Layout by Zaweba sets typographer's quotes in the language of the text, so a German passage gets German quotes and a French one gets French ones.
Straight versus typographer's quotes
Typewriters had one straight mark for both opening and closing quotes. Proper typesetting uses curved marks that differ for opening and closing, and those are typographer's quotes. Straight quotes in printed text look like an oversight, and good fonts include the curly marks precisely so they can be used.
Quotes by language
English uses the familiar curly marks. German typically opens low and closes high. Swiss usage has its own conventions. French uses guillemets, the angled marks, with thin spaces inside them, which Layout handles for you. Nordic, Danish, Polish, Russian and Japanese styles each have their own marks too, and Layout sets the right ones for text in those languages.
Because the choice follows the language of the text, a document can mix languages correctly. A travel guide quoting a German phrase in an English paragraph, or a multilingual leaflet with sections in French and Polish, gets the right marks in each.
Why this matters in practice
Quotation marks carry meaning beyond the words. A French reader seeing English marks in French text, or a German reader seeing French guillemets used the wrong way round, notices immediately, and it undermines the care put into everything else. For publishers working across languages, or for any document that quotes another language, getting this right automatically saves a proofreading pass.
Getting it right
Set the language of the text properly. The quotes follow the language, so a French passage marked as English gets English quotes.
Check text pasted in from elsewhere. It may arrive with straight quotes or the wrong kind; a find/change query can fix them across a story.
Remember apostrophes. The apostrophe is the same shape as a closing single quote in English, and it's worth checking contractions at the start of a word, such as a shortened year, where the wrong mark is common.
When quotes need a closer look
Quotations inside quotations are the place to slow down. English usage alternates double and single marks, and other languages have their own order for nested quotes. Read nested quotations in proof carefully, especially in text that has passed through several hands before it reached the layout, since each editor may have had different habits.
Quote slips worth catching
Mixing straight and curly quotes in one document is the most common, usually from pasted copy.
Language set wrongly is the next. If the quotes in a passage look wrong, check its language before changing the marks by hand.
Fixing quotes by hand in a long document is slow and error prone. Fix the language, or use a saved query.
Small as it is, correct quotation marks are part of what makes a page read as properly typeset, and Layout by Zaweba handles the variations so you don't have to remember them.
