Citing Non-English and Translated Sources in IEEE

Identify the Version You Read

A reference to an English translation needs that translation's publication details. If you read the German original and supply an English explanation of its title, keep the German publication record. That choice determines the publisher, year, and pages your reader should look for.

Einstein's popular relativity book provides a useful comparison. The 1917 German text has a Braunschweig imprint from Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn. The English copy checked here identifies Robert W. Lawson as translator and Methuen as publisher. Its title page says third edition, and its publication-history page dates that edition to 1920.

When citing passages from both texts, give each version its own reference number. Attach each page locator to the edition containing that passage; a page number from the German copy will not locate the corresponding English wording.

Read the Title and Publication-History Pages

For a modern book, inspect the title and copyright pages together. This older translated book records its publication history on the page after the title. Project Gutenberg reproduces those details in the linked text.

The preface ends with December 1916. That dates the preface; it does not change this English edition's publication year. Gutenberg's 2011 eBook release is another date belonging to the digital reproduction. Keep those dates separate in your notes.

Keep Author and Translator Roles Separate

Einstein remains the author. Credit Lawson as translator instead of placing him in the author list. The IEEE Reference Guide's translated-book pattern uses trans. followed by the translator's name. Applying that pattern to the checked edition gives this manually assembled example.

Contributor roles can also affect which material you are citing. Lawson's translator's note identifies Appendix III as an addition written for the translation. A reference to a passage there needs the translated edition's record. A matching author and similar title cannot establish that an earlier version contains the passage.

For name order, initials, and multiple authors, use the IEEE author-name guide. Preserve the translator credit separately while making those changes.

Distinguish Three Uses of a Translated Title

The bracketed wording is our explanatory translation of the German title. It is not a claim that a publisher issued a book under that English title. Sheffield's IEEE guidance allows an English title in brackets after a Roman-script original when the audience needs it. Follow your venue's requirement and keep the original title searchable.

Using the IEEE guide's foreign-book pattern, the German record can be presented as follows. The language note identifies the language of the source consulted.

Check the Rules for Non-Roman Scripts

For Chinese, Japanese, Cyrillic, or other non-Roman scripts, Sheffield recommends romanizing names and titles, then putting an English translation of the item title in square brackets. Its instructions keep the bracketed translation in plain type. This is the university library's interpretation for its users; check the instructions governing your own submission.

Romanization represents the original spelling in Roman letters. Translating the title supplies its meaning in another language. Retain both values in your working record, and use a recognized convention for the source language. Sheffield recommends consulting a language expert or an international standard when the correct form is uncertain.

A machine-generated English title cannot identify a published English edition by itself. Check any claimed translation against its title page and credited translator before changing the source's language or publication fields.

Verify the Publication Details Before Copying

A record combining Methuen with 1917 would mix the two checked editions. Correct the entire record together. Edition numbers also belong to their own publication history, so the English third-edition statement should stay with the English entry.

For newer books, use the ISBN edition-check guide to match the format and language. In the book citation generator, enter the verified author, title, edition, publisher, place, and year. The editor has no translator field. Add the trans. credit manually to the final reference and check it again after any regeneration.

If you translate a quoted passage yourself, identify that intervention beside the quotation according to your venue's instructions and cite the source passage you translated. An English title explanation alone does not tell readers who translated the quoted words. Check page locators against the exact copy used.