Multilingual Typesetting Note: Quotation Marks

What do you think of this typesetting?

I would like to make corrections to these typesetting as there are some issues. Where and how should I make the corrections to improve it?

Negative Points

Improvement Plan

Quotation marks are used not only for quotations and conversations, but also to imply sarcasm or hidden meanings rather than their literal meaning. They are not often used for emphasis. Therefore, it is a bit strange to surround Akihabara with quotation marks. It may raise unnecessary doubts, such as "Are you going outside of the city called 'Akihabara'?" The apostrophe indicates the omission of sound (letters).

Replace dumb quotation marks with proper ones

The straight ' and " are symbols derived from typewriters that are sometimes mocked as "dumb quotes". To simplify the keyboard, the opening ('/"") and closing ('/"") quotes were created by adding and dividing by 2. Dumb quotes are not characters used in typesetting. They may be used in coding for machines to read, but not in typesetting for humans to read.

If idiotic quotation marks are used in the text manuscript, they need to be replaced with proper quotation marks during typesetting. If you simply insert them without knowing, the forms of the opening and closing quotation marks will be the same and it will be difficult to read, and it will ignore the differences in form between languages. It may also give readers a bad impression that you did not know, forgot, or took shortcuts in the replacement.

The formal quotation marks are called smart quotes, and in English, we use a single quote that is raised and rotated from the baseline ‘U+2018　’U+2019 and a double quote that is stacked twice “U+201C　”U+201D. The usage is different in British and American English (example 1). The apostrophe is used at the beginning, middle, and end of a word ’U+2019 (example 2).

Quotation marks differ depending on the language.

Quotation marks not only differ between English-speaking countries, but also vary depending on the language. Ignoring these differences can make it difficult for readers to understand or make it seem like you are taking shortcuts. Instead of trying to unify with English or using awkward quotation marks, let's respect the differences in each language and use them appropriately. This will increase both the readability for readers and the credibility of the document.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: When I checked with the local native, they said it's okay to use dumb quotation marks. So I don't need to replace them, right?

A: No, it's not possible. Just because someone is Japanese doesn't mean they are knowledgeable about Japanese typesetting. Similarly, just because someone is a local doesn't mean they are knowledgeable about local typesetting. Please confirm with someone who has knowledge about typesetting. It's not right to bring compromises made for typewriters into the world of typesetting.

Q: The BBC used silly quotation marks on their TV and website. Shouldn't we just leave them as they are?

A: If you are involved in BBC program production or website construction, that's fine. However, official quotation marks are used in BBC printed materials. It seems that BBC has some kind of intention and deliberately uses them differently. I didn't investigate the reason, but at least they are not using foolish quotation marks without thinking.

Main Reference Materials

Kobayashi Akira "The Mystery of Fonts" Bijutsu Shuppan, 2011
Contoyo "Common Mistakes in Handling Western Fonts" CSS Nite LP21 (Seminar), 2012
https://cssnite.jp/archives/post_2378.html