Culture · 6 pages · 12 min
How quotation marks differ by country
Countries do not share one shape of quotation mark, or one rule for what sits inside it.
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From the opening
Quotation marks differ by country because each print tradition picked its own glyphs and its own habits for nesting and for punctuation at the edge. English speakers already disagree between single and double quotes; other languages use guillemets or corner brackets that an English keyboard does not treat as the default. The opening covers double quotes, single quotes, guillemets, the period inside or outside, and corner brackets in Japanese print.
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Inside
- Double quotes, single quotes, guillemets
- The period inside or outside
- Corner brackets in Japanese print
- A translation may change the marks
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Guillemets in French typography
- American and British quotation-mark conventions