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Multiple sentences in reported speech

 
 
Reply Tue 28 May, 2013 07:04 am
I am currently translating a report from a meeting in which several people express their ideas. In the original text everything they say is supposed to be in reported speech (e.g. She expressed, he said that, he remarked that etc.) But the problem is that those people uttered several sentences. In the original text only their first sentences are inroduced by "he said" and the rest of them just stays as it is. Also, none of them is backshifted because there is no backshift in the language I am translating from. How do I write it in English? Do I introduce every consecutive sentence with various forms of "he said" and backshift, or do I leave the rest of the sentences as they are without any backshift, or do I backshift the rest of the sentences anyway, but without introducing "he said" at the beginning of each of them? Please, help, for I am in a pickle. Sad Let me quote an example:

X expressed her belief that a path with stones commemorating some of the victims of X was important, but only names and surnames of a small part of those murdered there should be mentioned. X's duty is to give voice also to those whose families did not survive or those whose names are unknown.

What do I do with the second sentence?
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JTT
 
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Reply Tue 28 May, 2013 03:51 pm
@Funky Nun,
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Mame
 
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Reply Tue 28 May, 2013 04:08 pm
@Funky Nun,
You could say, "X said (she felt it was) her duty was to...".

If someone went on for several paragraphs, you could say things like: "X further reported...", "X went on to say..." etc so whoever is reading this knows it's still X talking.
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JTT
 
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Reply Wed 7 Aug, 2013 03:44 am
@Funky Nun,
Quote:
Also, none of them is backshifted because there is no backshift in the language I am translating from. How do I write it in English? Do I introduce every consecutive sentence with various forms of "he said" and backshift, or do I leave the rest of the sentences as they are without any backshift, or do I backshift the rest of the sentences anyway, but without introducing "he said" at the beginning of each of them? Please, help, for I am in a pickle.


There is no requirement to backshift in English. It's only done as an indicator that the speech is being reported/paraphrase, NOT a direct quotation. Newspapers often do it as a matter of style/form but when the events are current and important, we often keep the present tense to illustrate this importance.
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