Muriel Vasconcellos May 4, 2015:

@ Mario I never said anything about "judging what is right or wrong in someone else's document." We are translating into a target language for which there is no *certain* equivalent because it's a plant that is not common in places where English is spoken. Linnaeus invented the universal language of botany for precisely these circumstances. It's done all the time in scientific papers.

Mario Freitas May 4, 2015:

Ok, girls, I just don't think the translator is in a position to judge what is right or wrong in someone else's document. We are hired and paid to translate, not to judge technical aspects of the text or practices of the market. Unless the client or the author says "OK", we translate the text as it is. If I were Maria's client and she simply purged the common names from the translation, I would not appreciate that at all.
But it's all a matter of professional principles. Each professional works in their own way, and the others cannot criticize. So this was merely an observation.
And, correct, Bia. If the author used both names, he certainly had a reason for that.

Muriel Vasconcellos May 4, 2015:

@ Beatriz and Mario Yes, that's a good suggestion as well.

Beatriz Baker Méio May 4, 2015:

@Mario and Muriel I agree with Muriel, generally speaking. In the case of scientific papers, however, we often include the local name within quotation marks because knowing the common name (even in a foreign language) can help a scientist find more information about the species (and sometimes even look for the plant in loco). It kinda boils down to personal preference...

Muriel Vasconcellos May 4, 2015:

@ Mario It's very typical in horticultural texts to list common names with the scientific names in parens and then the scientific names only when you're not sure of the common names. I see it all the time and I often do it myself in plant lists. (I'm a landscape designer on the side with 40 academic units in horticulture.)
The idea behind this practice is to avoid using a common name that you're not sure of, as common names tend to be misleading at best (the same name for multiple plants, a regionalism only, etc.), whereas you always know that the scientific name is correct across all languages. Bottom line: a mix of both is OK as long as you're not guessing at the common names.

Mario Freitas May 4, 2015:

The original text has the common names and the scientific names in parenthesis. What you are suggesting is to ignore all the common names and take the scientific names off the parenthesis? Should the translator do that? If the author kicks the machine to restart it, the translator does the same, except in a different language.

Muriel Vasconcellos May 4, 2015:

@ Mario But I had the experience of a trained horticulturist to know not to use the common names. It's like the repairman who knows where to kick the machine to get it started again.

Mario Freitas May 4, 2015:

If I knew you'd choose all the scientific names that are already in the questions, I wouldn't have spent all the time I spent looking for the common names and references.