Q. Dear Sir/Madam, all of my resources are from German books, but now I have to write a thesis in English. My question is, if I translated the German book by my own or with a help of software and write it down in English version in my thesis, how can I explain it in the footnote (using Author-Date System for documentation) and in my bibliography? Do I need to mention that the source is translated to English? How can I make a footnote and a bibliography regarding the translation? Could you please give me an example of it? I hope you could help me.
A. You should cite the German book by its German author and title in your list of works cited. Then, when you are quoting from the book, you can note in your citation (in the text or in a footnote) “my translation.” E.g., “(Zelner 2004; my translation).” If all translations are your own, a single note to that effect will suffice. For more guidance, including examples, please see chapter 14 in CMOS.