Danish APA

SigridEG
Two problems,

Firstly, the program won't referer the first of three references of the same author and year with "2012a", so instead it simply puts "2012" for the first reference, and then goes on to "2012a" for the second one - this isn't according to APA.

Secondly, and this might be very language specific, but when shortening down a reference the second time it uses the danish version of "et al." which isn't APA either, that would be "m.fl.". I'm told changing language might solve this, but then the bibliography will not be in Danish.

Is the only option to manually change these things at the very end? Or can this actually be fixed?
  • adamsmith
    1. Isn't generally the case and has nothing to do with the Danish locale. Does that happen in a new document? In the same document after clicking refresh? In the same document after switching to a different style and back?

    2. So are you saying this should be "et al." instead of "m.fl." in Danish APA (is Danish APA described anywhere? For language questions such as this, "isn't APA" doesn't really make sense, since APA is an English manual and makes no indication whether and how terms should be translated)
  • SigridEG
    Switching between different styles worked! Thanks.

    What I meant was that from the APA style I have been taught (used both in English and Danish), using the Danish version (m.fl.) isn't correct according to APA, like ibid wouldn't be either, hence the use of et al..
    But I guess what your saying is that there is no solution to this.
  • adamsmith
    This is absolutely fixable for Danish at a technical level, but there's no obvious "correct" answer to this given the APA manual (which only speaks to how the English version of the style should look), so we'd ideally want to see some Danish sources prescribing et al for a Danish APA style.
  • SigridEG
    But if there is no "correct" answer to this given by the APA manual, shouldn't it be possible for oneself to determine whether the standardisation is m.fl. or et al.?

    Is there a Danish source prescribing the use of m.fl. for Danish APA? Since the English manual makes no indications whether and how terms should be translated, as you stated.

    At a technical level, would this mean manually changing the reference each time?
  • bwiernik
    No, what he means is that we could change the APA style code to use et al instead in Danish, but before we do that, we would want to be able to document that that is actually the common practice. The reasonable default behavior when translating styles is that all of the words and terms are translated.

    Do you have a link to a guide to APA style for Danish researchers, or to some Danish publications using APA stye that we could refer to showing that et al is used?

    For comparison, the German Psychological Association (DGP) has a style guide that specifies that a translated APA style should be used, but with et al not translated.
  • DWL-SDCA
    edited April 25, 2019
    The abbreviation et al. is not “English”. “Et al.” is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase et alia, which means “and others.” Granted, I don’t know how common it is to use Latin phrase abbreviations with scholarly writing in languages other than English.

    Edit: Nor do I know the real story behind the highfalutin retention of some Latin phrases in English academic writing.
  • adamsmith
    It's English in the same way that i.e., e.g., etc. (see what I did there?) are English. I'm well aware of its origins as I'm sure is Brenton.
  • DWL-SDCA
    off topic
    Yes, Sebastian, I’m sure that you and Brenton (both multilingual) know the Latin origins and I did really like what you did there. I have friends whose first language is Dutch, French, or Persian and we jokingly banter about the merits of these Latin phrase abbreviations in English academic writing and their use or equivalent when writing in other languages. I wasn’t writing to criticize you but as a comment or explanation [this sort of thing has been discussed here before in other contexts] for the use of the many readers of this thread who are not you.

    off, off topic
    I am not sufficiently multilingual as I am the product of a school system from rural Louisiana where no “foreign” languages were offered in primary or secondary school. Indeed, learning languages other than English was actively discouraged in part because of a prejudice against Cajun French in the southern part of the state and against traditional Spanish in other parts of Louisiana. Some parishes (counties) had systems where second languages were available but not where I lived in the late 1950s and 1960s. Colleges and universities didn’t have language requirements and I foolishly didn’t pursue non-English language learning until I was approaching middle age.
  • SigridEG
    Okay wonderful, I'll get back to you.
    My university and country does not seem to have specific guidlines related the Danish APA, and since I also understand et al. as a Latin abbreviation, which Danish also uses for etc., then I would simply assume that the program would do so as well.

    Understandable that you will need some guidlines or Danish publications to verify.

    Which leads me back to the root of the problem which is that no specific "Danish" guidelines are provided at my university, nor have I been able to find genereal Danish guidlines for APA, so I only have varies professors pointing out that for APA et al. is used rather than some Danish translation. Therefore, I'll find some Danish publications using et al. to verify.
  • SigridEG
    So would you prefer me just linking to multiple publications and guidlines from other Danish universities and educational facilities in this forum?
  • adamsmith
    yes, that'd do.
  • SigridEG
    Googling APA guidelines in Danish brings up multiple references of the use et al. for 6 authors or more or when shortening the reference the second time used, e.g.:

    http://studypedia.au.dk/fileadmin/user_upload/Vejledning_Professionshoejskolen_metropol.pdf

    https://biblioteket.pha.dk/sites/default/files/apa-standard_laereruddannelsen_professionshoejskolen_absalon_0.pdf

    https://www.bibl.ucsyd.dk/sites/default/files/uc_syds_guide_til_apa-standard.pdf

    I know you won't understand Danish, but search for et al. versus m.fl. and the preference of et al. will be clear.

    Furthermore I have a problem locating Danish publications using et al., because nowadays most Danish scholars primarily publish English articles and research, and only Danish books, however if need be I'll will try and locate Danish written research.

    Let me know.
  • adamsmith
    guides are better than publications anyway. Haven't checked them in detail, but this should be plenty to make the change.
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