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Angled Quotation Marks in Various European Languages

Some languages, such as French, Catalan or Italian, use angle quotation marks (chevrons or guillemets or duck-foot quotes) and add a quarter-em space (officially) (U+2005,  ) within the quotes. However, virtually all countries that have this rule now use the non-breaking space, because the difference between a non-breaking space and a four-per-em is virtually imperceptible, and the quarter-em is virtually always omitted in non-Unicode fonts. Even more commonly, people just put a normal space between the quotation marks because the non-break is not accessible through their keyboard layout. [Note: full-width non-breaking spaces have been used in examples for technical reasons]

« Voulez-vous un sandwich, Henri ? »

“Would you like a sandwich, Henri?”

There is no such space in other languages, e.g. Polish, Russian or in German, French and Italian Switzerland:

«To jest cytat.»

«Это — цитата».

“It’s a quote.”

Also unlike English, French does not set off unquoted material within a quotation mark by using a second set of quotes. Compare:

“This is a great day for Montrealers,” the minister said. “These investments will permit economic growth.”

« C’est une belle journée pour les Montréalais, soutient le ministre. Ces investissements stimuleront la croissance économique. »

For clarity, some newspapers put the quoted material in italics:

« C’est une belle journée pour les Montréalais, soutient le ministre. Ces investissements stimuleront la croissance économique. »

The use of English quotation marks is increasing in French, and usually follows English rules. English quotes are also used for nested quotations, though single guillemets may also be used for nesting (but very rarely):

« Son ‹ explication › n’est qu’un mensonge », s’indigna le député.

“His ‘explanation’ is just a lie,” the deputy protested.

Spanish uses angled quotation marks as well, but always without the spaces.

«Esto es un ejemplo de cómo se suele hacer una cita literal en español.»

"This is an example of how one usually writes a literal quotation in Spanish."

And, when quotations are nested in more levels than inner and outer quotation, the system is:

«Esto es un “ejemplo de ‘cómo’ se suele ‘hacer’ una cita literal” en español.»

But, like in French, the use of English quotation marks is increasing in Spanish, and usually follows English rules.

Although not common in Dutch in general, double angle quotation marks are used in Dutch government publications. Sometimes, these are also used in German publications, especially in novels, but then exactly reversed and without spacing.

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