Russian quotation practice

[Paul B. Gallagher]

Dear colleagues,

Long ago and far away, when I was in academia, I was taught these 
principles for quoting others' work:

1) Use "quotation marks" for direct quotes, when I'm giving the author's 
words exactly as he said them.

2) Use [square brackets] for insertions, interpolations, substitutions, 
and the like, when I'm rewriting part of the author's text.

3) Use ellipses (...) for omissions.

I had always assumed the Russian practice was similar, but in 
translating a long anthology with dozens of authors it appears I was 
mistaken. Can someone clue me in as to what their markings mean and what 
I can reasonably expect from a literate author?

What I'm seeing is that quotation marks seem to indicate a rough 
paraphrase of the original text, and insertions, omissions, and 
substitutions are left unmarked, even when they do great violence to the 
original. After 75,000 words of this, I'm pretty fed up. Here's the 
straw that broke my camel's back:

My author quotes Kant thus, using quotation marks, no brackets, and no 
ellpses:

"Только две вещи наполняют душу трепетом --
звездное небо над нами и нравственный закон внутри нас."

The original was:

"Zwei Dinge erfüllen das Gemüt mit immer neuer und zunehmender 
Bewunderung und Ehrfurcht, je öfter und anhaltender sich das Nachdenken 
damit beschäftigt: Der bestirnte Himmel über mir, und das moralische 
Gesetz in mir."

For those who don't know German -- and I know so little that I should 
put myself in that class -- Wikiquote offers several English 
translations here:

<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Immanuel_Kant#Critique_of_Practical_Reason_.281788.29> 


So are my authors being irresponsible/incompetent/illiterate/etc., or is 
this all I can expect from Russian quotation markings?

Thanks.

-- 
War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
--
Paul B. Gallagher
pbg translations, inc.
"Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
http://pbg-translations.com

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