In general (but not necessarily always) the first letter should be:
- in UPPER CASE in both the English and the non-English language
- or be in lower case in both the English and the non-English language
Examples of the general case: matching case and punctuation
Example 1
The following is wrong. The English word "bent" begins with a lowercase "b" so the Dutch word "boog" should begin with a lowercase "b". In theory both could begin with an uppercase "B", so "Bent" for English and "Boog" for Dutch, but here it's a phrase, not a complete sentence, so it's more correct to show both in lowercase.
EN: bent his head over
NL: Boog zijn kop voorover
The following is correct:
EN: bent his head over
NL: boog zijn kop voorover
Example 2
The following is wrong. The English has no full-stop (.) at the end of the sentence, but the Dutch does. Since they are complete sentences in both English and Dutch, they should both have a full-stop at the end. Note also that the Dutch words spoken (Dood mij maar!) is in speech quotes, but the English words spoken (Kill me!) are not in quotes. There is no reason for the English words not to be in quotes too.
EN: Kill me! Said the poor beast
NL: «Dood mij maar!» zei het arme beest.
The following is correct. Both now end in a full-stop, and both use quotes for the speech. Note that English uses slightly different punctuation to mark spoken words than Dutch. It is absolutely correct to use the different English-style and Dutch-style quotes, because we want students to learn the standard type of punctuation for the language.
EN: "Kill me!", said the poor beast.
NL: «Dood mij maar!» zei het arme beest.
Examples of exceptions
As we are dealing with language, there are many exceptions to the general rule. You should use your judgement to decide whether the general rule applies or not.
Example 3
The following is correct, even though the English begins with a lowercase letter and the German begins with an UPPERCASE letter. All nouns (like cat, door, airport) in German should begin with a capital letter (Katze, Tür, Flughafen).
EN: cat
DE: Katze
Example 4
The following is correct, even though the English begins with an UPPERCASE letter and the French begins with a lowercase letter. In English, the names of languages are written with an UPPERCASE letter, but in French they are written with a lowercase letter.
EN: English
FR: anglais