Punctuation - because it looks pretty

I'm still reeling [taumeln, schwanken] from the message that was passed on to me from a translation client via the agency.

The client said that when they used a colon [:] in the German text, they wanted to see a colon in the English text and not a full stop or a semicolon [;]. 

I replied - via the agency - saying that the way the German use colons and the way the English language uses colons are often two different things.

For one thing, the main rule in English when it comes to colons is that whatever stands in front of the colon MUST be a complete sentence.

For example, it is wrong to write this: "The five continents are: Africa, Asia, Australasia, America and Europe."

This is becuase "The five continents are" does not constitute a complete sentence.

On the other hand, "There are five continents" does. Hence you can write, "There are five continents: Africa, Asia, Australasia, America and Europe."

The woman in the agency sent that explanation on to the client, but, much to her dismay [Bestürzung], and mine, the client wrote back saying that they liked the look of the colon and didn't care about the rules of English.

Fortunately, the woman in the agency said that I should try to keep the colon in wherever possible, but to write correct English. The thing is that the client is a magazine that credits the agency with translating the articles. Who wants to get a reputation for bad translations? Not the agency, and definitely not me either.

Imagine insisting on incorrect punctuation, just because it looks pretty.

We shall see how this goes.