The February issue of the ATA Chronicle has just arrived, and with it an interesting article on translation quality control: "A Second Pair of Eyes: Revision, Editing and Proofreading", by S. Alexandra Russell-Bitting.
After introducing herself and her experience, the author devotes sections of her article to Quality Control in Translation, Revision, Editing, Proofreading, and Managing Quality.
Apart from other things, the article could be very useful in that it differentiates between activities that are often lumped together, confused with each other, or misnamed.
In this case, "Revision" is defined as "checking a translation for accuracy and style", going through the text sentence by sentence and comparing SL and TL.
"Editing" is described as "more creative work than revision [where] you have the freedom to make improvements in the text for readability"
"Proofreading", finally, according to Russell-Bitting is "a final check before publication".
When I am asked by a translation company to "proof" or "edit" a translation, I always have to ask what, exactly, they want me to do: what's proofreading to someone is called editing by a others, and revision is confused with both things. I hope this article may help differentiate between these important translation quality control activities.
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9 comments:
That's rich, a blog about quality in translation operated by a Lionbridge employee. Lionbridge is a fraudulent company that doesn't pay its translators.
Well said. Translating is like going from point A to point B: You can take one of several routes; you can walk, or you can run; you can take your own car, or a cab...
You get the idea: What's important is the final result.
Perhaps not surprisingly, you may encounter also different definitions for "translation": For example, skipping the 100% matches; doing a first draft; translating fast without doing any research; or translating at a slower pace, while checking glossaries, instructions, reference material, and doing some research. Who translates also makes a difference, for example, a native vs. a non-native speaker.
As the saying goes, there is more than one way to skin a cat!
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Editing and proofreading are like twins.One would be incomplete without the other.
Revision is their authoritarian uncle.
Interesting post! "Revision, Editing and Proofreading" is really important. Anyway, thanks for sharing this post. Looking forward for your next post.
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Hi there, I just want to say thank you for giving us knowledge particular the differentiate and importance of these writing process. Nice shared.
Proofreaders must be able to concentrate on their task at hand and not become easily distracted.proofreading service
Good stuff that you have shared here. We will have more informative and helping news from you.
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I have always looked forward to seeing such informative blogs, i have to say that it has very useful and interesting information.
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Great tips for Proofreading and Editing!! I would suggest you to hire a proofreader or editor to edit your piece of writing with perfection.
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