| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] | Agencies omitting editing - is it a new trend? Thread poster: Katalin Horváth McClure
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MariusV 
Lithuania
Local time: 17:37
English to Lithuanian
+ ...
| reviewer or proofreader? | Mar 20, 2008 |
Dear Victoria,
I think we shall simply separate "reviewing" and "proofreading". One thing is just "to take a look" into the text agency received from the translator to see it with a "fresh eye" like you said to notice some errors, etc. (at least to see what you have got and if it is not a different file Another thing is to check/proofread if it was TRANSLATED correctly. In the first case, a reviewer shall not necessar... See more Dear Victoria,
I think we shall simply separate "reviewing" and "proofreading". One thing is just "to take a look" into the text agency received from the translator to see it with a "fresh eye" like you said to notice some errors, etc. (at least to see what you have got and if it is not a different file Another thing is to check/proofread if it was TRANSLATED correctly. In the first case, a reviewer shall not necessarily be a translator if he/she just "takes a glance". However, the proofreader (the person who checks the correctness of translation, not just "scans" the target text with a fresh eye) in my opinion shall be much above the level of the translator - such a proofreader shall have a wast experience in translation, in the area itself. HOWEVER, it happens vice versa - agencies very often give the work of one translator to review by the other translator (both persons are on the same level of "know-how", in many cases, the "proofreader" is even on a lower level. And in many cases agencies simply pretend they have a QA where they even cannot read the target language (I cannot call QA the situation when one translator "supervises" another one). And YES, I think it is a NEW TREND... ▲ Collapse
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Dear Marius,
I agree that the two tasks are not even nearly the same. I did not make any distinctions between the two because this difference not being the topic, it was much more simple to address both those tasks under a single, inclusive term.
Editing/reviewing: The task whereby a person ensures that concepts/ideas/messages were accurately rendered in the target language, ensures that no text strings were skipped and ensures that the correct terminology was used in a... See more Dear Marius,
I agree that the two tasks are not even nearly the same. I did not make any distinctions between the two because this difference not being the topic, it was much more simple to address both those tasks under a single, inclusive term.
Editing/reviewing: The task whereby a person ensures that concepts/ideas/messages were accurately rendered in the target language, ensures that no text strings were skipped and ensures that the correct terminology was used in a consistent manner. Editors/reviewers typically deal with both source and target text. They are usually trained linguists, in most cases translators.
Proofreading/checking: The task whereby a person reads the target text to detect any grammatical, spelling and linguistic errors as well as typos. This person is the one who makes sure the text is ready for publishing. A proofreader typically works with the target text only and is not necessarily a linguist.
Editing/reviewing is usually done after translation. The text is then returned to the translator so that s/he can make the necessary corrections. The edited text is then sent to the proofreader and it is not necessary to send it back again to the translator unless the proofreader has questions. However, the publishing-ready text is often sent back to the translator for a quick reading to make sure it is as perfect as possible.
I believe an editor/reviewer should not necessarily be a translator as long as s/he has good command of both source and target language. What I think is most important for an editor/reviewer is to have excellent knowledge of the subject matter. If the text is about theatrical costumes, s/he should have good knowledge of that art and a mastery of the associated terminology. As for the proofreader, it is not necessary for him/her to be a translator, but they have to have excellent writing skills and attention to detail.
I agree with you, Marius - lots of agencies pretend they have serious QA processes whereas they sometimes don't even know what language the document was translated into (I've seen job offers from agencies asking for translation of text from English into Canadian). This does seem like a trend. I don't think there is much besides education that translators can do about it. But if we refuse to work with unprofessional agencies, that's a start. I think it is not just about watching our finances but also about making sure that unprofessional agencies will not find people to work on machine-translated texts, texts that will not be reviewed/proofread and other such horrors. If these agencies can't find people to do the work, they will either be out of business or recognize that there is a missing link in their processes that needs to be filled in.
All the best! ▲ Collapse
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