| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Should I have my translations proofread before submitting to end client? Thread poster: makenaiboy (X)
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Sanjay Ray 
India
Local time: 20:19
Member (2002)
English to Bengali
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| Proofreading is part of a translators job | Jul 24, 2008 |
Proofreading is part of a translators job.
Very often, the proofreading part is not discussed with the translators. The clients may assume it is the duty of the translator to deliver a proofread job. The translator may think the client will arrange for a proofreader, because they are an agency.
As is already told, Translation as a process which constitutes of the following steps- glossary making, translation, typesetting, editing and proofreading. And as a gen... See more Proofreading is part of a translators job.
Very often, the proofreading part is not discussed with the translators. The clients may assume it is the duty of the translator to deliver a proofread job. The translator may think the client will arrange for a proofreader, because they are an agency.
As is already told, Translation as a process which constitutes of the following steps- glossary making, translation, typesetting, editing and proofreading. And as a general rule, the translator is supposed to deliver a final product that is error free.
If it is something which you think should be paid for, better negotiate with the client at the begining. It does not matter whether your client is an agency or a direct client.
THis is more so when they (clients) specifically mention that they need proofreading by a third party. Again negotiate before hand for third part charges and include in your translation rate.
Some people say that if you work with an agency they are usually responsible for quality assurance. So you dont need to prooread your files. To me it seems not fair. As a translator we should take responsibility for our job and can not expect some body else will do it for me.
If the client still arranges a third party proofreader it is good for them.
When you work with a direct client then you need to negotiate all the steps involved in the translation process and ask for a suitable rate.
In any case translators should take responsibility for their own jobs. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Different proofreading | Jul 24, 2008 |
Of course within the translation process there is proofreading of our own work. We always try to deliver a finished job. But still the job should always be proofread by at least one 3rd party that looks at it with a fresh mind and is able to find a typo, missing word or something else that we haven't been able to spot.
These are different "proofreadings"...
[Edited at 2008-07-24 13:58]
| | | | wonita (X)
China
Local time: 10:49
| Friends and relatives | Jul 24, 2008 |
Sometimes I send my translations, mostly materials for tourists, to my friends and relatives who have no knowledge of the source language to "take a look". They are very interested and I get some valuable feedback.
Of course it works only if there is no time pressure, and the translations are not confidential.
Bin
| | | | | Confidentiality agreement | Jul 24, 2008 |
Naturally, you should always proofread your own work. Some clients ask you to sign confidentiality agreements (and even if they don't, you keep their work low key anyway just out of professionalism). If you're going to have your work proofread by someone other than your client, you should make sure your client is on board about that.
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megane_wang
Spain
Local time: 16:49
Member (2007)
English to Spanish
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| I agree; it's part of the job. The agency may or may not add another proofreading step | Jul 24, 2008 |
ostom wrote:
If it is something which you think should be paid for, better negotiate with the client at the begining. It does not matter whether your client is an agency or a direct client.
THis is more so when they (clients) specifically mention that they need proofreading by a third party. Again negotiate before hand for third part charges and include in your translation rate.
........
When you work with a direct client then you need to negotiate all the steps involved in the translation process and ask for a suitable rate.
In any case translators should take responsibility for their own jobs.
I agree with ostom. Proofreading your translation is part of the job, so you just include what you are going to do in your price.
I usually proofread the texts twice. If the subject is very specialized, I almost always submit the text to be reviewed by someone who knows about the subject (sometimes I cannot for confidentiality reasons, but as far as this is concerned, this can also be arranged with the customer beforehand, so that everything is done properly).
If the agency gives my job to someone else for proofreading, that's ok. But I only may omit something in my process if the agency explicitly tells me to do it (i.e. "please, don't review the text previously translated and edited"). But this is not the usual situation.
Ruth @ MW
| | | | | In my humble opinion, you've got it all wrong | Jul 24, 2008 |
ostom wrote:
Proofreading is part of a translators job.
A proofreading service is different from the self-proofing a translator does to just make sure there are no typos, terminology was respected and the translation is accurate. The proofreading we are discussing here is a separate service used even if the translator has proofread his/her work already.
ostom wrote:
As is already told, Translation as a process which constitutes of the following steps- glossary making, translation, typesetting, editing and proofreading. And as a general rule, the translator is supposed to deliver a final product that is error free.
Huge mistake! Translation is simply taking a text and rendering its meaning in a different language to produce an equivalent text in the target language. That's it, that's all. I have never heard of translation studies including courses on typesetting for example - that is rather the job of a DTP professional. I am afraid you are mixing things up. The only thing that is assumed to be part of the translation task is to self-proof the finished translation. Reviewing, proofreading, typesetting, DTP, etc., are all different tasks and if you ever have to perform these, you should charge separately as well. If what you say were true, I would charge a dollar per word - and would produce a measly 200 words per day.
Your assumption that your translation should be a finished, publishable product boggles my mind. Really.
ostom wrote:
As a translator we should take responsibility for our job and can not expect some body else will do it for me.
If the client still arranges a third party proofreader it is good for them.
Exactly. You should take responsibility for your job - which is translation. Not reviewing. Not typesetting. Not anything else. Clients who hire a proofreader to proofread your work don't do it to proofread an already proofread job. They do it because they assume you didn't have it proofread by another person. And if the clients themselves assume you didn't get your translation proofread, that means they think that by standard, you are not supposed to. Unless they specifically ask for it.
ostom wrote:
When you work with a direct client then you need to negotiate all the steps involved in the translation process and ask for a suitable rate.
That is the one thing in your post I do agree with.
megane_wang wrote:
I usually proofread the texts twice.
You can proofread your own translation fifteen times if you like, but you still will not find that missing dash, since you assume it is not needed - whereas if someone else proofread your work just once, they would most likely find it right away. Even the best translators make errors - and in most cases, they are unable to detect them. It takes a second person for that. And that needs to be invoiced and paid separately.
[Edited at 2008-07-24 20:25]
| | | | Milton Guo
China
Local time: 22:49
English to Chinese
+ ...
| Yes, Proofreading is part of a translators job. | Sep 29, 2008 |
A good translator is concerned about the quality of his own translation and translates with the intent to deliver a finished product. Proofreading by another translator is mistake-proofing technique, but does not mean you can relax and send out your translation without even looking at it for the 2nd time.
ostom wrote:
Proofreading is part of a translators job.
Very often, the proofreading part is not discussed with the translators. The clients may assume it is the duty of the translator to deliver a proofread job. The translator may think the client will arrange for a proofreader, because they are an agency.
As is already told, Translation as a process which constitutes of the following steps- glossary making, translation, typesetting, editing and proofreading. And as a general rule, the translator is supposed to deliver a final product that is error free.
If it is something which you think should be paid for, better negotiate with the client at the begining. It does not matter whether your client is an agency or a direct client.
THis is more so when they (clients) specifically mention that they need proofreading by a third party. Again negotiate before hand for third part charges and include in your translation rate.
Some people say that if you work with an agency they are usually responsible for quality assurance. So you dont need to prooread your files. To me it seems not fair. As a translator we should take responsibility for our job and can not expect some body else will do it for me.
If the client still arranges a third party proofreader it is good for them.
When you work with a direct client then you need to negotiate all the steps involved in the translation process and ask for a suitable rate.
In any case translators should take responsibility for their own jobs.
| | | | Milton Guo
China
Local time: 22:49
English to Chinese
+ ...
| Typesetting? | Sep 29, 2008 |
Yes, translating, proofreading, typesetting, DTP. etc should all be separate services theoretically. But if you could include in your translation, it would add value to your service and mean repeat business.
I often volunteer to check the final product for free and it doesn't take much time as I am familiar with every word of it, why not?
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dong zhang
Canada
Local time: 10:49
English to Chinese
+ ...
| we just need the quality rather than translator or editor | Sep 30, 2008 |
ostom wrote:
Proofreading is part of a translators job.
Very often, the proofreading part is not discussed with the translators. The clients may assume it is the duty of the translator to deliver a proofread job. The translator may think the client will arrange for a proofreader, because they are an agency.
As is already told, Translation as a process which constitutes of the following steps- glossary making, translation, typesetting, editing and proofreading. And as a general rule, the translator is supposed to deliver a final product that is error free.
If it is something which you think should be paid for, better negotiate with the client at the begining. It does not matter whether your client is an agency or a direct client.
THis is more so when they (clients) specifically mention that they need proofreading by a third party. Again negotiate before hand for third part charges and include in your translation rate.
Some people say that if you work with an agency they are usually responsible for quality assurance. So you dont need to prooread your files. To me it seems not fair. As a translator we should take responsibility for our job and can not expect some body else will do it for me.
If the client still arranges a third party proofreader it is good for them.
When you work with a direct client then you need to negotiate all the steps involved in the translation process and ask for a suitable rate.
In any case translators should take responsibility for their own jobs.
Yes, I agree this point, to be a translator, maybe we should do our best to deliver our best work, just like some slogan "one stop service", of course we can invoke a higer rate for the additional works for the edit work and proofreading, just require more days and submit more better translation as we can, just a good quality can retain the relationship with clients, who perfers to decline a better quality? there is no difference between the editor and translator, most time clients just need the good quality. so our duty to be a translator (who cares you are an editor or a translator) is provide good quality and invokes all our resource to keep the quality and even we pay for other translators or editor to work on it again.
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