Russian to English translations [PRO] Journalism / line editing, proofreading
Russian term or phrase:замыливание глаза
Professional colloquial definition of mental fatigue that reduces the proofreader's ability to catch typos and errors in the copy.
Заметить ошибки в тексте на мониторе гораздо сложнее, именно поэтому люди проверяют и в электронном виде, и в бумажном, распечатанном. Потому что происходит такое, некоторое замыливание глаза. Также корректору нужно уметь абстрагироваться от содержания произведения и иногда смотреть на материал просто как на слова с буковками.
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И к концу рабочего дня, конечно, начинаешь какие-то ошибки уже просто пропускать, потому что глаз, что называется, замыливается
Explanation: When you're so tired that you can't see straight, your "eyes glaze over." There are other expressions for the effect, such as "eyes play tricks."
He did a lousy job of proofing because...
he was so tired that his eyes glazed over.
he was so tired that he couldn't see straight.
he was so tired that his eyes started playing tricks.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2009-11-05 05:09:14 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
And how could I forget?
he was tired and bleary-eyed (his eyes were bleary).
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 10 hrs (2009-11-05 14:29:11 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Reply to asker's note: Interestingly enough, I don't think any of those five expressions are peculiar to fatigue, although "bleary" might be the most closely associated with it. In the sample sentences, substitute for "he was so tired that..." one of the following:
He had been proofreading so long that...
He stared at the screen so long that...
And the resulting sentences are things that would be said about somebody who could no longer proofread.
In your sentence, something like, "After a certain point, the proofreader's [one's] eyes begin to play tricks."
Thanks for picking one of my array of suggestions, but I'd like to warn that I don't think "eye bleariness" sounds right. It's one of those instances where a native speaker will be much more like to use "OF something", than to stick the "something" in front of the other noun in an adjectival capacity. Here are some closely related options:
- a certain bleariness of the eyes
- a certain bleariness (without mentioning the eyes; they're implied)
- a certain bleary-eyed state
Речь-то именно о вычитке и корректуре (частный случай «замыливания рук» при корректуре изданий шрифтом Брайля пока вынесем за скобки, с этим бы разобраться).
я еще погуглила немного, и, похоже, "глаз замылился" употребляется и в других профессиональных кругах, и означает, примерно, "терять мастерство от рутины..." То есть, нет прямой связи именно с глазами... В таком случае, нужно отталкиваться от "routine dulls your senses", "proofreader loses his/her sharpness after a long day"
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
12 mins confidence:
eye fatigue and loss of concentration
Explanation: .
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 46 mins (2009-11-05 04:51:58 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
too official? - Bull!
Sounds too medical - I agree.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2009-11-05 05:48:15 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
How's - run through the text without reading?
Andrey Belousov United States Local time: 09:27 Native speaker of: Russian PRO pts in category: 4
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you, Andrey, but such explication sounds too official and better suits to some regulation house guide than to real-life trade expression. The much shorter Russian term bears a slightly broader and more definitive sense and captures the effect of habituation to the copy the reader acquires in the process.
Explanation: When you're so tired that you can't see straight, your "eyes glaze over." There are other expressions for the effect, such as "eyes play tricks."
He did a lousy job of proofing because...
he was so tired that his eyes glazed over.
he was so tired that he couldn't see straight.
he was so tired that his eyes started playing tricks.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2009-11-05 05:09:14 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
And how could I forget?
he was tired and bleary-eyed (his eyes were bleary).
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 10 hrs (2009-11-05 14:29:11 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Reply to asker's note: Interestingly enough, I don't think any of those five expressions are peculiar to fatigue, although "bleary" might be the most closely associated with it. In the sample sentences, substitute for "he was so tired that..." one of the following:
He had been proofreading so long that...
He stared at the screen so long that...
And the resulting sentences are things that would be said about somebody who could no longer proofread.
In your sentence, something like, "After a certain point, the proofreader's [one's] eyes begin to play tricks."
Rachel Douglas United States Local time: 09:27 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 68
Grading comment
I believe the ‘eye bleariness’ would be the most vivid English expression of the Russian trade term.
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks a lot, but you see, I regret my somewhat hasty use of ‘fatigue’ instead of ‘habituation’ or ‘familiarization’, that is diminishing of response to the same body copy of the same formatting and the same style. It's not the exhaustion, but rather lassitude.
