| A témához tartozó oldalak: [1 2] > | As a freelancer can I proofread my own work? Téma indítója: Karen Henry
|
|---|
I'm just starting out as a freelancer so this may seem like a silly question for most, but I can't work out how I can be competitive if I have to pay someone for proofreading. I have seen in some translating sites that the translators do their own proofreading, is this standard practice?
| | | | | Of course you can! | Jan 15, 2012 |
If you work for agencies, they know you proofread your own work. The best ones understand that you do need to 'sleep on it' first if possible, or at least get away from your work for a few hours, because it is often hard to see your own mistakes! They know that most freelancers are working alone, unless you have some agreement with a spouse or colleague who can help out. But you are not expected to pay extra for proofreading as a general rule.
Some agencies recommend routines or pro... See more If you work for agencies, they know you proofread your own work. The best ones understand that you do need to 'sleep on it' first if possible, or at least get away from your work for a few hours, because it is often hard to see your own mistakes! They know that most freelancers are working alone, unless you have some agreement with a spouse or colleague who can help out. But you are not expected to pay extra for proofreading as a general rule.
Some agencies recommend routines or provide checklists with spell checking, checking against the source, checking again without the source for fluency etc. and a final spell check as the basic elements. Others leave you to work out for yourself how you do it.
Often the agency will find another proofreader when they need a second pair of eyes to check a text, and it might be a service you want to offer yourself occasionally. Proofreading for others has taught me a lot.
A word of warning, however: this forum is full of discussions about agency proofreaders, not to mention agencies who exploit proofreaders or only pay sweatshop rates for proofing... There are definitely some agencies I do not proofread for, even though I translate for them! However, my attitude is that someone has to do the job, so I might as well learn to do it properly.
NEVER agree to proofread a text before you have seen it, or at least have seen work by the same translator, so you know what to expect.
I do not have much experience of working for direct clients, but if you work for them you can still proofread your own work in most cases. Others will no doubt tell you what happens after that.
Best of luck! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Emin Arı 
Törökország
Local time: 01:05
angol - török
+ ...
| you can but you should not | Jan 15, 2012 |
in most cases a translator develops a "blindness" in her/his own text (inability to see errors). one trick would be reverse reading i.e. reading from at the end of text to the beginning. This way you may overcome such "blindness".
| | | |
karen henry wrote:
I'm just starting out as a freelancer so this may seem like a silly question for most, but I can't work out how I can be competitive if I have to pay someone for proofreading. I have seen in some translating sites that the translators do their own proofreading, is this standard practice?
Of course you must check your work once it is completed. Still prooofreading is normally done by some third person. Also, normally the agency pays this person, so please do not worry.
[Zmieniono 2012-01-16 00:03 GMT]
| | |
|
|
|
| In addition to Christine's procedure try the "read back" or "play back" on your PC | Jan 15, 2012 |
"Some agencies recommend routines or provide checklists with spell checking, checking against the source, checking again without the source for fluency etc. and a final spell check as the basic elements. Others leave you to work out for yourself how you do it."
Christine mentioned the above steps, and I also use the "Play back" or "read back" on my computer to listen to the text. It's amazing what your ears will pick up that your eyes miss - for example "from" instead of "form" - w... See more "Some agencies recommend routines or provide checklists with spell checking, checking against the source, checking again without the source for fluency etc. and a final spell check as the basic elements. Others leave you to work out for yourself how you do it."
Christine mentioned the above steps, and I also use the "Play back" or "read back" on my computer to listen to the text. It's amazing what your ears will pick up that your eyes miss - for example "from" instead of "form" - which the spell checker also misses. Dragon also has this feature. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spanyolország
Local time: 23:05
Tag (2007 óta)
angol
+ ...
| first and final proofreading | Jan 15, 2012 |
Hello Karen,
Welcome to ProZ.com and the world of freelance translating. You haven't told us anything about yourself in your profile at the moment - I do hope you will as it's really important to let everyone know where you're coming from.
Christine has already given you good acvice. To summarise/reinforce: You should always proofread your own work. Submitting a translation that has multiple small "slips", "typos" or whatever you care to call them is highly unprofession... See more Hello Karen,
Welcome to ProZ.com and the world of freelance translating. You haven't told us anything about yourself in your profile at the moment - I do hope you will as it's really important to let everyone know where you're coming from.
Christine has already given you good acvice. To summarise/reinforce: You should always proofread your own work. Submitting a translation that has multiple small "slips", "typos" or whatever you care to call them is highly unprofessional (that's often called "first/initial proofreading"). However, try as you might, you're not likely to trap them all as your subconscious just knows you've done a perfect job! We can all miss "teh", although your spell-checker shouldn't, but not even it will trap "form" instead of "from" - for that type of problem, you need the famous second pair of eyes. When working for an agency we expect them to take on the responsibility of that final proofreading. For direct clients you can either do your best then cross your fingers or you can enlist a partner, friend, colleague etc. That may mean paying so your rate would need to reflect that.
However, there is another need for proofreading (or more correctly reviewing or editing) which may or may not concern you. It's when you translate out of your native language or whenever you are not entirely confident of the terminology. Then you should definitely arrange for a final check by someone else.
Sheila ▲ Collapse
| | | | Rolf Kern
Svájc
Local time: 00:05
angol - német
+ ...
Az Ő emlékére:
Alexander Onishko wrote:
Of course you must check your work once it is completed. Still prooofreading is normally done by some third person. Also, normally the agency pays this person, so please do nit worry. .
Absolutely true.
| | | | | You can and you should | Jan 16, 2012 |
It has to be perfect. Independently of what the client will be doing with it. If your client tells you to hire a proofreader, then multiply your prices and deadlines by a factor of 2 or 3, because you will be acting as an agency. And then you will have othe problems: it is very difficult to rely on someone else than yourself.
| | |
|
|
|
| Proofreading tool | Jan 16, 2012 |
Welcome to the translators' realm,
I agree with my colleagues but I would add one item : the proofreading tool.
Never count on MS word for proofreading (sometimes it's even full of mistakes!) but look for a professional software to proofread your target text.
This kind of software are not 100% foolproof but usually efficient enough to find the "silly mistakes" that you will never spot, especially on huge projects. For French proofreading I recommend Antidote (Canadian so... See more Welcome to the translators' realm,
I agree with my colleagues but I would add one item : the proofreading tool.
Never count on MS word for proofreading (sometimes it's even full of mistakes!) but look for a professional software to proofread your target text.
This kind of software are not 100% foolproof but usually efficient enough to find the "silly mistakes" that you will never spot, especially on huge projects. For French proofreading I recommend Antidote (Canadian soft, a bit expansive but the best on the market as far as I know). Please remind this too: as a translator, software is one of your tool, it's better to buy expansive but efficient soft that rely on cheap or free soft that will never help you upgrade your skills and work level.
If you are using CAT tools, I would recommend MemoQ (not trados unless you are forced too !), I switched to MemoQ a few month ago and my translations and proofreading became really easier because you have an instant word check and it's really easy to modify when you realize you made a mistake or should have chosen another working.
So in short, yes, always proofread yourself, if the agencies you're working for are using a proofreader after your job, it's not responsibility, you are responsible for your own work and the better your job (the less mistakes) and the better you will be considered (and thus get more jobs and better paid jobs).
Try several different tools (most of the softwares on the market have a free demo period, it's better to judge by yourself what fit your needs than relying on others experience) and choose the best for you.
If you have a chance, try to perform some paid proofreading for agencies, because you will realize then that being a proofreader is quite different than being a translator, you spot mistakes or awkward sentences and thus you will improve your own translations
good luck ▲ Collapse
| | | | Henry Hinds
Egyesült Államok
Local time: 16:05
angol - spanyol
+ ...
Az Ő emlékére:
I've been in business for over 40 years and I have always done it, I would never trust anyone else to do it.
| | | |
Alexander Onishko wrote:
Of course you must check your work once it is completed. Still prooofreading is normally done by some third person. Also, normally the agency pays this person, so please do not worry.
| | | | Karen Henry
Local time: 00:05
francia - angol
TÉMAINDÍTÓ | Thanks for all your advice | Jan 16, 2012 |
I'll certainly consider getting some hardware once Ive started making some money!
I've already thought about doing some proofreading, but don't you need to learn all the proof marks to do this, as I have no experience at all of this?
I've never heard of a 'read back' function, is this part of your computer or some software Lindaellen?
Finally, I promise Sheila that I'll add more to my profile asap, I fully intended doing this once I was ready to start work,... See more I'll certainly consider getting some hardware once Ive started making some money!
I've already thought about doing some proofreading, but don't you need to learn all the proof marks to do this, as I have no experience at all of this?
I've never heard of a 'read back' function, is this part of your computer or some software Lindaellen?
Finally, I promise Sheila that I'll add more to my profile asap, I fully intended doing this once I was ready to start work, but since I joined Proz I've been bogged down with organising my business - training, buying hardware and software, paperwork etc. etc.
Thanks again for all your tips. ▲ Collapse
| | |
|
|
|
LEXpert
Egyesült Államok
Local time: 17:05
Tag (2008 óta)
horvát - angol
+ ...
| "Read back" = text-to-speech | Jan 16, 2012 |
karen henry wrote:
I've already thought about doing some proofreading, but don't you need to learn all the proof marks to do this, as I have no experience at all of this?
In a translation context, proofreading changes are usually done using tracked changes in Word, or, in the case of a software with no change tracking function, simply made directly. Knowledge of proofreader's marks is not normally needed.
I've never heard of a 'read back' function, is this part of your computer or some software Lindaellen?
It's an accessibility option in the OS. Google "Activate text-to-speech in [insert your operating system here]".
[/quote]
| | | | | If possible, use the 'Track Changes' function in Word for proofreading | Jan 16, 2012 |
I proofread my own work without additional software, but I do usually print it out and check it on paper as well as on screen. I personally find more errors that way, and more sentences I want to re-phrase a little, but it is up to you.
You can check for errors you know you make - (form/from, could/cold, an/and...) using the 'search and replace' function.
Autocorrect in Word is good for teh, htat, and typos that are always wrong, but unfortunately does not always work w... See more I proofread my own work without additional software, but I do usually print it out and check it on paper as well as on screen. I personally find more errors that way, and more sentences I want to re-phrase a little, but it is up to you.
You can check for errors you know you make - (form/from, could/cold, an/and...) using the 'search and replace' function.
Autocorrect in Word is good for teh, htat, and typos that are always wrong, but unfortunately does not always work when you use a CAT.
_______________
The easiest way to deliver files when you proofread for other people is to use the 'Track changes' function in Word. The basic functions are very simple to grasp, and you can learn the refinements if and when you need them.
There are various settings, but (I think) the default shows the text you want to delete in red and crossed through, and the inserted text simply in red.
You can insert comments too, where they are useful.
I work on paper first, and I do use a lot of the proof marks, as I learnt them at a printer's in an earlier life, but as long as you understand your own marks, it doesn't matter what you use.
I normally deliver two files, one with all the changes visible, and a 'clean' file, where I have 'accepted' all the changes. This removes the deleted text and shows only the final result.
The other file shows the client what you have done, should they wish to make notes for future reference or discuss anything.
There are proofreading functions in Adobe Acrobat too, but I think it is a pain! It can be useful for layout proofs and minor adjustments. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Emma Goldsmith
Spanyolország
Local time: 00:05
Tag (2004 óta)
spanyol - angol
| A few thoughts | Jan 16, 2012 |
karen henry wrote:
don't you need to learn all the proof marks to do this, as I have no experience at all of this?
Not in this day and age If you're given a Word doc to proofread, you'll probably be asked to turn on track changes and make your amendments as you go along. Some people will ask you to make notes to reason your changes and classify them but in my experience most people are happy seeing the tracked changes.
I've never heard of a 'read back' function, is this part of your computer or some software Lindaellen?
I tried out http://www.naturalreaders.com/index.htm for a while and found it quite useful. But I haven't installed it again on my latest machine as I found it too off-putting when names/drug names/diseases were mispronounced. You can try out a free version (I think it comes with a computer voice, whereas the paid version has much improved "real" voices).
Finally, I promise Sheila that I'll add more to my profile asap, I fully intended doing this once I was ready to start work, but since I joined Proz I've been bogged down with organising my business - training, buying hardware and software, paperwork etc. etc.
IMO, filling in your ProZ profile is an essential part of organising your business
| | | | | A témához tartozó oldalak: [1 2] > | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » As a freelancer can I proofread my own work? | Anycount & Translation Office 3000 | Translation Office 3000
Translation Office 3000 is an advanced accounting tool for freelance translators and small agencies. TO3000 easily and seamlessly integrates with the business life of professional freelance translators.
More info » |
| | TM-Town | Manage your TMs and Terms ... and boost your translation business
Are you ready for something fresh in the industry? TM-Town is a unique new site for you -- the freelance translator -- to store, manage and share translation memories (TMs) and glossaries...and potentially meet new clients on the basis of your prior work.
More info » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
