Proofreading

The two main services we regularly offer are proofreading and revision by a second translator.

Proofreading by a second translator: a necessity for quality control

Proodreading is primarily focussed on correcting errors in spelling, grammar, typography (cases and punctuation) and syntax (structure of sentences) throughout a document. Proofreading assumes the source text was properly understood and translated without any mistranslations, and only needs to be cleaned up. Proofreading only occurs on the target document, and doesn’t necessarily take into account the source.

Our proofreaders are first and foremost translators with a perfect mastery of their native language.

Note: a certain number of our clients follow this proofreading by an “in-house” proofreading led by employees in their local subsidiary, particularly with an eye to company- or trade-specific terminology. This is often the case for the most demanding international brands.

Total revision by a second translator: absolute quality assurance

A total revision by a second translator includes a sentence-by-sentence revision to verify the translation adheres to the source text.

Revision, by definition, includes proofreading, but is not limited to only a linguistic verification of the target text: it is a process of line-by-line verification of the source and target text in order to confirm the pertinence of the translation, correct potential mistranslations, ensure adherences to the pre-defined terminology, and improve the overall style of the translation. It is therefore absolutely required that the source and target text be available to carry out the revision of a translation.

Revisions are entrusted to a specialized translator depending on the domain and type of text requiring revision. It should be noted that, at times, if may be more logical to completely retranslate a document rather than attempt a simple revision if the translation is too clumsy. The revisor, even with a detached fresh view of the document, will not be able to correct everything in a poor translation, and will adapt the text to the best of their abilities. The final product will thus be a blend of styles between the original translation and the numerous corrections provided by the revision, resulting in a text that leaves much to be desired stylistically.

We will offer you the best option on a case-by-case basis!

The term “proofreading” is an umbrella term covering multiple different skills and processes

In order to clarify the situation, here are what other translation agencies may cover when they refer to proofreading:

• The original translator proofreading their own work as a last check before final delivery;
• Quick proofread by the project manager before final delivery (part of overall quality control);
• Use of QA (Quality Assurance) software for automated verification;
• Proofreading of content passed through Machine Translation. At TradOnline, we refer to this as Post-Editing as it isn’t, properly speaking, actually proofreading.

What is post-editing?

Post-editing may be a complete or partial process, dependiing on the needs of the client. Below, we’ll describe this new offer in the translation market.

Partial post-editing

Partial post-editing is a process of only eliminating the biggest errors: offensive content, additional or ommitted text, mistranslations, spelling errors, grammatical errors, or mistranslated terms (if the client has provided a pre-defined glossary).

Complete post-editing

Complete post-editing also verifies standard terminology, may change the order of words if required, update the structure of certain phrases, improve the style, adjust punctuation, and correct the formatting of numbers. The goal is to make the translation sound fluid and natural.