Proofreading: is it more than just reading a proof?

Hello,
I would like to present an article by Morena Nannetti on Proofreading a translation. Morena Nannetti is a freelance translator (www.traduzionitaliano.eu), and her articles on translation issues are always very inspiring for all translators. This article will appear in full on our next newsletter, on the e-zine for translators Translation Academy(you can subscribe to our newsletter from our site at http://www.translate-it.org/english/arch_newsletter.html).
Morena says
“Proofreading traditionally means reading printer proofs marking any errors. Editing is the task of preparing written material for publication, as by correcting, revising, or adapting it. Revising means to reexamine and make alterations to a written text. How do the above definitions materialise into the real job of proofreading a translation? To my experience, when a linguist is asked to proofread or edit a translated text, the requested task is usually to compare source and target texts and check for any kind of errors: inaccuracies in comprehension, meaning, grammar and punctuation, terminology, style, and any disagreement with the project’s instructions. I’ll refer in this article to this procedure with the term of proofreading, which according to the above definition includes also the process of editing and revising a text.
Almost all translation agencies apply the ‘four eyes’ principle, one linguist to perform the translation, one to perform the revision. Does the ‘four eyes’ principle always ensure top quality? How can a translator deal with the request of applying this principle? What should the proofreader bear in mind when checking a text translated by another language professional?”

I would like to hear your views on these questions. It will be great to start a discussion on this important topic for translators.
To find out Morena’s views and advice on the matter, read our newsletter to be issued at the beginning of July.

Happy proofreading!

Stefania

This entry was posted on 23/06/2008 at 09:24 am and is filed under Vacanze, Language Courses, Experience, Translations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.