Summarized by:
Sarah Lindholm, the Detail Woman
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Carolyn
presented her session with two audiences in mind: freelance translators who
proofread their own work, and editors proofreading the work of others. She
introduced her own proofreading system, but stressed that her system and her
advice are customizable, and individuals should modify as necessary to suit
them.
First,
she talked about two things to help people proofread their own work well:
1.
When you're doing your first draft, do so carefully. "Plan to make
mistakes" by keeping a terminology list as you go so that you can check
yourself against it later. Also keep a list of things you're not sure of so
that you can check them later.
2.
After you are finished translating, take a break before proofing your work. Since
we become emotionally attached to what we write, we need to take a breather to
get emotional distance. Ideally sleep on it, but when that is not possible due
to the deadline, at least go for a walk or put a load of laundry in the machine
or something first, instead of diving straight in.
Then
she spoke about proofreading itself. Her #1 tip was to break the proofing
process down into small individual steps in a checklist, rather than try to
check for too many things all at once. The checklist should be customized by the
individual. The steps could be:
-Check
all numbers that appear in the text to make sure they are correct.
-Check
all terminology against the terminology list.
-If
you're proofing your own translation, check stuff from your “not sure” list.
-Now
check the text itself line by line.
(a) Start
with the end and work back to the beginning (the end probably has more mistakes,
so start proofing it while fresh).
(b)
First pass – highlight the issues, don’t correct them yet (to avoid losing
focus).
(c) Second
pass – fix what you highlighted.
-Check
your own personal items from the checklist (Self-awareness when checking your
own work: what are your personal weaknesses? Make checking these explicit items
in your list).
Some
additional tips she had:
1. Make
client-specific style sheets. This is about making sure you meet the individual
client's specifications. She put a simple example in her handouts, which can be
accessed through the ATA55 conference app. If you weren't at the conference, you
could request them from her through her website above.
2. Change
font size & style to be more friendly to your eyes (ex. – is the font too
small to read easily? make it bigger/zoom so it’s easier to read).
3.
When proofing a printed document, place the paper on an inclined surface to
save your shoulders.
4.
Read out loud to yourself, in case your ears catch mistakes that your eyes
don't. (An audience member advocated text-to-speech software, so the computer
reads it for you.)
And
finally, she closed her presentation with tips for when you’re proofing someone
else’s work and you need strategies to make that relationship go smoothly:
1. Sometimes
questions work better than commands. Asking questions to the original
writer/translator can make them feel like they have a voice.
2. Cite
a source when making big changes, to show that your changes aren’t arbitrary.
Her
presentation handouts included sample exercises to see which proofreading
errors you catch easily, as well as some other good information. It was a nice
clear and concise presentation with tips for people in all positions. We can
all benefit from proofreading well.
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About the Presenter.
Carolyn is a translator who works with Hungarian, French, and
English. Although she is a freelancer now, she has past experience as an
in-house copy editor for the American Institutes for Research. Her website is http://www.untangledtranslations.com/ , and she also maintains a blog at https://untangledtranslations.wordpress.com/ .
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