The importance of proofreading translated text
When you get any material translated, it’s important that any errors (no matter how minor) are caught and fixed. Proofreaders provide a crucial last look over your translated material to ensure that it’s 100% correct before its publication.
Why do I need a proofreader?
Proofreaders give you peace of mind because they’ll catch any small faults in your translated material. If your text doesn’t read as it should, or if there’s any alteration in meaning compared to your original material, this could affect the trust your customers have in you.
When having your text translated into a language (or languages) that you don’t read or speak, there’s no way for you to know if the translated text is accurate. Any errors could have a big impact on the way the text is read and therefore its meaning. To ensure that your translated work conveys the exact meaning of your source material it’s worth getting a second professional translator to go over it before publication.
Use professional translators
Using a professional translator who’s a native speaker of your target language is the best way to minimise the risk of errors in your translated text. Also, if they’re a professional from the sector that the material is about, you gain even more certainty that the text will be correct. However, it’s always worth having a second professional look over the translated material so that any errors are caught.
The proofreading stage
First, the proofreader will make sure that the translated text flows and reads well. If they’re struggling to follow the thread of the piece, they can raise this with the project manager and have the original translator look at it again.
The proofreader then corrects any typos, checks that the text is grammatically correct and makes sure that it conveys the true meaning of the source material. Even minor grammatical errors can massively change the text’s meaning and this can have major implications, especially with medical and technical translations.
How we can help
At Andiamo! we always use native speakers of your target language and we make sure that they have experience within your sector. This ensures an accurate and high-quality translation. In addition to this, our in-house graduate linguists look over the material to complete quality checks before we sign it off.
Additionally, if you choose our Gold Service, you’re provided with a second professional translator to carry out a thorough revision of your text, and this ensures that you receive the highest level of quality assurance.
Is it worth it?
This largely depends on the target audience of your material and what the text is for. If it’s translating internal documents for your company, then you might not need it. However, if it’s for legal documents, contracts, technical documents or medical information (internal or external) then it’s almost certainly worth it. These types of documents need to be 100% accurate and the extra proofreading stage will give you complete peace of mind.
If you want to find out more about our proofreading services, call us now on 08450 345677 or fill in our online form to request a quote.
