Editing & Post-editing
No translation goes out the door here at Absolute Translations before it has been thoroughly edited.
Not once, not twice, but three times.
We have a rigorous quality assurance process and our team are more than happy to oblige.
Can we edit your translations or your copy too? Of course we can! We can’t stress enough the importance of editing and proofreading. By a second or third set of eyes, that is. Translators or copywriters may work on a text for days and they may proof their text over and over again, but it’s common to overlook this one naughty little typo that’s lurking on the end of a line. So obvious to a second reader, but completely invisible to the original writer.
Needless to say that we don’t only edit grammar and spelling; spell-check usually does a pretty good job. Our editors are seasoned linguists, creative writers and style addicts all in one. Absolute Translations’ editors don’t just proof a text and make a few edits, they will look for the best possible expressions at all times, whether corporate, legal, consumer engaging or any other type of text. They’re true blue perfectionists and they will lose sleep over it if necessary. Your copy will be in the most capable hands, guaranteed.
Post-editing
Post-editing is a different type of editing altogether: post-editing is performed on translations which are machine generated. Machine Translation (MT) is a useful and productive tool if used the correct way. The question is not whether you will ever use MT but how long it will take before you will use it.
There are two factors determining the linguistic effort required for post-editing:
- the quality of the MT raw output
- the expected end quality of the content
To keep things simple, we will focus on the expected end quality of the content, because the quality of the MT raw output depends on factors largely out of our control (such as quality of source content, language combination and terminology database).
There are two levels of end quality for post-editing:
- fit for purpose
- publishable
Fit for purpose or good enough is defined as comprehensible (i.e. you can understand the main content of the message), accurate (i.e. it communicates the same meaning as the source text), but as not being stylistically compelling. The text may sound like it was generated by a computer, syntax might be somewhat unusual, grammar may not be perfect but the message is accurate.
To reach this level of quality, light post-editing is usually recommended. A professional translator will review and edit the machine generated translations and ensure that it renders an accurate meaning of the source text.
Publishable quality that is similar to high-quality human translation and revision is generally defined as being comprehensible (i.e. an end user perfectly understands the content of the message), accurate (i.e. it communicates the same meaning as the source text) and stylistically of a good quality. Syntax is normal, grammar and punctuation are correct.
To reach quality that is of a publishable standard, full post-editing is usually recommended. A professional translator will review and edit the text to ensure that the machine translations are accurate and grammatically and stylistically correct.
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