Metaglossia: The Translation World

An updated database of online articles and posts

An updated database of online articles and posts

The Spanish company Daedalus has released a new version of Stilus, a tool for multilingual proofreading that applies semantic technologies and operates in the cloud to facilitate the task of spelling, grammar and style checking.

Back in December at Language Log , the urbane Mark Liberman commented on a text distorted by a ham-fisted attempt to convert British English to American, saying, "God save us from such copy editors." That provoked a spirited defense of copy...

Fidèle à ses habitudes, Mysoft propose une nouvelle version de son glossaire médical, adaptée à Antidote 8.

En toute discrétion, Druide a annoncé Antidote 8, la nouvelle version de son correcteur orthographique et de sa suite d'outils pour les rédacteurs.

Each day, Loyola students of all ages, majors and backgrounds visit the university’s writing center (better known as the WAC Lab) with many of the same questions: How do I open my paper with a “hook?

Dr. Gerald Harris, editor of The Christian Index (right), speaks with Christian Studies department chair Dr. Earl Kellett and Communication Arts department chair Dr. Dana Hall during a recent visit to the campus. Harris spoke to a Copy Editing class about his duties at The Christian Index. He was the second of a series of Georgia media professionals to discuss copy editing with the students. Other speakers were Elizabeth Petrey, copy editor at The Rome News-Tribune, and John Druckenmiller, owner and editor of Hometown Headlines.

Why Hiring a Copy Editor is a Good Idea
Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on email Share on print More Sharing Services
?
Hiring a copy editor can save you time and money

Scribendi.com's editors explain why hiring
a copy editor can save you money.
The image of an old man hunched over reams of paper, red pen in hand, squinting through smudged glasses may be what you think of when you hear the term “copy editor.” This image comes from the days when publishing houses controlled the flow of writing from artist to audience. As technologies have continued to develop, that type of publishing has changed, but the importance of hiring a copy editor remains.

What is a copy editor?

Copy editors who revise content written in English must have a strong grasp of the English language. They can turn a rough draft full of spelling, grammar, linguistic, and style errors into a piece of writing ready for print. They often have degrees in English and must love reading and writing in order to be truly successful. They work with the author to improve the original draft, reshaping and trimming the rough work into a piece ready to be published.

Most publishing houses and magazines outsource their copy editing. Increasingly, authors who are unable to get a publishing contract decide to self-publish, hiring freelancers to do their editing and production. Many copy editors work from home, where they freelance for publishing houses or independent publishers.

There's nothing quite like a good ol' fashioned newspaper cock-up. We tour through some of the best.

Directorate-General for Translation (DGT) Spanish Department – Revision Manual [e-Book] . Brussels & Luxembourg, European Commission. Directorate-General for Translation. Spanish Departme...

The importance of proofreading
A few days ago, I posted an entry about the president's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.

I am an inveterate proofreader--I even proofread my emails before I send them, and who does that?

Anyway, I did my usual proofreading before I published the blog post. Imagine my chagrin when I looked at my blog this morning and found a big, old, nasty mistake in the headline. I had written "Did the president said what many Americans don't want to hear?" Egad.

This is a perfect example of why I always suggest to students that they have someone else proofread their important papers and assignments. Often, we don't see our own mistakes. My last blogpost is a perfect example.

"Lord Translations provides translation and proofreading services to companies based in Europe and beyond"

guardian.co.uk, Friday 14 September 2012 16.57 BST

Andrew Lord is a translator at Lord Translations
Name: Lord Translations

Area: Carlisle

Website: http://www.lordtranslations.co.uk/en/about

Lord Translations provides translation and proofreading services to companies based in Europe and beyond.

We are a translation agency specialising in German to English and Spanish to English translations. Our core export markets are Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain and Latin America. However in recent years we have identified a growing need for professional proofreading services for documents written in English by non-native speakers based in countries outside our target markets. Our customers now include companies based in countries such as Russia and Slovakia thanks to industry contacts and word-of-mouth referrals.

Editing is also what turns an excruciatingly long movie into one that lasts just as long as it should.

Films can be shot in Toronto or Montreal or Mumbai. They can be set in Ireland, Indonesia or on Mars. But they are all made in the same small place: the editing suite. It’s where good performances and bad ones are created — for better or worse.

Winona Ryder stars opposite Michael Shannon in The Iceman, the real-life story of Mafia assassin/serial killer Richard Kuklinski, who hid his work/life from his wife and two daughters for many years, until the law finally caught up with him.

Ryder plays Deborah, the wife, and says she had a clear picture in her mind of a woman who has strong doubts about what her husband is up to, but lives in denial, unable to question him. She was surprised, however, by what she saw on the screen.

“I just saw it for the first time in Venice and I think it plays more that she doesn’t know,” she says. When I agree with that interpretation, she exhales sharply, a little annoyed. “I guess in the editing,” she says. “There were probably three key moments that you go, ‘Ho, maybe she does know,’ but … I don’t think they’re in the movie. I think one of them is and it’s in a montage.”

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Sep 12, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Proof Reading, LLC, a leading provider of proofreading and editing services, has announced Bianca Stoica, an upcoming sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, as its 2012 Scholarship Winner. The $1,500 scholarship was established to help deserving undergraduates further their college education and reach their goals.

Stoica, who has a cumulative GPA of 4.0 and is enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania's prestigious Wharton School, is majoring in economics with a concentration in finance and statistics and minoring in mathematics. She is not only on the Dean's List, but is also a part of an accelerated program as a Joseph Wharton Scholar. In addition, Stoica is an active member of the Wharton Dean's Undergraduate Advisory Board, Wharton Women and the Wharton Alumni Relations Council. She is an avid piano and viola player, enjoys swimming and skiing in her free time, and is fluent in Romanian.

Stoica's essay was chosen from more than 200 submissions. The Proof Reading, LLC scholarship is awarded to an undergraduate student who is attending an accredited, four-year U.S. college or university and who maintains a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5. It is based on the submission of a minimum 1,500-word essay on a subject selected by Proof Reading, LLC. Essays are judged on grammar, content and clarity.

Proof Reading, LLC Scholarship Program for 2013 The 2013 entry deadline for the Proof Reading, LLC Scholarship Program is July 1, 2013. The winner will be announced on August 1, 2013. The 2013 scholarship topic focuses on the history of America's economy. Applicants will be asked to respond to the following prompt:

Compare and contrast the causes, premises and consequences of the following events:

1. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the United States experienced an economic boom in which industrialists and the capitalists who backed them amassed great wealth. The boom ended abruptly with the stock market crash of 1929.

Typos, or lack of them, can mean the difference between a happy client and an angry client. They are, quite simply, your worst enemy. Spotting mistakes in someone else’s work is relatively easy, but spotting them in your own work can often prove quite the opposite. It makes sense then to have someone else proofread your work. However, with deadlines forever looming, employing the services of a proofreader just isn’t always practical. So what’s the best way to proofread your own work? Well, different people prefer different techniques: here’s a few favorites:

Leave it 24 hours

When you’ve just written something, your mind is usually too familiar with your prose to read it through without automatically compensating for, or glossing over, any mistakes/typos. Leaving something 24 hours may not always be possible, but when time allows, get some sleep and begin proofing the following day.

Print it out

This is a favorite for many, but it does require a printer (not great for when you’re away from the office then), and worse still, printing can be time consuming and expensive (just think of all that ink!), plus printing things out all the time isn’t exactly environmentally friendly! On the plus side, however, reading something through on paper can give your eyes an often much needed break from the screen and can sometimes make all the difference when trying to catch those pesky typos.

Copy Editor - Philippines, Home based
Closing Date: Tuesday, 11 September 2012

UNOPS HQ, Copenhagen

UNOPS mission is to expand the capacity of the UN system and its partners to implement peacebuilding, humanitarian and development operations that matter for people in need. Working in some of the world’s most challenging environments, UNOPS vision is to always satisfy partners with management services that meet world-class standards of quality, speed and cost effectiveness. By assisting UN organizations, international financial institutions, governments and other development partners, UNOPS makes significant, tangible contributions to results on the ground. UNOPS employs more than 6000 personnel and on behalf of its partners creates thousands more work opportunities in local communities. With its headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, a network of five regional offices and a further 20 operations and project centres, UNOPS oversees activities in more than 80 countries. UNOPS is committed to achieving a truly diverse workforce.

Background Information - IWC

International Waters Cluster
The UNOPS International Waters Cluster specializes in executing projects to prevent and reverse the degradation of transboundary water systems, including multi-country rivers and large marine ecosystems such as oceans, lake basins and shared groundwater resources. The cluster is executing over 30 projects for its partners, helping countries to work together and share knowledge to reduce ecological stress, such as that caused by overfishing and industrial pollution.

Background Information - Job-specific

Background: The Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) is a scientific document that analysed the data and information on the issues on the marine environment and marine resources in an international water body that is shared by 2 or more countries. The TDA results are the prioritization of transboundary problems (TP) and the identification of the root-causes of each TP. The TDA has been undertaken for the Sulu-Celebes (Sulawesi) Large Marine Ecosystem shared by Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines (Component 1 of the Sulu-Celebes Sea Sustainable Fisheries Management Project – http://www.scfishproject.org) and a draft has been edited. The TDA Report has be further edited in language and formatted prior to its submission for review and endorsement of the Sulu-Sulawesi Subcommittee on Sustainable Fisheries and for printing. II. Justification of consultancy: The finalization of the TDA Report is the responsibility of the Project Management Office, Sulu-Celebes Sea Sustainable Fisheries Project. The TDA Report has to be of high quality since this will be signed on by the Tri-national Sub-committee on Sustainable Fisheries in the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion. The TDA Report is also required to be submitted to the Global Environment Facility, the funding source for the SCS SFM Project, and needs to be disseminated to the stakeholders in the region and in the world (through the International Waters Learning Exchange and Resources Network – IW:LEARN, as required in Component 5 of the SCS SFM Project). III. Development objective: To improve the condition of the fisheries and their habitats in the Sulu-Celebes Seas through an integrated, collaborative, and sustainable tri-national management IV. Immediate objective(s): By the end of November 2012, a TDA Report is finalized for review and endorsement of the Subcommittee on Sustainable Fisheries and approval of the Tri-national Committee of the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion V. Outputs: The output is the edited and formatted Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis Report: Sulu- Celebes(Sulawesi) Large Marine Ecosystem VI. Activities: Activities include but not necessarily limited to the following tasks:
edit grammar and improve coherence of chapters in the TDA Report;
review, update, and correct reference list in the TDA Report; and
reformat TDA Report
VII. Inputs: Contribution from the Beneficiary The contribution from the Project Management Office, Sulu-Celebes Sustainable consultant will provide the following:
availability of the Senior Fisheries Expert, SCS SFM Project, for clarification, discussion, and guidance;
access to the technical reports of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines as references
office space and amenities at the PMO, SFM for the duration of the consultancy;
Consultant’s Input The Consultant’s input are:
experience in editing technical reports, especially on environment and fisheries;
understanding of marine ecology and marine resources;
32 days
lap-top computer
VIII. Timing: from 1 October to 15 November 2012
1st copy edited TDA Report by 24 October 2012; and
2nd version of edited TDA Report on 15 November 2012.
IX. Reporting:
1st copy-edited TDA Report
Final TDA Report

Education/Experience/Language requirements
Minimum requirements for education: Bachelor Degree in relevant area Minimum 5 years of relevant work experience Prior experience with the analysis of fisheries statistics, scientific illustration Prior experience with editing and reviewing Reports Fully fluent English in both written and spoken
Contract type, level and duration
Contract type: Local ICA - Home based - Philippines Contract level: Junior Level Contract duration: 32 days For more details about the ICA contractual modality, please follow this link: http://www.unops.org/ENGLISH/WHOWENEED/CONTRACT-TYPES/Pages/Individual-Contractor-Agreements-ICAs.aspx

Additional Considerations

A beginner's guide to understanding proofreading. This article gives tips, tricks, and a checklist for new writers who are overwhelmed with the editing process.

Whether you are an author of a juicy novel or a content writer for the Web, learning how to proofread your work is almost as important as the writing itself. When you are working with a large document, it is advisable that you find someone else to do the editing for you, but it is still crucial that you learn how to polish and revise your work before sending it out to agents, publishers, or clients.

Charts of shorthand proofreading marks
Proofreading Symbols and Abbreviations
Proofreader's Marks | EEI Communications
Editing marks
Ads by Google

Different types of editing and proofing
Many beginners wrongly assume that editing and revising happens by reading your document a couple of times, looking for mistakes and problems. The problem is that it is very difficult to spot all the issues with the work, since the type of concentration you need to identify grammar problems is very different than looking at the story as a whole. Here are the three main categories of editing. There may be more, but most of them can fit under this umbrella.

Development
When you revise a document or manuscript, this type of editing looks for holes in your plot. If it is an article, you are looking at the substance. Do the arguments make sense? Is there enough evidence or meat for your topic? With a story, are the characters believable? This type of editing can also involve looking at your book's marketability and target audience.

Grammar
With this type of editing, you are looking specifically for awkward phrases, misplaced punctuation, grammar problems, and spelling errors. Sometimes this is called line editing. You are digging deep into the structure of your writing, looking for ways to make each sentence perfect. You also need to make sure your tone is consistent through the whole thing. People who don't pay close attention to point of view changes will notice problems during this phase.

Proofing
In this category, your goal is to look for consistency in the formatting of your document. Are all the headings the same size? Indentations, page breaks, and other formatting issues are corrected. Depending on the way you publish (ebook, blog, Word doc, etc.), your formatting may have to adjust. With non-fiction writing, you have to make sure all your images, tables, graphs, and footnotes are properly arranged.

This little adjustment adds style and professionalism to your document or manuscript.
Source: Julie DeNeen 2012
Proofreading checklist
When it is time to format your document (keep reading to see the writer's editing plan, which recommends that you format and proofread last), do the "scan it" approach. For each line item below, go through the whole document looking at just that one point. Then do it again for each point. This way, you are sure not to miss anything. Check it off when you've reviewed each category. It should go pretty quickly because you are not really reading, but more scanning.

Publishing your own book; writing, editing & proofreading tips
Updated: Monday, 03 Sep 2012, 3:48 PM EDT
Published : Monday, 03 Sep 2012, 3:44 PM EDT

Seth Stutman
AMHERST, Mass. (Mass Appeal) - If you've always wanted to publish your own book, but weren't sure where to start, Kitty Axelson-Berry from Modern Memoirs publishing gave some tips about writing.

Writing, editing & proofreading tips:

Editing is the process of reading and changing words or images so that they serve your purpose. Your stories should be accurate, understandable, and easy to read.

Edit first for repetition, inconsistency, contradictions, logic, and tone -- too much bitterness, irony? not enough heroics for your taste?

Edit next for paragraph and chapter breaks. Re-think chapter titles and subtitles, book title and subtitle.

Edit next for accuracy (fact-checking). Did you type 9/12 instead of 9/11? Is president Lyndon Johnson's name spelled correctly?

Create a styleguide so that you are consistent. E.g. Oxford comma, numbers (money, streets, time), abbreviations, asides (italics? parentheses?) Idiosyncratic grammar or vocabulary?

Edit for styles you have decided on.

Read text out loud to others. Reading your manuscript in the presence of others makes you aware of the affect of your writing on people and its implications. Do they understand what you are saying? Do they feel what you wanted them to feel?

Edit for extra spaces, tabs, spelling, grammar, curly quotes, other technicalities.

If you hire a professional, think of four levels of copy editing and proofreading:

Proofreaders not luxury unless you don’t mind embarrassment Send to a friend
Sunday, 02 September 2012 08:06

I was bombarded with emails and phone calls this week, following the exposure of a letter by a local government official in Kinondoni District, entitled “Censer counting people 26 Aug 2012” (sic).

I’m impressed that there’re so many Wabongo out there who are keen on proper language use, irrespective of anyone’s line of work. For certain, most of my readers have been witness to the linguistic lousiness that characterises memos penned by bosses.

And by the way; we aren’t talking about English alone, for we’ve got serious problems in our national language as well. Very serious problems, in fact. And the tragedy is: few, if any among us, care a wee bit about Kiswahili mistakes that are getting increasingly familiar on the streets, radio, TV and of course, the newspapers.

Why? The view is: the average Mbongo makes Kiswahili mistakes by accident – anapitiwa tu, or so we say. When it comes to English, the mistakes are a consequence of poor education – mtu hujasoma! Which is nonsense, of course.

It’s no wonder we continue to hold the foolish notion that a good command of English is – in itself - a mark of good education and lacking in it, a clear indication you’re basically illiterate. What nonsense!

Of course, for a Bongo journalist, it’s most important that he/she becomes well versed, not only in Kiswahili, but in English as well.

In any case, the irreversible fact – thanks to our colonial history – is that we’re citizen of an Anglophone state, meaning we ought to know English, more so if we’ve had the privilege of attending school.

Just as citizens of Francophone states have as their lingua franca the French language. Now being journalists in Bongo, a country that was once ruled by Britons, we’re naturally exposed to – and we’re expected to read – as much information as possible that comes our way in English. And, I add, we’ve a duty to understand that information if we’re to apply it, if need be, in informing, educating and entertaining our audiences.

Which is to say, a journalist can only ignore English at his/her own peril. For us, as opposed to the Kinondoni government official, good knowledge and command of English is a matter of, if you like, life and death.

Yes; writing anything meant for public consumption without subjecting it to proofreading, is suicidal. This advice is much more apt, if you venture into a language that you aren’t that much familiar with.

Going through the letter, it’s very clear that our official at the Kinondoni municipal office hardly ever uses the language in the course of his work. Why should he, anyway?

I received an email from an author over the weekend.

Hi Carol—

I’m sure you won’t get this before I gather my strength tomorrow and face the difficult task of answering one of my authors’ emails. But because I’m sure you’ve plenty of advice to give, better late than never.

I received an email from an author over the weekend. He was very unhappy with the job I did editing his book manuscript and writes that I did “too thorough” a job, changing sentences that did not need to be changed, and in the process, introduced some typographical errors and some content errors.

I will not say that this is untrue. I know I spent a lot of time on his edit, and I’m sure I did, indeed, commit the sin of overediting. My question is how do you come back from that? I know I need to submit an apology, but I’m not sure what else to say other than “I’m sorry you’re unhappy and for the inconvenience.” I’ve only been a copyeditor for a few months and I’m still trying to get the hang of this gig.

PACHUCA, 28 de agosto.- En un plazo de 10 días, la empresa Grupo Hico DF SA de CV remplazará los 51 mil 470 ejemplares del Diccionario Escolar Básico Hidalgo, editado en junio de este año y entregado a alumnos de cuarto grado de primaria.

El gobernador de Hidalgo, Francisco Olvera, señaló que el costo de este proceso correrá a cargo de la compañía proveedora, por lo cual la sustitución no tendrá ningún impacto a las finanzas estatales. El gobierno erogó un millón 027 mil 856 pesos por este concepto.

“Los vamos a reponer. El editor reconoce que es una falla de su trabajo editorial. Paradójicamente quien debiera orientarnos en la gramática tuvo faltas de ortografía”, admitió Olvera Ruiz.

Entrevistado tras celebrar a los adultos mayores, explicó que ayer mismo fue revisado el asunto y el proveedor se comprometió a cambiar la totalidad de los libros de consulta otorgados a estudiantes en un plazo no mayor de 10 días.

Deslindó de cualquier responsabilidad a la Secretaría de Educación Pública estatal, pues consideró que la responsabilidad es de la editorial, además de que “normalmente los diccionarios no contienen errores”.

“Si compras un diccionario en una papelería normalmente no lo revisas porque sabes que está correcto. Aquí hay un error editorial que reconoce el proveedor; por lo tanto nos los va a reponer sin ningún problema y nosotros se los vamos a reponer a los niños”, dijo.

We've just come through an "interesting" (if you use the Chinese saying's ambiguous connotation of the term) couple of years here in the basement of the Coliseum as we try to refashion a journalism and mass communications curriculum that is at the same time forward-looking and flexible, yet retains the foundation of good journalism.

During the course of this, we had a family spat about editing's place. To help get the changes through -- because I thought it more important to seriously loosen our current lockstep curriculum so students have more flexibility -- I did not push to have our current required copy-editing course kept as required.

Some faculty were concerned by that, a bit of jostling ensued, and we voted over broadcast faculty objections to make editing required again for all journalism students. More jostling, another vote, and we compromised: the full editing course will be a directed elective, but an editing module will be put into our first reporting/writing course (the one after the general mass media writing).

It's an agreement I can live with, though it means I have to fashion yet another syllabus, this time for the module. (I am convinced the road to perdition is paved with curriculum-change syllabuses.) One of the broadcast arguments was, essentially, "We already teach editing as part of writing."

But it set me to thinking about how to explain editing and why it is different from writing, especially in its teaching, and why it can't really be effectively taught as part of writing (though certainly some self-editing has to be taught as part of that).

Editing is about approaching a story, in whatever medium, in a different way, with a different mindset.

Luego de que se diera a conocer que el Diccionario Escolar Básico Hidalgo, que es parte del paquete de útiles escolares en Hidalgo en los niveles de educación primaria, se encuentra lleno de errores ortográficos e información ambigua.
La Secretaría de Educación Pública de Hidalgo (SEPH) reaccionó a través de un comunicado de prensa dividido en cinco puntos principales.
La dependencia estatal contestó que los errores son responsabilidad única y exclusivamente del proveedor Grupo HICO DF SA de CV, quien hizo la entrega directamente a las escuelas ya empaquetados.
Impacto
...LOS ERRORES FUERON VENTILADOS en un medio de impacto nacional, a través de una nota informativa de SDPnoticias.

...LA PUBLICACIÓN CAMBIA NOMBRES de diversos municipios como por ejemplo “Acasachitlán” por Acaxochitlán; “Actocpan” por Actopan; “Mineral del Chino” por Mineral del Chico y “San Agustín Tlaxcala” por San Agustín Tlaxiaca.

En el escrito también señalan que el diccionario fue entregado exclusivamente a los alumnos de cuarto grado, que suman una matrícula de 51 mil 470 estudiantes.
El costo de cada ejemplar, añade la SEPH, es de 19.97 pesos, IVA incluido, lo que hace un total de costo de edición de un millón 27 mil 856 pesos.
“En virtud de lo anterior, el proveedor se ha comprometido a reponer el tiraje en su totalidad, con las correcciones pertinentes, de tal forma que la distribución del nuevo diccionario se haga a la brevedad posible”, detalla el documento.
Finalmente, dan a conocer que la Secretaría de Educación Pública de Hidalgo se ha dado a la tarea de retirar de los planteles todos los ejemplares correspondientes a esta edición para que no sea utilizado.

VERÓNICA JIMÉNEZ
México.- El Gobierno de Hidalgo distribuyó 51 mil 470 diccionarios con errores en su edición y faltas de ortografía a niños de cuarto año de primaria.
Los libros fueron incluidos dentro del paquete de útiles escolares gratuitos como parte del Programa Social estatal en apoyo a la economía de los padres de familia.
El presupuesto invertido en esos diccionarios fue de un millón 27 mil 856 pesos.
La postura de la Secretaría de Educación Pública estatal es que los errores son responsabilidad única y exclusivamente del proveedor Grupo HICO DF, S.A. de C.V., empresa que se encargó de la distribución directa de los paquetes escolares a las escuelas.
En este sentido, la dependencia aseguró que la empresa repondrá totalmente los diccionarios.
"El proveedor se ha comprometido a reponer el tiraje en su totalidad, con las correcciones pertinentes, de tal forma que la distribución del nuevo diccionario se hará a la brevedad" informó la SEPH mediante un comunicado emitido por la directora de Comunicación de la dependencia, María del Villar Lazcano.
Por lo pronto, se ordenó que sean retirados los diccionarios de todos los planteles.