| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | What is your experience with proofreading/feedback from agencies? Thread poster: Leanne Leroy (X)
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Proofreading and verification are rare these days but not necessarily as rare as they may seem.
On the other hand, their quality tends to leave at least something, often a large something, to be desired.
As for feedback, it tends to be unprofessional, e.g.: 'The client said there were some mistakes. Please translate more diligently next time,' and other thoughtless remarks like that.
| | | | Inga Petkelyte 
Portugal
Local time: 05:21
Lithuanian to Portuguese
+ ...
| That was the reason | Apr 27, 2015 |
Gabriele Demuth wrote:
Do they expect and do you go through the whole document each time to check and double check the changes? Wouldn't that be quite time consuming and do you charge for the time?
I used to provide my services to an agency that had won several EU bids. In the beginning, all was fine. Later, they introduced their new QA system.
And:
yes - they demanded to go through the entire text after proofreading;
yes - it was awfully time consuming, not only because of the double reading the same document but also because of the request to ground my choices, as - that was already pointed out here by other translators - some proofreaders were making serious grammar, logics, style, etc. mistakes;
no - the agency didn't add a penny for this lengthy additional work.
So, there a day came where one of my translations was sent back after proofreading: half was with a preferential suggestion here and there, and the other half was fully in red. When I started looking at that "red" half... And found myself obliged, by the agency policy, to give a comment and find and quote basic grammar rules for the illiterate "corrections"... That was the day where enough was enough.
I mostly appreciate that my clientes do their own proofreading and send me questions when they have such.
| | | | | Specific questions, or I ignore them | Apr 27, 2015 |
Łukasz Gos-Furmankiewicz wrote:
...
As for feedback, it tends to be unprofessional, e.g.: 'The client said there were some mistakes. Please translate more diligently next time,' and other thoughtless remarks like that.
If a client sends me a remark like that, I ask for precise details. I can't translate 'more diligently' than I already do. Still, everything (almost) can be said in several ways, and perhaps I can find a way the client likes better if I know precisely what did not sound right to them.
If there were mistakes, I want to know where, and correct them specifically.
Just guessing is impossible. If no one comes back with a specific answer, then I refuse to do anything about their comments.
| | | | | Not always to viewed negatively... | Apr 28, 2015 |
... few people like to receive "feedback" unless it is dithyrambic of course, yet they should be viewed as way to improve.
Usually feedback is more common in marketing documents, technical documentation rarely have any stylistic challenges.
At first, I took any form of comments sternly, then I started to look at them differently.
It actually led me to pinpoint a few areas of improvement, and I feel all the better for it. After all, nobody is perfect.
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