Poll: Have you ever had problems with the person proofreading your translation?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Feb 9, 2018

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Have you ever had problems with the person proofreading your translation?".

This poll was originally submitted by Irène Guinez. View the poll results »



 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 09:22
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Other (not for a long time) Feb 9, 2018

Most of my translations are proofread in-house: I have an arrangement with a trusted colleague (we worked in-house together for 20 years) where we proofread each other's work and my clients know this (and pay for it). I’ve also managed to develop a good professional relationship with most proofreaders chosen by agencies. I must say that in the process, I have learned a lot. One agency (the only one, I must admit) even sends the proofread files for my final approval. Of course over the years I ... See more
Most of my translations are proofread in-house: I have an arrangement with a trusted colleague (we worked in-house together for 20 years) where we proofread each other's work and my clients know this (and pay for it). I’ve also managed to develop a good professional relationship with most proofreaders chosen by agencies. I must say that in the process, I have learned a lot. One agency (the only one, I must admit) even sends the proofread files for my final approval. Of course over the years I also had some bad experiences. A few years back one of my long-standing customers (a Japanese company) picked a Spanish proofreader for the texts I translate (I translate exclusively into European Portuguese) and it took some time and a lot of emails back and forth for him to understand that Spanish and Portuguese, though related, are quite different!Collapse


 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Other Feb 9, 2018

Where is the "Always" option?

 
Anne Schulz
Anne Schulz
Germany
Local time: 10:22
English to German
+ ...
Other Feb 9, 2018

I may have problems with the proofreading, but not with the proofreaders whom I usually don't get to know.
On the other hand, I would sometimes like to know how translators feel about my proofreading, but never get a feedback ;-|


 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 10:22
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
Other Feb 9, 2018

Not for a long time, but I have had trouble with agencies and PMs who believe them...

To be fair, I have benefited many times from others checking through my translations, and several colleagues have been kind enough to thank me for checking theirs.

I hope that is still the normal situation.


 
Jasa Pipan
Jasa Pipan
Slovenia
Local time: 10:22
French to Slovenian
+ ...
Never, because ... Feb 9, 2018

... I never get feedback from translation companies regarding my translations. In line with the principle "no news is good news", I tend to take that as if they would have gotten back to me were there anything to complain about ... but I do admit it sometimes sets me on edge a little bit!

 
Jon Hedemann
Jon Hedemann  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 10:22
English to Danish
+ ...
Problems Feb 9, 2018

Please define 'problems'...

 
Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 10:22
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
Not for a long time Feb 9, 2018

In one case the proofreader tried to enforce her own preferences...whether they were correct or not. But that problem was solved by the client.

 
peter jackson
peter jackson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 10:22
Spanish to English
Not with proofreaders exactly. Feb 9, 2018

I pretty much exclusively translate academic articles for publication in journals, which are peer reviewed when submitted, very often by non-native speakers of English. They are usually unaware that the article has been translated so feel free to criticise the language. Comments received by my clients include things like “the most efficient of the systems analysed proved to be ...” was wrong because adjectives go before the noun in English, “since” cannot be used to introduce a reason c... See more
I pretty much exclusively translate academic articles for publication in journals, which are peer reviewed when submitted, very often by non-native speakers of English. They are usually unaware that the article has been translated so feel free to criticise the language. Comments received by my clients include things like “the most efficient of the systems analysed proved to be ...” was wrong because adjectives go before the noun in English, “since” cannot be used to introduce a reason clause and that relationship cannot be used with reference to objects as in “the relationship between aggression and impulsivity” for example. To make matters worse, if they want to get the work published, they have to accept the comments.Collapse


 
Gianluca Marras
Gianluca Marras  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 10:22
English to Italian
Once Feb 9, 2018

Only once

 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 06:22
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Bad luck? Feb 11, 2018

Chris S wrote:

Where is the "Always" option?


In most cases, in 30 years, revisers and proofreaders made more undue changes than due changes in my translations. It's one of the worst factors of my entire career as a translator. The vast majority of revisers change words for synonyms, mark entire stretches in red to change a single word or letter, and make undue changes that make the translations a lot worse that before the revision. When a reviser receives a translation job that requires very few changes, they simply don't accept to return the job without a hundred red marks, so they make them up. Revisers and proofreaders are a disaster in my experience.

Am I so unlucky? I though this was standard.

[Edited at 2018-02-11 20:00 GMT]


 


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Poll: Have you ever had problems with the person proofreading your translation?






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