{"id":1696,"date":"2023-04-28T08:43:41","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T07:43:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.kleinwolfpeters.com\/?p=1696"},"modified":"2023-04-28T08:43:41","modified_gmt":"2023-04-28T07:43:41","slug":"the-wonderful-world-of-proofreading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.kleinwolfpeters.com\/?p=1696&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"The wonderful world of proofreading"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Julia Harwardt
\n<\/em>Translated by Richard Peters<\/em><\/p>\n

The fact that my translator colleagues and I love language is neither a secret nor a surprise \u2013 otherwise we would hardly have ended up in our profession. But for language to fulfil its role as a builder of bridges, it needs something else besides beautiful expressions and clear, elegant phrasing: namely, correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation. They say that the devil is in the details, and I get such a thrill out of chasing down every last bit of his handiwork. I derive great satisfaction from catching each and every error \u2013 whether glaring or slight \u2013 and delivering a text that\u2019s so thoroughly \u201cclean,\u201d even the editors at Duden, Germany\u2019s premier dictionary, wouldn\u2019t find fault with it. Although the subject of proofreading hadn\u2019t featured in my translation studies, I was always quite sure that I was doing a good job \u2013 albeit that I never thought more closely about the methods and goals of editing. But that changed quickly when Klein Wolf Peters arranged for me to attend a five-part series of seminars for ISO 17100-compliant copy editing<\/a>, which was offered by the German Federal Association of Translators and Interpreters (BD\u00dc). This included a two-day \u201cProofreading\u201d module: \u201cWonderful,\u201d I thought: \u201cI can do everything, I know it all already. Piece of cake.\u201d Well, not quite.<\/p>\n

As I quickly discovered, I\u2019d previously had no idea just how broad the range of tasks and definitions is in this field. The discussions around the content, methods, and goals of proofreading showed me that even the specialists are far from unanimous and clear on that. At Klein Wolf Peters, too, we\u2019re always faced with the question: What do our customers actually want us to do when they place a proofreading job with us? And is everyone in the picture on how to meet these requirements?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the general basics: the core objective of proofreading is to improve an already existing text. The aspects that I check as a proofreader ultimately depend on the type of text as well as my customer\u2019s wishes and expectations. They can be roughly divided into three categories: First, there\u2019s the linguistic level, which involves checking things like grammar, spelling, and punctuation and correcting them if necessary. Then there\u2019s the content level, which includes the structure and length of the text as well as the accuracy and logic of the content. Finally, there\u2019s the formal level, which is about whether layout specifications or line breaks have been implemented correctly.<\/p>\n

Which of these three aspects is the focus \u2013 or perhaps it\u2019s a combination, or even all three \u2013 depends on the desired result. Terms such as \u201cadvertising editing\u201d, \u201cstandard editing\u201d, \u201ccorrection proofing\u201d, and \u201cstyle editing\u201d do exist, but in my opinion they don\u2019t really mean much, as people\u2019s interpretation of the terms can vary wildly. That means every proofreading job has its own specific requirements, which have to be clarified with the customer: Does the tweet just need a quick grammar and spelling check? Or should the post also be reviewed for reader-friendliness or targeted language? Or maybe the marketing team isn\u2019t quite happy with the headlines and subheads in the next blog \u2013 in which case I switch hats and go from being an editor to a copywriter to consider possible alternatives. Another common job is to check galley proofs or the final layout, for example for line breaks or the implementation of graphic specifications. Of course, we hardly ever do any of this on paper these days; instead we use digital formats \u2013 and here, too, I need to clarify whether the customer wants me to insert my changes or alternative suggestions by comment, in track changes mode, or directly and without highlighting.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, the important thing is always to clear all these details with our customers. Only if we as editors know exactly what they need, and how we can best meet their expectations, can we work precisely and deliver carefully edited copy that really packs a punch \u2013 whether as a press release, on the company website, as part of a sustainability report, or in an online store.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Proofreading, copy editing, editing: it\u2019s not easy or clear how to tell these terms apart. This post discusses what to watch out for in proofreading assignments and how we at Klein Wolf Peters go about achieving top results.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[686,354,687,542,6],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kleinwolfpeters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1696"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kleinwolfpeters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kleinwolfpeters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kleinwolfpeters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kleinwolfpeters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1696"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kleinwolfpeters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1698,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kleinwolfpeters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1696\/revisions\/1698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kleinwolfpeters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kleinwolfpeters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kleinwolfpeters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kleinwolfpeters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}