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Poll: How do you respond when the company's proofreader makes stylistic changes you disagree with?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Aug 12

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "How do you respond when the company's proofreader makes stylistic changes you disagree with?".

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Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denemarke
Local time: 22:08
Member (2003)
uit Deens in Engels
+ ...
Poorly formulated question 09:25

It depends a lot how much I disagree and why. Sometimes the client is right, and sometimes I stick to my principles and they end up thanking me for doing my job!

Style may be the whole point of getting a specific translator (me) to do the job. Some clients do not like my style and have gone to someone with a different variety of English, or who simply understands the target readers better than I do.

If they stay with me, it depends on why I disagree. I research websites... See more
It depends a lot how much I disagree and why. Sometimes the client is right, and sometimes I stick to my principles and they end up thanking me for doing my job!

Style may be the whole point of getting a specific translator (me) to do the job. Some clients do not like my style and have gone to someone with a different variety of English, or who simply understands the target readers better than I do.

If they stay with me, it depends on why I disagree. I research websites and available material to get a feel of what the client is expecting when I take on a job, and I am quite chameleon-coloured! But there are limits. I explain and quote style guides if appropriate, or I really believe their suggestion is not as good as mine. It may have associations for English speakers that the client has not thought of, or it may be poor grammar, or just sound wrong.

One client company had their own special jargon in Scandi-Polish English, and I did not try to tell them what native British would think - it was not relevant to their internal communications! I cringed at times, but fed their preferred expressions into a separate Trados TM and lived with it. It made sense for their purposes, and we got on well until (presumably) they found AI was quicker and cheaper than me ...

I would never have done that in my early career; I would have taken a battle - and probably lost the client, but I was quite fond of them in the end. ▲ Collapse


Maria Laura Curzi
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 21:08
Member (2007)
uit Engels in Portugees
+ ...
Repeated question! 09:44

So, I'll say exactly the same:

A translation platform should not confuse the role of a proofreader and the one of an editor. An editor improves writing to make it engaging, and easy to understand. Their job consists in fixing spelling, grammar and style rules, as well as awkward sentences while making sure the ideas come across plainly. A proofreader does not make stylistic changes. Their job consists in finding and fixing small mistakes like spelling errors, punctuation slips and l... See more
So, I'll say exactly the same:

A translation platform should not confuse the role of a proofreader and the one of an editor. An editor improves writing to make it engaging, and easy to understand. Their job consists in fixing spelling, grammar and style rules, as well as awkward sentences while making sure the ideas come across plainly. A proofreader does not make stylistic changes. Their job consists in finding and fixing small mistakes like spelling errors, punctuation slips and layout issues before a document is published or printed. ▲ Collapse


expressisverbis
Jennifer Levey
Sabrina Ciserchia
Maria Laura Curzi
 


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Poll: How do you respond when the company's proofreader makes stylistic changes you disagree with?






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