A poet can survive everything but a misprint – Oscar Wilde
A translation which is destined for publication and distribution, be it a book, a press article, a website, a product catalogue, a restaurant menu or product labelling, absolutely must meet the highest of quality standards. Any translation of this kind should consist of at least two stages, namely, translation and reviewing/editing. In the case of books and catalogues, there should be two further stages, language sign-off (LSO) and language quality assurance (QA).
So what are reviewing/editing, LSO and QA?
- Review/editing is the careful and thorough scrutiny of the text in terms of its compliance with the original, in the case of a translation, as well as the suitability of the style and register and the correctness of the grammar, syntax, punctuation and spelling. Reviewers and editors are people with a superb knowledge of the language rules who know which style and register to select depending on the nature and purpose of the text and possess such traits as outstanding accuracy, scrupulousness, an eagle eye and an inquiring mind. Not one typo will escape their attention and they take immense care to ensure that the entire publication is consistent, coherent and homogenous. In our agency, translations from a foreign language into Polish are reviewed/edited by persons with philological education and an experience in working in publishing houses. Review/editing of translations from Polish into a foreign language are performed by native speakers of foreign languages who are perfectly familiar with the stylistic nuances of their language and will ensure that the translation is not only substantively good but also sounds natural to a foreign recipient.
- LSO is the verification of the text once it has been laid out for printing by a DTP expert. The proofreader works with a PDF file and checks to ensure that the layout meets editorial standards in technical and aesthetic terms. At this stage, widows and orphans, in other words, words or single lines at the beginning or end of a paragraph which are left ‘dangling’ alone at the end or beginning of a column or page, are corrected and hyphenation is verified. Footnotes, endnotes, hyperlinks, page headers and indexes are checked for correctness. Tables, illustrations and photos are checked not only in terms of their positioning, but also to ensure that they have the right captions. The layout and indentations of headers, sub-headers, footers, bulleted and numbered lists and so forth is also verified at this stage.
In the case of texts intended for publication, LSO services are indispensable and ensure that the text is of the highest quality.
We invite you to send your inquiry using free quote form or to info@exlibro.pl.
Are you wondering whether we translate texts from your industry or into a rare language? Contact us today! We work from Monday to Friday, 9 am – 5 pm.
