Bilingual Editing & Revision Services

Editing: A Critical Step for Quality Translations

Editing is an essential step in the quality control process, and a highly skilled editor is fundamental to delivering a top-tier translation. In the language services industry, editing involves a meticulous line-by-line comparison between the draft translation and its original source text. The goal is to identify and correct both serious and minor errors that could negatively impact the final output.

Why Editing Matters

A thorough editing process focuses on addressing critical errors that can:

• Harm a user, operator, patient, or consumer, leading to safety or operational risks.
• Damage products or the equipment used alongside the product, resulting in costly repercussions.
• Misrepresent the author’s intent or the client’s products or services, leading to misunderstandings or legal consequences.
• Harm the client’s reputation by conveying unprofessionalism or inaccuracy, thus eroding trust and credibility.

Beyond these serious errors, editors also fix a wide range of less critical but significant mistakes that can tarnish the ethos of both individuals and organizations. Such errors can diminish the professionalism of the translation and weaken its intended message.

Common Errors According to SAE J2450 Translation Quality Metric

The SAE J2450 Translation Quality Metric, commonly used in the industry, outlines several key categories of errors that editors focus on:

• Wrong or Inconsistent Terminology: Misapplied or sub-optimal terms, especially critical in technical and specialized translations.
• Syntactic Errors: Mistakes involving the incorrect part of speech, faulty phrase structure, or improper word order that distort meaning.
• Omissions: Failure to include content that is present in the source text, leading to incomplete or misleading translations.
• Word Structure or Agreement Issues: Errors in word agreement, such as gender, number, or tense in target languages with complex grammatical systems.
• Misspellings: Simple typographical errors that undermine credibility.
• Punctuation Errors: Incorrect or inconsistent punctuation that affects the flow and clarity of the text.
• Formatting and Miscellaneous Errors: Issues like incorrect units of measurement, pagination errors, un-translated text, or superfluous content that detract from the overall quality and professionalism of the document.

Green Crescent’s Editing and Revision Services

At Green Crescent, we offer comprehensive editing and revision services for translated documents. These services can be provided either in tandem with our own translation work or as independent services for clients seeking to refine previously translated content.

Factors Influencing the Cost of Editing

The cost of editing varies based on several factors, including:

• Language Pair: Some language combinations may be more complex or specialized.
• Subject Matter: Technical or industry-specific content often requires a higher level of expertise.
• Turnaround Time: Urgent deadlines may increase costs.
• Quality of the Original Translation: If the original translation is of particularly poor quality, more extensive editing may be required.

Our Editing Process

To ensure transparency and quality, Green Crescent typically begins with a general review and performs a random sampling of the original translation. This allows us to generate a quality score, which helps determine the scope of work needed to bring the translation up to our high standards.

Cost Range for Editing

The cost of editing can range widely, depending on the quality of the original translation:

• High-Quality Translations: Editing may cost as little as 30% of the original translation cost when minimal revisions are needed.
• Low-Quality Translations: In extreme cases, where the original translation is subpar and requires extensive reworking, the cost of editing may rise to 100% of the original translation cost—sometimes making it more practical to re-translate from scratch.