One of the most common issues translation buyers tend to face with translation services is proofreading. Why pay extra for proofreading when you’re already paying for a professional translation? While we totally understand the initial concern, proofreading really does make a significant difference to the final result. To help you take your translation from being a good one to a great one, here’s some more background info on the six-eye principle and why translation and proofreading are a match made in heaven.
Why is proofreading so important?
Although technology is playing an ever-increasing role in the translation process, the skilled eye of a professional proofreader remains just as vital. When you get a document translated, no matter how hard the translator tries (or how good your spellcheck technology is), there’s still going to be a very slight chance that a typo has slipped through unnoticed. After all, translators are only human! With proofreading, the proofreader will carefully run through the text and perfect everything to make sure nothing’s been missed, and that it’s ready to go to print.
Proofreaders can indeed check a whole array of things – from terminology to style – in exactly the way you need. Depending on the purpose of your translation, the proofreader will dig into the details and make sure that it fits the planned purpose of the text. For more on the different types of proofreading, check out our recent blog article on this topic.
How does the six-eye principle work?
The most common workflow for translation and proofreading is widely known as the four-eye principle. In this process, the translator performs the translation of the text, the proofreader proofreads it, and then it is sent back to the client. But how do you take things a step further, to achieve 100% sure quality? This is where the six-eye principle comes in!
In this workflow, your text will first go to a translator, and then to a separate proofreader as before. But, with the six-eye principle, it will also be fully QA checked. This final quality check involves the text being looked over one more time by a 3rd linguist. As the text will have been checked by three separate people, you can feel absolutely confident that your translation will meet the needs of even the most demanding reader or context.
If you’d like to know more about our translation and proofreading workflows, feel free to get in touch.