Services
The projects I have delivered over the years have been of a large variety, including e.g. academic thesis reviews, website language reviews and software GUI editing. The vast majority of my projects have been in the fields of translating, proofreading and editing. My language pairs are English=>Swedish and Swedish=>English.
Over the years my working fields have become
• General texts (Conversation / Greetings / Letters)
• International Organisations/ Development Cooperation
• General Management
• Information Technology
• Military / Defence
• Sea safety/ Maritime
• Tourism/ Travel
Translation
The translation process often involves more than just a straightforward conversion of a text in one language into the same text in another in which one exchanges the words in language A for the corresponding words in language B.To render a text in one language into a readable equivalent in the other, the translator not only has to consider differences in structure and form between the two but must also take into account other, sometimes more complex, factors such as levels of formality, register and appropriacy, connotation, idiomatic usage, cultural aspects, culture-specific concepts and so forth. These are part of the way in which a language is used and thus influence the translator’s work.
The translator must further take the target group into account. Technical manuals need to be concise and crystal clear while marketing texts and, even more sensitive, political texts and similar documents need to be thoroughly target group adapted.
I work closely with my clients, maintaining a constant dialogue throughout the translation process, to develop texts that fully and precisely convey the intended message and the quality of the original in a professional and stylistic manner.
Editing
During the editing process I go through your text in depth from various perspectives and focus, among other aspects, on its content, accuracy, tone and sentence structure.Several factors are considered here. Are the key ideas of the text and the messages it aims to convey presented in a clear, logical and easily understandable way? Are these ideas tied together neatly so that they form a coherent and meaningful whole? Does the text flow logically from one paragraph to the other, for example through the use of transitional words and phrases, which help the reader to connect the ideas that are being expressed? Does it have a varied sentence structure and a varied vocabulary or is it perhaps too repetitive?
I check the text to ensure that the information provided therein is accurate and look for consistency in terms of the terminology used. I further check it for informal language such as jargon, colloquialisms, slang words or overused clichés that do not significantly contribute meaning to the text and might better be removed. In short, I do my best to ensure that the end result is a piece of writing that conveys its message clearly and concisely to its target audience.
Proofreading
Proofreading requires an eagle eye for detail. When proofreading, I carefully read and review your text to detect and eliminate errors. I look for spelling mistakes or words with similar spelling or pronunciation but different meanings, which can fly under the radar of automatic spelling and grammar checks. I further check the text for mistakes relating to grammar, format, punctuation or typography. I pay attention to details such as• double spaces between characters
• incorrect fonts/font sizes or bullet formatting that is inconsistent
• missing headlines, misaligned margins or misaligned rows in a table
• words that may have been incorrectly capitalised
• missing numbers in a list or a numbered sequence
• endnotes or footnotes that do not match references or incorrect text references.
• incorrect use of trademarks
• inconsistent use of abbreviations in the text
• misuse of apostrophes
• subject/verb agreement, tense agreement and pronoun/case agreement
• confusing similar words that have been interchanged or used incorrectly, such as it/is/if, of/off/on
This list could be made longer and more extensive but the point is, your text will be checked in greater detail to detect any errors that may have been overlooked during the writing process which, if not corrected, could negatively affect the end reader’s overall impression of your text.
