Proofreading & Editing- Any Difference?

Proofreading & Editing- Any Difference Many freelancers often take up the work of proofreading and editing in addition to translation jobs. Some may even prefer to do one stream of work alone. There are many instances where the terms “proofreading” and “editing” are used for the same work although there is great deal of difference between the two. Let us now understand the difference between proofreading and editing: 1. While proofreading is mainly concentrated on checking up on grammatical, spelling and syntax errors and is no way concerned with the correct usage of words or terms editing involves mainly checking on expressions of the language. 2. Since language is not of much concern to the proofreader the checking is mainly done with the use of dictionaries to see if spellings are correct. Editing involves delving deep into with specialized dictionaries to check the correct usage of terms. 3. While the proofreader generally makes the corrections that are necessary the editor will suggest the corrections that are considered necessary to the original translator to implement them. 4. Proofreading does not employ the usage of software tools such as CAT but editing will require these in order to correct multiple errors in the text. 5. The usage of proofreading has been reduced as most errors that are corrected by the proofreader can be found out by translators themselves because of the software tools they use but editing cannot be done with these methods. 6. Proofreading is paid at a much lower rate than translation (around 1/4th the price) while editing is paid in par with translation rates (about 50% of the price as it takes lesser time than translation). These rates are preferably paid by the hour if it has to benefit the proofreader or the editor. It is important for every freelancer to know the difference between proofreading and editing and to actually know which job is being offered to them while taking up a project. Since proofreading rates are much lesser than editing rates, a confusion between the two can lead you to do more work for a lesser price.

8 tips to Avoid Payment Default

8 tips to Avoid Payment Default While it is definitely not fair to generalize, you should always be on the safer side and be careful to avoid falling prey to the dirty tricks of many scammers and cheaters that are present waiting to rip you off. There are many of them who will get the work done and then refuse to pay under the pretext of your work being shoddy or not up to the mark. In order to avoid falling prey to such cheap methods employed by a few bad apples it is necessary to follow a few simple methods that are enlisted: 1. Check out the profile of the agency before you accept any work from them. It is always better to accept work from people who have good credibility ratings. 2. If you are not for any reason able to check upon the credibility of the agency, it is better to first ask for a proper contract that will make them liable if they default on payments. 3. Ascertain that the contract contains all the details of the project and the deadlines and terms and due date of payment. 4. If you still suspect the credibility of the agency, either refuse to take up the work or if you still want to take it up ask for upfront payments or payments in parts as and when the work gets completed. 5. Keep in constant touch with the agency and send in reminders if the payment is due beyond the due dates. 6. If the agency refuses payment under the guise of bad quality although you are sure that the quality of the work is good, tell them that you will leave bad feedbacks on translator websites that is bound to affect the credibility of the agency in future projects. 7. If they still refuse payment, you can go ahead with using sites such as http://www.ripoffreport.com and file for a rip off report and provide them with a copy. It may influence them to pay you the money owed. 8. If nothing works, use the contract to take up legal action against the agency. This is generally a difficult procedure if you are living far away from the other party but definitely not impossible.

Better Management of Your Paypal Account

Photo Credit Annia316 Better Management of Your Paypal Account The Internet has radically changed the way many businesses operate. The advent of the worldwide web has enabled freelancers to take up work from any part of the world. The difficulty of making and receiving payments has been reduced by the appearance of sites such as paypal and moneybookers that allow you to make transactions in a jiffy. For many of you online transactions might sound very dangerous and may frighten you thinking of the possibility of falling prey to hackers and scammers on the net. For this reason, the option of receiving payments on an internet site like paypal may sound very scary and unnerving. But, if you follow a few simple safety measures, you can remain away from such perilous situations and your money remains safe. You should also be aware of things such as how to set up a paypal account and how to pay and receive money. Setting up a paypal account is very easy. All you need is an email address for verifications and your email i.d. becomes your paypal i.d. This is what you need to send to your clients to ask them for sending you the money. Alternatively, you can even send a request through the request form available on paypal. You need to provide details of your bank account which needs to be linked to the paypal i.d. such that you can transfer the money from the site to the bank account. You can get verified by giving details such as credit card so that money transfers can be made from your card too. A few precautions that need to be followed while using your paypal account • Always log in from web browser using the link https://www.paypal.com. Never try to enter the site through a link you have received in your mail. • Keep only small balances in your account. • Set up a separate bank account to link to the i.d. and withdraw the amount from the bank at regular intervals. • Check the balances in the bank account and paypal regularly. • Do not use proxy while logging onto paypal as your account could get frozen. A few things in mind go a long way in ensuring the safety of your money and peace of mind. It is better to be careful early rather than regretting later.

Software for Subtitling

Photo Credit Josef Stufer Software for Subtitling Subtitling involves the dual process of translating as well as incorporating the subtitles in the appropriate slots to correspond with the audio as and when it is playing. This incorporation of subtitles is done by a process of timing the audio by a process known as spotting. The subtitles are burned onto the DVD using appropriate hardware and software for the process. Spotting and burning the subtitles requires specialized software for the process. These can be in the form of freeware that is available on the internet or can be purchased. Different people use different software as is recommended by the client or as is comfortable to them. Some examples of software that is used for subtitling includes the following: DivXLand Media Subtitler that is a freeware available at http://www.divxland.org/index.php. This needs Windows media player version 9 and above. Another freeware is Sub Station Alpha that can be found at http://www.topdownloads.net/software/view.php?id=9740. Apart from this there is Real Subtitler that needs Real Player to function and can be found at http://sourceforge.net/projects/realsubtitler. Horse, software useful for translation and spotting that is found at http://www.mat.puc-rio.br/~jufreire/horse/ InqScribe, a shareware that can be purchased at http://www.inquirium.net/products/inqscribe/index.html. This needs Quick Time version 7 and above to function. Another shareware is Stream SubText that can be purchased at http://www.jorgemorones.com/sst/. The most preferred and highly recommended software used in subtitling is the URUSoft Subtitle Workshop, which is a freeware that can be found at http://www.urusoft.net/products.php?lang=1. There are some subtitlers that prefer to use this software with other freeware such as Visual Sub Sync to make their work even simpler and much easier. The software used for subtitling is generally used for spotting where the duration of every subtitle is timed and is incorporated to match the audio. This is done by placing the text on a text file as in Notepad and then using the specialized software, it is time-coded. The process of spotting and burning of the subtitles is generally performed by the translators it is not uncommon for many of them to outsource the work of spotting and burning to another person.

Typical Spanish Translation Rates in UK

Photo Credit Spigoo These data are taken from the website of an UK based agency. It would give an idea how much they are charging for Spanish translation. It seems this is not a big agency. May be an one man agency. But the information is useful in deciding your rates in UK. Translation: fees range from £60 to £120 per 1000 words Generally, no distinction is made in price terms between translations from English into Spanish or from Spanish into English. Interpreting: Rates for business, technical, legal and community interpreting are £175 per half day and £300 for a full day. Voice-overs: these are charged at a flat rate of £500 per recording session (no more than one normal working day). Bilingual Secretarial Services: billed at £20 per hour (subject to minimum charge). Audio Transcription: as a general guide, rate for transcription (including translation) is £120 per 1000 words. Spanish tuition: our rate is £30 per hour for private individuals and £40 per hour for companies, exclusive of travelling costs and time, if applicable. Source-http://www.spanishtranslationservice.co.uk/pages/services/rates.htm Read more posts on rates here