Poll: Do you usually check your translations on screen or on paper?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Aug 12, 2005

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you usually check your translations on screen or on paper?".

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A forum topic will appear each time a new poll is run. For more information, see: http://proz.com/topic/33629


 
Kevin Fulton
Kevin Fulton  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 07:35
German to English
It took years Aug 12, 2005

I started translating with a computer in the early 1980s and always printed a hard copy for checking. Finally about 3 years ago I stopped this practice.

 
Brandis (X)
Brandis (X)
Local time: 12:35
English to German
+ ...
I have a very large monitor Aug 12, 2005

from SGI 25" for gaming on this I can project 2 pages side by side, so that overall check is possible, saves printing costs too. Best regards, Bandi

 
Sanmar
Sanmar
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:35
Dutch to English
Surprised by results! Aug 12, 2005

I am very surprised to read that the majority of people check their work on screen. Personally, I am much more likely to overlook things when checking my work on screen. Besides, it is nice to be able to walk away from the computer to do my final checks!

 
Siegfried Armbruster
Siegfried Armbruster  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 12:35
English to German
+ ...
In memoriam
Paper Aug 13, 2005

I have 2 proofreaders, the ladies only accept paper, and they are doing a good job.

Siegfried


 
Céline Odo
Céline Odo  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 12:35
English to French
+ ...
I agree that paper check is more pleasant Aug 13, 2005

But I make the effort to proofread on screen for ecological reasons.

 
Julio Torres
Julio Torres
Mexico
Local time: 05:35
English to Spanish
+ ...
I'm surprised too Aug 14, 2005

Sanmar wrote:

I am very surprised to read that the majority of people check their work on screen. Personally, I am much more likely to overlook things when checking my work on screen. Besides, it is nice to be able to walk away from the computer to do my final checks!


Paper has some advantages:

1.- It's more healthy for eyes.
2.- You avoid "jumps" in the screen.
3.- You can work in a place without energy or out of your house. Imagine: you can check your translations in a park, or in a restaurant drinking a cup of coffee! You are more receptive to fresh ideas.

For ecology, I print in the "draft" ink option and I use both sides. Additionally, I ask to my friends for used papers. Finally, I used recycled paper (The printer accepts it).


 
Johan Jongman
Johan Jongman  Identity Verified
Ireland
Local time: 12:35
English to Dutch
+ ...
I used to use paper Aug 18, 2005

But now that TFT and LCD screens have become commonplace and affordable, I don't think reading from the screen is all that unpleasant anymore. Plus you can take advantage of the "spellchecking-as-you-type" feature in Word (the little red waves under possible spelling errors).

 
Astrid Elke Witte
Astrid Elke Witte  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 12:35
Member (2002)
German to English
+ ...
I wouldn't dare send in a translation that I hadn't proofread on paper Aug 27, 2005

Personally, I find it entirely unsatisfactory to proofread on screen. I correct any errors that I spot on the screen before printing the document out, but I do not catch many errors that way. Also, I do not just proofread for errors, but to improve the style of the translation, since CAT tools do not allow me complete freedom of style. In particular, one sentence in the source document should not always necessarily equal one sentence in the target document. Also, between German and English, ... See more
Personally, I find it entirely unsatisfactory to proofread on screen. I correct any errors that I spot on the screen before printing the document out, but I do not catch many errors that way. Also, I do not just proofread for errors, but to improve the style of the translation, since CAT tools do not allow me complete freedom of style. In particular, one sentence in the source document should not always necessarily equal one sentence in the target document. Also, between German and English, whole sentences usually have to be turned round completely, and this process has to be finished off at the proofreading stage.

Maybe some other language pairs are more suitable for CAT tools, and such editing is not necessary, but I still could not even spot every last typing error on screen.
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Rebecca Hendry
Rebecca Hendry  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:35
Member (2005)
Spanish to English
+ ...
On paper. Aug 29, 2005

When I proofread on screen, I can feel my eyes getting tired and my concentrating lapsing. For this reason, I always print a hard copy to proofread "properly". I'll walk away from the computer, red pen in hand, to another room to do it.

I do, however, print on both sides of the paper, use recycled paper for this purpose, and send all the paper I use to recycle too.


 
Nikki Graham
Nikki Graham  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:35
Spanish to English
Recycling paper Aug 29, 2005

Rebecca Hendry wrote:

I do, however, print on both sides of the paper, use recycled paper for this purpose, and send all the paper I use to recycle too.


Yes, I do this too, except I do it at the computer and make the changes as I go along (every paragraph if there are lots of "mistakes" or every page if there's not much to alter), as I have sometimes found that I've corrected it on paper but not on the screen. If it is a complicated document, I will then usually do another last check on screen, but I have also occasionally printed it out twice.


 
Patricia Rosas
Patricia Rosas  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 04:35
Spanish to English
+ ...
In memoriam
paper only at the very end Aug 30, 2005

I, too, read my work one final time on paper, checking it against the original, also on paper. But up to that point, I work exclusively with the on-screen versions. Once I tried using recycled paper, but I got so mixed up about which copy was which that I never did it again. I hate wasting paper, but I think it is healthy for me physically to switch from reading a screen. I often read the final versions out of doors or lying on a couch or floor--my body needs the break, and it seems to put me... See more
I, too, read my work one final time on paper, checking it against the original, also on paper. But up to that point, I work exclusively with the on-screen versions. Once I tried using recycled paper, but I got so mixed up about which copy was which that I never did it again. I hate wasting paper, but I think it is healthy for me physically to switch from reading a screen. I often read the final versions out of doors or lying on a couch or floor--my body needs the break, and it seems to put me in a fresher space in relation to the text ... Aren't these polls great?!Collapse


 


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Poll: Do you usually check your translations on screen or on paper?






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