EDITING AND REVISING

TEXT: METHODS AND

TECHNIQUES
 The Importance Of Editing

Editors always serve the needs of three constituencies:

The author(s) – the person (or people) who wrote or complied

the manuscript

The publisher – the person or company that is paying the

cost of producing the printed material

The readers – the people for whom the material is being

produced
All these parties share one basic desire: an
error-free publication.

To that end, the copyeditor acts as the

author’s second pair of eyes, pointing out –
and usually correcting – mechanical errors
or inconsistencies in content.
 Clarity
Consistency
Coherency

In service of the
“Cardinal C”:
Correctness communication

If you like alliterative

mnemonic devices,
you can conceive of a
copyeditor’s chief
concerns as
comprising the “4 Cs”
Contoh – Sebelum Suntingan
Adalah cukup memuaskan dan menyagarkan melihat sehelai
kain putih yang bersih yang baharu sahaja selesai didobi
sehingga namanya dapat bertahan di kalangan antarabangsa
sebagai kain tutup meja yang paling terkenal sejak beratus-
ratus tahun lamanya. Mengibar-ngibar sehelai kain tutup
meja yang putih bersih dan membiarkannya melayah dan
menutupi meja seolah menjadi suatu ‘ritual’ pula dalam
kebanyakan rumah. Ia merupakan permulaan yang formal
dalam setiap jamuan makan, sama ada dalam jamuan kecil
keluarga ataupun dalam majlis jamuan rasmi.
Elemen tersendiri dari kain tutup meja ini ialah apa yang
dipanggil napkin. Napkin disediakan kepada setiap tetamu
jamuan, dengan tujuan untuk mengelakkan pakaian tetamu
daripada terkena tumpahan kuah dan terkena percikan
makanan yang mencomotkan, sebagai lapik tangan ketika
memegang sajian dan pinggan atau piring yang panas, dan
untuk mengesat bibir dan jari-jemari yang berlekit.
Sebenarnya, inilah semua fungsi yang pernah dimainkan oleh
kain tutup meja itu sendiri, dan istilah napkin itu secara
langsung berasal daripada perkataan Perancis “nappe”, yang
membawa maksud kain tutup meja.
Contoh – Sesudah Suntingan
Istilah napkin berasal daripada perkataan Perancis “nappe”, yang
membawa maksud kain penutup meja. Warna kain napkin yang putih
bersih dan baunya yang segar harum sentiasa menjadi pelengkap
keindahan hiasan meja. Itulah kain penutup meja yang sentiasa
berperanan sebagai persediaan awal bagi setiap jamuan makan, sama ada
jamuan kecil keluarga mahupun majlis jamuan rasmi. Elemen tertentu
yang ada pada kain penutup meja seperti kebersihan, kekemasan, dan
kegunaannya yang pelbagai itu semasa menikmati hidangan akhirnya
mengilhamkan kewujudan “napkin”. Sebagaimana dimaklumi, napkin
disediakan kepada setiap tetamu jamuan, dengan tujuan untuk
mengelakkan pakaian tetamu daripada terkena tumpahan kuah dan terkena
percikan makanan. Ia juga digunakan untuk melapik tangan ketika
memegang sajian dan pinggan atau piring yang panas, selain juga untuk
mengesat bibir dan jari-jemari yang melekit. Pada hakikatnya, inilah
peranan yang pernah dimainkan oleh kain penutup meja suatu ketika
dahulu.
 EDITING

i. There are no hard and fast rules for editing,

though critical factors are certainly appearance,
appeal, impact, harmony, taste, register and
style.

ii. If revision is concerned with the ‘bare bones’

of the TT (target text), the editing process will
perform ‘remedial surgery’, which should
consist of ‘upgrading the terminology, clarifying
obscurities, reinforcing the impact, honing the
emotive appeal to suit the target reader’.
 EDITING

iii. A final ‘cosmetic’ stage should be to

ensure that the appearance and layout
of the TT respect the requirements as
stated by the client.
With particularly difficult texts, it is sometimes worth doing
the revision process itself in two phases.

During the first phase, the editor may focus:

 entirely on the TT,

 considering it from the point of view of style,
terminology, etc. as if it were an original
English/Malay text.
 During the second and final stage, the TT may be
compared again with the ST (source text), to check that
concern with style has not led to unacceptable
translation loss.
 REVISION
The main task during the revision stage is checking
the TT for adherence to the ST in terms of accuracy:

i. The reviser focuses on errors, omissions, additions,

inconsistencies, names and titles, figures and tables,
etc.

ii. Errors of accuracy can be relatively minor, such as

spelling mistakes or punctuation, or lexical and
phrasal errors.
iii. However, they can also include more
complex errors such as ungrammatical
constructions, or obscure, ambiguous or
misleading configurations on the sentential and
discourse levels.

iv. At the revision or checking stage, greater

emphasis is usually placed on accuracy than on
terminology. The objectivity of the reviser
should ensure that any ambiguities or unclear
phrasings are dealt with before passing on to
the editing stage.
 TECHNICAL EDITING

Technical editing involves reviewing

text written on a technical topic, and
identifying usage errors and ensuring
adherence to a style guide.

Continue…
 Technical editing may include:

The correction of grammatical

mistakes

Poorly structured sentences

Inconsistencies in usages
Continue…
Incorrect punctuation

Mistyping

Misspellings
 Wrong scientific terms

Wrong units and dimensions

Inconsistency in significant figures

Technical ambivalence

Technical disambiguation
Correction of statements conflicting
with general scientific knowledge

Correction of synopsis

Content
 Index, headings and subheadings

Correcting data and chart presentation in a

research paper or report

Correcting errors in citations

 Technical Editing

In large companies, experienced

writers are dedicated to the technical
editing function. In organizations that
cannot afford dedicated editors,
experienced writers typically peer-
edit text produced by their less
experienced colleagues.
It helps if the technical editor is familiar with the subject
being edited, but that is not always essential.

The "technical" knowledge that an editor gains over time

while working on a particular product or technology does
give the editor an edge over another who has just started
editing content related to that product or technology.

But essential general skills are attention to detail, the ability

to sustain focus while working through lengthy pieces of
text on complex topics, tact in dealing with writers, and
excellent communication skills.
Competences
 Competence

i. The combination of attitudes, knowledge,

behavior and knowhow necessary to carry out a
given task under given conditions.

ii. The competences in each of the six areas are

interdependent. They all lead to the qualification
of experts in multilingual and multimedia
communication.
iii. Together, they comprise the
minimum requirement to which other
specific competences may be added
(e.g in localisation, audiovisual
translation or research).
 Competence Areas

1. Translation Service Provision Competence

(with an Interpersonal and a Production
dimension)

2. Language Competence

3. Intercultural Competence (with a

Sociolinguistic and a Textual dimension)
4. Information Mining Competence

5. Thematic Competence

6. Technology Competence

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/
programmes/emt/index_en.htm
 Editing Service Provision Competence
Interpersonal dimension:

i. Being aware of the social role of editor

ii. Knowing how to organise approaches to clients and

potential clients (marketing)

iii. Knowing how to negotiate with the client (to define

deadlines, tariffs/invoicing, working conditions, access to
information, contract, responsibilities, translation
specifications, etc.)
iv. Knowing how to comply with instructions,
deadlines, commitments, interpersonal
competences, team organization.

v. Knowing the standards applicable to the

provision of an editing service

vi. Knowing how to comply with professional

ethics
 Editing Service Provision Competence
Production dimension:

i. Knowing how to create and offer an editing

service appropriate to the client's request, i.e. to
the aim/skops and to the translation situation

ii. Knowing how to define stages and strategies for

the translation of a document
iii. Knowing how to define and evaluate translation
problems and find appropriate solutions

iv. Knowing how to justify one's translation choices and

decisions

v. Mastering the appropriate metalanguage (to talk

about one's work, strategies and decisions)

vi. Knowing how to proofread and revise a translation

(mastering techniques and strategies for proofreading
and revision)
 Language Competence
Knowing how to understand grammatical, lexical
and idiomatic structures as well as the graphic and
typographic conventions of language A and one's
other working languages (B, C)

Knowing how to use these same structures and

conventions in A and B

Developing sensitivity to changes in language and

developments in languages (useful for exercising
creativity)
 Intercultural Competence
Sociolinguistic dimension:

Knowing how to recognize function and meaning in

language variations (social, geographical, historical,
stylistic)

Knowing how to identify the rules for interaction

relating to a specific community, including non-verbal
elements (useful knowledge for negotiation)

Knowing how to produce a register appropriate to a

given situation, for a particular document (written) or
speech (oral)
 Intercultural Competence
Knowing how to understand and analyze the
macrostructure of a document and its overall
coherence

Knowing how to grasp the presuppositions, the

implicit, allusions, stereotypes and intertextual
nature of a document

Knowing how to describe and evaluate one's

problems with comprehension and define
strategies for resolving them
 Knowing how to recognize and identify
elements, values and references proper to the
cultures represented

Knowing how to compose a document in

accordance with the conventions of the genre
and rhetorical standards

Knowing how to draft, rephrase, restructure,

condense, and post-edit rapidly and well (in
languages A and B)
 Information Mining Competence

Knowing how to identify one's information

and documentation requirements

Developing strategies for documentary and

terminological research (including
approaching experts)

Knowing how to extract and process

relevant information for a given task
(documentary, terminological,
phraseological information)
 Knowing how to evaluate the
reliability of documentary sources
(critical mind)

Knowing how to use tools and search

engines effectively (e.g. terminology
software, electronic corpora)

Mastering the archiving of one's own

documents
 Thematic Competence
Knowing how to search for appropriate information to
gain a better grasp of the thematic aspects of a document
(cf. Information mining competence)

Learning to develop one's knowledge in specialist fields

and applications (mastering systems of concepts, methods
of reasoning, presentation, controlled language,
terminology, etc.) (learning to learn)

Developing a spirit of curiosity, analysis and summary

Technological competence (mastering tools)

Knowing how to use effectively and rapidly and

to integrate a range of software to assist in
correction, translation, terminology, layout,
documentary research (for example text
processing, spell and grammar check, the
internet, translation memory, terminology
database, voice recognition software)

Knowing how to create and manage a database and

files
Knowing how to adapt to and familiarize
oneself with new tools, esp. for the translation
of multimedia and audiovisual material

Knowing how to prepare and produce a

translation in different formats and for
different technical media

Knowing the possibilities and limits of MT