Proofreading translations
revision, correction, final polish
A colleague translated your German, a machine produced your English, or an agency delivered a text that leaves you unconvinced: we read two pages at no charge, then tell you whether to touch it up, revise it properly or start again.
Free
The verdict on two pages
1-3 d
Usual turnaround
70+
Languages we revise
100 %
Native-speaking revisers
From a quick check to a full rewrite
The depth of the work follows the state of the text and nothing else. If a fresh translation would come cheaper, we say so instead of selling a revision.
Revision against the source
Both versions are read side by side, sentence after sentence. That pass brings out what is missing, what was misread, swapped figures and vanished negations. It is the level any binding document needs.
Language and typography
Agreement, commas, spacing, capitals, the way numbers and dates are written. Between French and German the conventions part company, and local usage adds a layer of its own.
Terminology brought into line
One notion keeps one rendering, from the opening page through to the document that follows it next year. The variants we come across are listed for you, and harmonising waits until you have ruled on them.
Post-editing machine output
Machine output reads smoothly and goes wrong without a sound. Post-editing puts meaning, register and terminology back in order, with the source document open alongside.
Setting the tone
Accuracy alone does not make a text usable: a brochure reads like a deed, an official letter reads abruptly, a report reads as if spoken. We move the register back to where the document needs it.
Revision report
Three deliverables: the clean version, the version showing everything, and a note on the decisions that matter. Enough to judge, and enough to brief whoever writes next time.
Understanding three languages, writing in three
In a country where a single meeting moves from Luxembourgish to French and from German to English, every team has someone who gladly helps out with translations. The result hits the word and misses the tone.
The signs repeat themselves: syntax copied from the source, false friends between German and French, an English turn of phrase dropped into an official letter, the register of an email in the middle of a contract. None of these is a spelling mistake, and no software underlines them.
Which is why we revise with the source open beside the target, rather than reading the delivered version on its own. Every edit shows up in the file, and a comment goes with it wherever the call is debatable. The final say is yours, line by line.
- Read against the source document
- Changes tracked and explained
- False friends between German and French
- A verdict after two pages, at no cost
Four texts that keep coming back
From one client to the next the same situations turn up, and one page is usually enough to recognise them.
Translated in house
Somebody put their hand up and did the job with whatever was available. The meaning survives; the fact that it is a translation survives too, and your reader hears that first.
Straight out of a machine
Nothing snags as you read, and the misreadings never show. Put that in a liability clause or a factsheet and the mistake waits until money depends on it.
English written by non-natives
A research paper, a dissertation, an application to a European programme, a job application. Whoever assesses it assesses the language too, and that criterion carries more weight than people assume.
A document with a lot riding on it
A tender answer, a letter going to a notary's office, the front page of a site. Having a text read over is cheaper than having a bid put to one side.
We sometimes advise against revision. Past a certain density of meaning errors per page, patching line by line costs more than a fresh translation and still ends up weaker. That verdict comes after the two pages we read, before any priced offer, and it costs nothing.
From an extract to a text you can send
Nothing is billed before the real state of the text is on the table.
- 01
Two pages and the source
Pick a passage that is typical of the whole, and add the source text if you still have it. Lacking the original, we can put the language right but not answer for what the text says.
- 02
Reading and verdict
We name the level of work required, how long it takes, and where a fresh translation would be the wiser option. Nothing is billed at this stage.
- 03
Revision side by side
The reviser, a native speaker at home in the subject, works with the source displayed alongside and leaves every change identifiable.
- 04
Handover
Three files come back, the marked-up version among them, plus a note on the points still open. You decide, we apply.
Unsure about a text about to go out?
Send two pages, they are enough to place the text. The reading is free and the verdict is unvarnished.
Six points inside every revision
Native and in the field
Whoever revises grew up with the language and knows the subject. Nobody asks a lawyer to check a rolling mill manual, and nobody asks the reverse either.
Source always open
The missing sentence is invisible to anyone revising without the source. Both documents therefore stay open together, start to finish.
The verdict is free
Those opening two pages, and the opinion that comes out of them, carry no charge. That holds even when the opinion amounts to telling you there is nothing here worth buying from us.
Everything is tracked
Nothing is changed quietly. The edits are identifiable, the reason is written next to them, and you can restore the original wording anywhere.
Short turnaround
Most revisions come back in under three working days. Urgent work is possible, with a surcharge written on the quote before you agree.
The same confidentiality
Revision falls under the same undertaking as our translations. Your text reaches no online service at any point.
Frequently asked questions
Do I want proofreading or full revision?
Proofreading works on the arriving version alone: language, spelling, punctuation, readability. Revision compares it with the source and checks the content. A document that binds your company, or that must be understood in only one way, calls for revision, and that means giving us the original.
Do you clean up machine translation?
We do, under the name post-editing. Flag it from the start, because such a text is read differently: the mistakes sit inside sentences that scan beautifully. Where the output has degraded too far, we will point you to a fresh translation and set out why.
Do you revise German written by French speakers?
That is one of our most regular requests, and the reverse just as much. The reviser is a native German speaker, and where the text will be read here we pick someone who knows the administrative habits of the Grand Duchy: institution names and forms of address differ from those used in Germany.
And the layout?
We write inside your file and leave the existing formatting alone. German text takes up room, English gives room back: we flag overflows and adjust where the grid allows. Rebuilding a graphic design from scratch, however, is not our trade.
Get your free quote within the hour
A document or a date is all we need. You get the price, the deadline and the form of certification Luxembourg authorities will expect. You decide afterwards.