Revision

Revision is not only about having an eagle eye for finding the typos or correcting grammar. Sometimes revision requires a research that goes beyond those first two pages of results in your search engine.

The art of devotion

A client sent a hospital discharge report of 2500 words that they needed to be returned within no more than 4 days. It was a reasonable timeframe since a qualified and experienced translator is able to translate around 2000 words a day. A translator was found and the project went ahead before EOB on the day of the request (Day 1). 

The translation was returned by EOB the next day (Day 2) with a note that there are a few comments for the reviser in the file. One of the comments related to an abbreviation in the context of an eye condition. The translator could not find what it stood for in the source language and left it in ST* in the translation. The abbreviation was crucial in the context of the entire report. 

I was the reviser for that job. After having read the translation, I narrowed down my possibilities and I looked for the abbreviation myself. I had to look at around 20 pages of results in a search engine and flicked through a number of documents that could potentially yield a result. After several hours spent on research I had finally found it. The abbreviation was explained and a translator’s note added to the document in order to further clarify the context. The document was delivered to the client by the deadline. 

*ST – source text