Editing

Revision, copyediting and proofreading

As well as polishing the translations produced by Davies, our editors and language revisers can revise texts produced externally. These texts may be translated by our clients themselves, by another company, or written directly in the target language. We offer the following services:

Revision

In the revision stage, a translation is compared to the source text to check the precision of the translation and to ensure the consistency of the translated terms. The reviser ensures that the text reads naturally and does not give the impression that it has been translated. For a text written directly into the target language, the text is revised to make sure that it reads well and that it achieves its purpose effectively. On request, we can mark all the changes we make in the revision, allowing the client to consider the changes and to discuss with us alternative renderings.

Copy editing

Sometimes authors write texts in a hurry, which makes the piece sound awkward, or even like a stream of consciousness. We can copyedit texts originally written in English or translated by another company to produce an effective text. We will ensure appropriate word choice and collocation, accuracy of structure, and impeccable punctuation. We may decide to cut the text to avoid redundancy or repetition. On the other hand, we might add to the text to ensure that the points are sufficiently elaborated and well connected. One of the main goals of copy editing is to make sure that the style of the text is perfectly suited to its purpose, whether this is a promotional text, an informative text, a summary for a paper, a speech or any other kind of text.

Proofreading

This is the final check of a text immediately before publication. At this stage, typographic mistakes, or problems with formatting, layout and headings are identified and corrected. This work is generally conducted as part of language revision, but it is possible for us to conduct and price this task separately.

Academic writing

We offer help in preparing all forms of academic work, including papers for academic journals, theses, and books. We revise texts to ensure that they are clear, correct, and conform to the appropriate academic conventions. For academic papers, we are able to check that the paper observes the specific style and referencing guidelines of the journal to which the paper is submitted. We can also provide a consultancy service at an earlier stage of preparation of the academic work to advise on the organisation, style, and formatting of the text.