In our previous blog post ‘The importance of proof-reading’ we highlighted how the brain has the ability to quickly and effortlessly re-order jumbled up letters to form recognisable words and make sense of a sentence.
It would seem the brain can also process numbers in place of letters and still understand the context. 7H15 M3554G3 53RV35 7O PR0V3 H0W 0UR M1ND5 C4N D0 4M4Z1NG 7H1NG5! 1MPR3551V3 7H1NG5! 1N 7H3 B3G1NN1NG 17 W45 H4RD BU7 N0W 0N 7H15 L1N3 Y0UR M1ND 15 R34D1NG 17 4UT0M471C4LLY W17H 0U7 3V3N 7H1NK1NG 4B0U7 17.
Admittedly this is not as easy to read and understand as the example of mixed up letters in the ‘The importance of proof-reading’ blog post, but it helps that the numbers used are similar in shape to the letters they replace. Also once the brain has worked out the sequence or cracked the code so to speak, there’s no stopping it. Even so, it’s pretty impressive don’t you think?
Clever clogs
The ability of the brain to process and correct mistakes without us consciously realising it is a great tool, but it also reinforces how crucial proof-reading is to compensate for this fact. It would seem the brain is just too clever for words.
How complicated?
Language translation poses all sorts of problems for translators and proof-readers. Take the English language for instance, with its many words that are spelt similarly but have different meanings: complimentary and complementary or stationary and stationery. And words that sound the same but are spelt differently and definitely have different meanings: there and their or our and are.
These words should be glaringly obvious to a native reader of the language when used incorrectly, but as we have proved they have a canny knack of looking present and correct. This is not exclusive to the English language alone; there are many words in many languages that have undoubtedly made numerous appearances out of context.
Proof-reading tips
To overcome this and other obstacles, tips of the trade used by proof-readers to help root out spelling mistakes and grammatical errors include reading text out loud, in print (if the original is on screen) and reading backwards.
Effective proof-reading
In Enigma Translation’s world, one rule that we follow implicitly is that your text is translated by our translators and proof-read by our proof-readers. That means you benefit from a fresh pair of eyes checking and double checking the translation to ensure accuracy and that the context stays intact and true to the original meaning in the source language.
Our professional proof-readers pay close attention to your words from seeking out misplaced or missing accents in French, using the appropriate symbols in the Chinese languages, using the correct gender in relevant languages, applying language specific rules to spacing, capitalisation, acronyms and abbreviations and much, much more.
They can complete 8,000 words a day resulting in accurate finished translations within 24 hours or on the same day if you require. Get in touch to experience our excellent service on +44 (0) 1604 750799 or via email and Facebook.