Among the stages of translation, pre-editing is one of the most interesting, as well as least known, as it helps salvage poorly-converted files and thus be able to process them with translation tools, whether in order to reduce costs or to create memories that we otherwise wouldn’t be able to.
What does pre-editing consist of? When a client sends us a scanned file or a very low quality image, sometimes upon converting it with typical text recognition software, certain parts remain illegible. That’s when the role of the pre-editor comes into play. What they have to do is read the original file and complete the parts that were left illegible in the converted file.
What’s it good for? Thanks to pre-editing, we can regenerate a PDF, JPG or other file, converting it into a file with editable text so as to be able to process it with translation tools and thereby take advantage of repetitions in the original text. This makes the entire translation process that much more practical and economical. Practical, because it is much easier to translate with a translation tool; and more economical because, upon recognizing repetitions with the translation tools, the cost thereof can be reduced.
Furthermore, it’s important to mention that if we manage to reconstruct the text in an editable file and process it with a translation tool, we can therefore generate a translation memory. Having a memory will be extremely useful for obtaining a consistent text, which translates into a high quality final product. And at the same time, for future projects with the same client we’ll be able to reuse that same memory and thereby achieve consistency not just within that text but also for future projects.
Further features of pre-editing will be dealt with in future articles. Hopefully it’s useful to the readers!
