What’s the Difference Between Translation Editing and Proofreading

By admin

June 2, 2026

Every good Afrikaans/English translation involves at least two key steps: translation editing and proofreading. Translation bridges the gap between languages, allowing ideas, information and cultures to flow freely. However, several potential errors can occur when translating text into another language, ranging from forgetting to use the correct terms to using the wrong currency symbols. Translation editing and proofreading are vital steps in the quality assurance process.

Understanding the differences between translation editing and proofreading is important for faster and simpler communication between clients and the translation agency, and to avoid misunderstandings due to unrealistic expectations.

What’s translation editing?

The role of an Afrikaans/English editor is to review a text and make changes to improve its quality. Editing is a critical step in the Afrikaans/English translation process, focusing on refining the text to ensure it is accurate, clear and culturally appropriate in the target language.

This stage involves a meticulous review to enhance the text’s flow and readability. Editors scrutinise specific terminology, idioms and cultural nuances, working diligently to ensure that the translation accurately conveys the intent of the original message.

Translation editing focuses on:

Ensuring the translated text accurately conveys the meaning of the original source text.
Checking for consistency in terminology and style by making sure the translation is culturally appropriate for the target audience.
Adapting the text to the target audience’s cultural and linguistic preferences.
Identifying and correcting errors in grammar, syntax and punctuation.
Enhancing readability and fluency.

Machine translation post-editing (MTPE)

Machine translation post-editing (MTPE) is the process of refining machine-translated content to improve its quality.

Although machine translation has become more sophisticated with technological advances, it still requires human intervention to produce translations that meet high linguistic standards.

In traditional translation workflows, the process begins with a human translator working on a pre-translated text. In machine translation, however, post-editing starts with the machine-translated text. Then, a professional refines the output.

This approach combines the strengths of human and machine translation. It eliminates machine errors while ensuring accuracy.

Proofreading

Proofreading is the final step in the Afrikaans/English translation process. The proofreader checks the text for spelling, punctuation, grammar and formatting errors, and makes any necessary corrections.

The result is a text that is free from errors and ready for its intended audience. It also makes the text look professional and easy to read.

Proofreading focuses on:

Correcting typographical and spelling errors.
Ensuring correct use of punctuation marks.
Fixing grammatical mistakes, such as subject-verb agreement and tense consistency.
Identifying and correcting any typographical mistakes.

Proofreading starts with a detailed read-through of the document. By carefully reading the text, the translator can spot and correct any errors. This is followed by the final check to ensure that no errors have been missed and that the text is polished and ready for publication or submission

Format checking

Once you have confirmed that the content is correct, the final step is to check the formatting and layout of the translation. This may simply involve matching the font and font size to the original, ensuring that any bold, italic or underlined words are replicated in the target text, or ensuring that any hyperlinks are in the correct place.

Other documents may be formatted in a more complex way, with tables and images that need to be recreated or inserted properly.

Got any other questions about editing and proofreading?

At AT we have expert native Afrikaans/English translators specialised in editing and proofreading, who ensure that all our translations are of the highest quality. For over a decade, we have been one of the best and one of the leading Afrikaans/English translation companies across South Africa.

Do you need any additional information about our editing/proofreading services? It is our pleasure to help you find the best, quickest and most affordable solution. Please don’t hesitate to contact our agency !