As this site is getting off the ground and we're getting so many great contributions, yet with so many being concerned that their English mightn't be top notch, and idea struck me. Inspired by the various teams on the mother site, I thought it might be a good idea to organize a team dedicated to systematically proofread and make corrections to various tales, articles, hubs etc. I'm approaching this as a person who has been educated as a translator (Magister level atm) and has experience working in translation, so there are a number of pros I think makes this a worthwhile idea to consider:
- It would allow us to increase the quality of the site's material much quicker.
- It would allow us to better divide labour, increasing efficiency as well as direct people with subject specific knowledge to translate articles touching upon areas of their expertise.
- It offers a public space where people can submit requests to have their articles proofread if they have any concerns, or just want to ensure quality, such as a chatroom, a forum thread, or both. The team could compile a list of articles to be proofread, with descriptors indicating any special subject specific jargon contained within to help with the selection process.
- The team could also act as a general go-to place for advice on grammar, vocabulary, stylistics, pragmatics and other language-related questions. It could publish material, such as guides, on the optimal use of dictionaries and machine translation, provide useful links, and work together with translators to develop language pair-specific guides to better deal with the peculiarities of each language.
- It could compile a term bank of the most apt and useful words, collocations and phrases, which would facilitate translation, reduce time spent on looking things up, and help make the language of the site more uniform (which in turn, makes it seem more scientific/professional).
- It offers a useful platform for discussing language issues such as which spelling standard to employ (American, British, Canadian, Australian etc.) and when, gender neutrality and use of pronouns, where and when to apply specific styles and registers for best effect, discussing the importance of whether (specific?) articles should opt more towards being a good read or seeming realistically expectable from a scientific group (in formatting, disposition, description, tone etc.)
I'm also thinking that we could create language-specific teams of translators, gathering the translators of different languages. This might help translators getting to know each other better and allow them to prioritize articles themselves, such as focusing on a specific theme or GoI, increasing coordination. (Though this also risks isolating the different language groups from each other, which I would consider a big con.)
Thoughts on this?
