Native English speakers for MA proofreading
By
Alvan,
Posted on: 2009-04-10 14:16 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
That was me, I think. I played that one yesterday or today and said pretty much that (although, I think I said more than that, I'm not so much a spelling nazi).
Another issue for the MA is that you can't readily identify native-English speakers and thus spelling/grammar mistakes can't be attributed to translation difficulties.
"Idealism is such a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use." - Kerr Avon
Myopic Aardvark on Twitter
[ QUOTE ]
(although, I think I said more than that, I'm not so much a spelling nazi).
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, your feedback had actual good points that I fixed after that, don't worry 
But it brought up the good point that there are probably lots of typos there. Typos that I have no idea about because I'm not a native speaker. Thus the thread.
[b][color=blue]Coldest War /[color=red]/ Omega Patient[/b]
[url="http://www.the-cow.net/"][color=red]The CoW Network (Blog) /[/url][url="http://www.collegeofwar.com/"][color=blue]/ College of War[/url]
[ QUOTE ]
After receiving a "good, but there are spelling errors - 4/5" rate on my arc (and as everyone knows, getting a 4 as your 4th vote is a death sentence for the arc with the current mission browser 
)
[/ QUOTE ]
Actually that's news to me, care to elaborate?
Also I think I played that arc on test Alvan, don't really recall any errors at the time, but I did it with a team so wasn't looking at it too hard either. I'd say so long as it isn't glaringly wrong it wouldn't be an issue for most people.
A Penny For Your Thoughts #348691 <- Dev's Choice'd by Dr. Aeon!
Submit your MA arc for review & my arcs thread
[ QUOTE ]
...but I did it with a team so wasn't looking at it too hard either.
[/ QUOTE ]
Another MA problem
"Idealism is such a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use." - Kerr Avon
Myopic Aardvark on Twitter
[ QUOTE ]
Actually that's news to me, care to elaborate?
[/ QUOTE ]
If you get a lower-than-5 vote early, it pushes the arc down several pages in the search window, making the arc get lost in obscurity. It will take a lot of good votes for it to come back to a position where it will be again found by random people. And it's hard to get good votes on an arc if no-one finds it.
[b][color=blue]Coldest War /[color=red]/ Omega Patient[/b]
[url="http://www.the-cow.net/"][color=red]The CoW Network (Blog) /[/url][url="http://www.collegeofwar.com/"][color=blue]/ College of War[/url]
Well as non English speaker I know how hard it is to get every mistake out of the arc. It still is not done yet despite a lot of help so far. It doesn't help that a lot of corrections keep hanging in limbo without getting saved properly, damn caching.
I have to agree that with the current browser a rating of 4 is not good for getting found. Guess what happens when some joker rate you a 1. Some like to grief people that way, happened to me and now one of my arcs is stuck at 3.
But Alvan, have you seen how many 5 star arcs there are? Sad thing is that amongst those you wont be found as well.
Even as a native English speaker I'm also prine to typagrpaffical errirs and the missspilling of werdz.
Thankfully as the net spreads wider and becomes even more international, there are perfectly acceptable "regional English" spellings - let's face it, Webster and his racist anti-Englishness caused him to rewrite the "American dictionary" so give American English some kind of identity and the Americans some kind of quasi-self-identity. The upshot is that we have a number of perfectly acceptable spellings in English for the same item: ax vs axe, colour vs color, etc are examples that spring to mind.
To me the spelling is less important than the context - if I get what you mean I'm less bothered about the quality of your language (a caveat is that it must be legible of course.)
Yes we try and keep typos and spelling errors to a minimum and I will happily cast an eye over a document in the search for the glaringly obvious (but only on request.) Proof reading is an art and it can be time consuming so I'd advise you if you are serious about writing good English then try the following:
Get a good dictionary (and a good thesaurus too)
Spell check everything - but remember that it won't find the difference between "their" and "there"
Read Lynn Truss' "Eats Shoots and Leaves" - it's a book for grammar-Nazis but is an invaluable aide.
Learn the correct use of the possessive catastrophe. [sic]
Write your copy in a word processing document initially. You can always Copy & Paste later. (If you don't already have one, you can get Open Office totally free.
If in doubt ask.
Finally (and perhaps most importantly) don't stress. Even the most practiced writer will make errors - and there are myriad ways for them to fall through the net. Given that we cannot afford a proof reader or secretary don't worry about it. It's not as though we're getting paid for it. Focus on the story and sense.
Thelonious Monk
Yay, hooray! <3
[b][color=blue]Coldest War /[color=red]/ Omega Patient[/b]
[url="http://www.the-cow.net/"][color=red]The CoW Network (Blog) /[/url][url="http://www.collegeofwar.com/"][color=blue]/ College of War[/url]
[ QUOTE ]
Yay, hooray! <3
[/ QUOTE ]
It won't cost you much - although there's an extra fee if you're on the wrong server 
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
Well, my Mastermind on Deviant might be on the right server for that 
[b][color=blue]Coldest War /[color=red]/ Omega Patient[/b]
[url="http://www.the-cow.net/"][color=red]The CoW Network (Blog) /[/url][url="http://www.collegeofwar.com/"][color=blue]/ College of War[/url]
[ QUOTE ]
Well, my Mastermind on Deviant might be on the right server for that
[/ QUOTE ]
Well, it's easier if you're there when I test - but I can just give corrections via tells
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
One of my pet peeves is the overvaluation of "native" level of English. As somebody with extensive time on the Internet, I've become convinced that "native" level of literacy really isn't that good. Perhaps a better thing to look for would be "university" level of English.
I, for one, know dozens of people who are not native speakers, and can beat the pants off native speakers when it comes to the correctness of written English.
That's a total nitpick though, and just me. I'll give your arc a look when I log on later today.
First of all, thank you if you can check the arc's texts for me.
In my experience, the biggest advantage of having a native speaker do proofreading is the fact that they can spot the nuances that don't sound natural more easily than a person who has learned the language as a second or third one and doesn't speak it in natural situations.
ie. They're the better nitpickers than those with "university" level of a language, who can look at things that are a bit off and think that they are just looking at some expression they just haven't heard of yet.
This is just a personal opinion and I know at least few people on translation courses I've been on disagree
[b][color=blue]Coldest War /[color=red]/ Omega Patient[/b]
[url="http://www.the-cow.net/"][color=red]The CoW Network (Blog) /[/url][url="http://www.collegeofwar.com/"][color=blue]/ College of War[/url]
After receiving a "good, but there are spelling errors - 4/5" rate on my arc (and as everyone knows, getting a 4 as your 4th vote is a death sentence for the arc with the current mission browser
) I began to wonder what can one do to that as a non-native English speaker.
The only thing I could come up with was ask some friendly people who actually do speak English as their first language to come and proofread it. Thus this thread.
I don't know what I can offer in return for the service except the fact that the arc will be so much better and I'll do my best to help you with yours (playtesting etc.), but if someone can help a non-native out, it would be really appreciated.
The Arc ID is #4734, Protecting Flames. I guess in-game email to Coldest War or a forum private message to me or replying to this thread might be the best way to get the notes to me...
I'm kinda desperate about this
[b][color=blue]Coldest War /[color=red]/ Omega Patient[/b]
[url="http://www.the-cow.net/"][color=red]The CoW Network (Blog) /[/url][url="http://www.collegeofwar.com/"][color=blue]/ College of War[/url]