Localization & copy editing

Localization & copy editing

Where everything is:

Timeline:

  • Everything JP: in by Friday night JST
  • Needs to be checked: by Sunday@3 AM JST
  • Aki H/T will do any revisions necessary on Monday morning JST

People's Schedules:

Task Schedules (Random things):

  • Social media posts (idioms) English copy editing - around 4 or 5 a month (there may be more if the writer decides to make some to stock up so they can take a break during the busy months or go somewhere)
  • Instagram English comment copy editing (when people send stuff in)
  • Any other localized content such as site landing pages, brochures, etc. (when asked)

Task Schedules (Weekly things):

  • Social media posts (idioms) JP localization (1)
  • Blog localized teaser (1)
  • Discussion post localization for social media (1)
  • News post localization (usually one a week, more or less)

Copy editing

  • Instagram post comments / emails/"TEF offline scenes (instagram) list" on the Social media posts Trello board)
  • Social media posts (the main job is proofreading, but if you can think of any additional notes that would be helpful for readers, please add them) / "Idioms (All SNS) list" on the Social media posts Trello board)
  • News posts / emails (correction on the site itself)

Localizing

  1. Checking blog teasers (these go both on the Japanese version of the blog post and the social media comment/Aki H) / Social media schedule spreadsheet;
  2. Checking discussion lesson teasers (only on social media/Mai) / Social media schedule spreadsheet;
  3. Checking social media image comments (only on social media/Mai & sometimes Aki H) / Social media schedule spreadsheet;
  4. Checking news post localization (only on the TEF site, but we'll use excerpts on social media/Mai) / email; and
  5. Checking any other localized content such as site landing pages, brochures, etc. / email or Skype

Note:

#5 is of the highest priority because those are the pages that will be the face of TEF and be seen by the most people. If you are in a situation where you can only check one thing, please do #4.

#4 & #5 will be the most content heavy, so will probably require the most time.

Checking in this case means:

  • Checking for content. If the meaning is right, the order or wording don't matter. Keep in mind that the person will be a non-native speaker who is not a teacher (so there are 3 big blind spots: the En - Jp part, possibly a lack of understanding of the TEF system, or how teachers see things vs how students see things). Our translators may add stuff to news posts to clarify things for Japanese speakers/students, which is totally cool. If everything's fine, you can just say it's fine (no need to "perfect" it unless it's #5 on the list above).
  • Editing if possible. This is not a must, but a bonus if you can do it. If you find the formal Japanese wording hard to think up, you can ask the person to rewrite that part so it means what it should. You can reword something for the correct meaning and write "この部分、少し意味が違ったので編集しました。もっといい表現があれば再編集お願いします！その後はそのまま掲載してください” or something along those lines. (Like this.)
  • Explaining what you edited if you think it is relevant for future posts and necessary for the translator to learn/understand.

You will not have to translate anything from scratch unless you want to.

If you aren't able to check things a certain week, that is totally fine. Just please let us know in advance (as early as possible). You can always go back and check anything important after coming back from a break. 

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