We’ve all got spellcheck now, right? So why would we need a proofreader? Let’s have a look….
Ambiguity – sometimes a word or a phrase has two or more meanings. Found this one on Instagram the other day (@paulfosterrr), but it’s not just colloquialisms we need to look for, sometimes the order of words, or missing words that change meanings: “Kids make nutritious snacks” might not be quite what an article is meaning to describe.- Misused words – this can range from an autocorrect gone wrong, through to an incorrect spelling of the correct word. Menu items are notorious here, we’re talking masculine lettuce (mesclun), aborigine (aubergine), and pretty much every foreign ingredient.
Stupid mistakes – The bigger you are, the harder you fall. This Bastille Day one from Foxnews went viral, and this kind of thing is definitely not going to get picked up on a spellcheck.- Insensitivity – recently Chrissy Teigen picked up the use of “oriental” on an inflight menu, and twitter hated it. The insensitivity can range from words to current affairs.
- Format – this includes things like page numbers, font, correlation of contents, spacing and other aspects of appearance.
- Repetition – not just a doubling of words, but the overuse of particular words or phrases, or harping of an idea that makes copy uninteresting. Of course, there’s always a fine balance when it comes to SEO.
Flow – all the way from punctuation and sentence length through to the structure of the paragraph or document. A misplaced space and comma for Samsung and they’re selling a whole new type of stylus.
Some would say that the above is not just proofreading, but copy editing. But at Lunad we believe all these aspects are important to commercial communications, and so this is what we offer. Prices start from AED 100 per page, depending on the quantity and complexity of the work, nothing in the scheme of damaging marketing. Unless of course you are a believer in the phrase “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.” However we might be able to help you there too….