Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Dodge7]

It's incredibly frustrating. They don't understand that every word you change has to work with the previous and subsequent words like a puzzle. It's actually really difficult to retain the spirit of what they want to say but change all of the wording at the same time. And it's even more difficult to do when you don't even understand what they're trying to say in the first place.

I made the mistake before when she started at my school that I would help her with her papers. I have now totally regretted it.. I pulled my face when she asked me to look at her paper today and I think she got the message.

People just say no if you are ever asked to edit their work more than once--especially for free. Don't be stupid like me.

[Zyzyfer]

[nicwr2002]

Luckily for me I'm used to interpreting papers like that since my best friend in America is dyslexic. You would be surprised how much it helps in fixing essays here lol.

[NohopeSeriously]

I happened to enjoy fixing those papers from K-students because I happen to speak Korean.

The funny thing is that they'll write better if you insult the Korean education system together.

[singerdude]

I had to correct Toefl essays my first year here. At first I corrected every mistake. It took too long. After that, I just corrected what I thought were the major errors and ignored a lot of the smaller ones. It made my life easier and it wasn't so demoralizing for them, since their papers didn't look like battlefields.

[Threequalseven]

Not sure what you're complaining about. My hagwon makes me correct every 4th-6th grader's essay, every week. It ends up being somewhere between 200 and 300 essays a month, split between my girlfriend and I. At least now I don't have to worry about having too much desk warming time.

[transmogrifier]

I like doing it. But then I get paid extra to do it.

[young_clinton]

Just limit the accuracy of the editing. Of course you're going to change the meaning of the paper if you look for too much accuracy when you edit it. Edit the paper so it sounds like acceptable English. The main problem is you never really know for sure what meaning they are trying to convey, so edit the most obvious mistakes only. Leave everything else behind.

[crescent]

Pft. What started as a free edit has turned into a growing source of income for me. Not only that, but some of the local governmental documents and speeches I edit are a great source of privileged information and secure a ton of invaluable connections that help me on and off of my resume.

You sound like a beta-hack, dodge.

[Dodge7]

[crescent]

If you are vetting academic work, you shouldn't be trying to figure out what is intended. If you can't make it out, you politely say so. It's up to them to find the language, not you.

All of the discussion regarding understanding (or lack of), and what needs to be fixed should be done through editing software such as Whitesmoke, or Celtx.

[lemak]

[joesp]

I'm not an English teacher anymore, but I had the E-2 visa for 4 years before moving into proofreading on an E-7. Now I have the F-points visa and I still do proofreading.

I can tell you, the basis is: 250 English words == 1 page (actually, the standard is 225 English words make up one page)

If it's Korean->English translation, then it's 220 Korean words == 1 page.

If you apply as a proofreader (which, will mean fixing K->E translations by native Koreans) the agency may collect the standard fee of 10,000 per page and give you 6,000 per page.

However, payment per hour should average about 30,000 per hour (good jobs pay more, bad jobs pay less : that is the AVERAGE).

Because I've been proofreading/translating for 4 years now, you can trust my numbers. Braggers will throw out higher numbers but get less work ... some bad proofreaders don't fix anything to increase their hourly wage in a sly manner ... people run the gamut. Work in the translation field is all over the place as far as compensation is concerned ... as for quality, that'll be for next time.

I started my own business and website (proofreader.kr) to get the 10,000 but have never been able to implement my full business plan because of illness.

[fezmond]

[Zyzyfer]