Proofing

Robbo Music hired me to do the proofing of audio recordings for two major projects. Both projects are commissioned by (two separate) American religious organizations. More information about the projects and organizations I may provide here when the projects are finished. The first project is a Dutch audio Bible, for which several voice actors read the full text of the Bible. The other project is the Dutch narration (voice over) for four gospel feature movies. My task is to listen carefully to all recordings and make note of any mistakes or disturbances to be fixed or give suggestions where needed. My linguistic skills as well as some basic theological education come together in this assignment. The American project coordinator asked me to elaborate on that in English, and some of that information may be useful here as well.

After secondary school I followed the basic year of a 'middle level' theological education, the Nederlands Bijbel Instituut (Dutch Bible Institute), which far later became part of the theological faculty of Windesheim university of applied sciences. I'm not an academic, but the curriculum provided all the subjects of an academic theological study, except classical languages, on a basic level. It gives me a basic understanding of theological context.

I have been self employed since 1984 as a secretary and text editor. Also I have followed a course in journalism. As a secretary and text editor I have often worked in project teams with academics (like city planners, environmental specialist, financial experts, human recource managers etc. etc.), 'holding' the pen, collecting, editing and proofing texts and so on. I have worked mainly for local governments and universities, editing policy and legal texts, minutes, reports, letters, municipal decisions and resolutions, as well as booklets, brochures and web texts for the general public. Besides that, I have been specialized in transcribing audio and video recordings for broadcasting companies and television producers (interviews, documentaries, discussions, talk shows etc.), which has made me a sharp listener. My skill is to quickly understand purpose and context, without being an expert in any specific field.

It may be clear from my background that I am "teacher nor preacher", no expert consultant or director, but that I have excellent skills as a proofer and playing my part in an expert team. My theological background gives me some basic understanding of hermeneutic principles, the context of a biblical text, and knowing the role of different translations: 'paraphrazing' like the Living Bible (adding modern words and expressions for clarification of the text), 'dynamic equivalent' (close to the source but looking for modern, literary expression), and 'concordant' like King James Version or the 17th century Dutch Statenvertaling (closely following the source text). During the proofing of the audio recordings I have permanently opened online versions of several translations of the Bible. Also I have access to a Bible version with Strong-codes, a number code with explanation for every single word in the source text. It's not that I am constantly checking all these translations, but I use them in case of doubt on the meaning, context and emphasis in the text, which is necessary for a correct reading. Actually, in every field I apply only one basic rule: "when in doubt, look it up".

This explanation may give some insight in my functional level and skills. if there are any questions I am happy to answer them.