Inventing Words

Guinea pig

I knew it was time to admit defeat. For months I’ve been doing most of the proofreading for Aerandria, along with scanning, QC, editing, managing staffers, and everything else that goes with scanlating. Being the crazy OC person that I am, I am too particular with how the translations scripts were formatted, leaving me with less time for everything else on the site.

In short, it was time to hire a new English Proofreader.

Oh, I knew I was going to be swamped with applications, seeing as it’s the easiest job in the scanlation world. You don’t have to know japanese, Photoshop, and you don’t have to scan to be a proofreader. It’s the easiest thing, right? So I put my Proofreader requirements on the site, warned them that I will probably work them to the ground, and waited for the applications. Well, I was prepared for the onslaught of applications; what I wasn’t prepared for was the content of the applications. Want some samples?

I’m not so careless with my punctuation, grammer or spelling…

Right…. *scratches head*

I love manga and I am crazy about proper grammer.

O__O I have several more where that came from, but you guys get the general idea, right? I’m not sure when the law legalizing ‘grammer’ as another variation of the word ‘grammar’ came into effect. And the biggest joke was that I even wrote the correct spelling of grammar on the application page itself!

yes i was also wandering if…

*sighs* Those kinds of mistakes can be common. They can even be ignored if someone is applying for translator, manga scanner or editor. But never for an English Proofreader. Your application email already speaks of your ability so if you foul it up then you really can’t expect me to email you back, much less get the job, right?

Spellings were the least of my problems. There were also a lot of applications who used wrong grammar (Yes, people. Believe it or not, that’s the correct spelling!), wrong punctuations, wrong capitalizations, and some just didn’t really make any sense.

I appreciate all those people who applied… but… since you actually took the time to apply, couldn’t you also have taken the time to make sure your application was correct and foolproof?

And just because you’ve lived in America for how long doesn’t mean you have perfect English. That reason doesn’t justify your application. It won’t make us hire you because of it.

March 30th, 2008 |
Posted in Evilness, The Workaholic

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11 Responses to “Inventing Words”


Wow, that is the funniest think I’ve ever read! your position sounds real tough… thanks for posting that.. It gave me a good laugh!

by Jean Jean — April 2, 2008 @ 12:51 pm

LoooooooooooooL … i hear you, sister. The one I hate most is your instead of you’re … GEH.

Keep up the good work on Aerandria … :) Thanks for your effort … _I_ really appreciate it.

by bakaneko bakaneko — April 2, 2008 @ 5:03 pm

Wow. I think this post was the highlight of my day. Haha… “grammer.”

by chuzzle chuzzle — April 3, 2008 @ 4:30 pm

Lol… I’ve always wanted to become a proofreader but I’m not good enough at English as it is, even if my spelling and grammar aren’t bad. But reading this I feel that I might have had a chance… :???:

by freaky2 freaky2 — April 4, 2008 @ 12:41 am

Wow…

“And just because you’ve lived in America for how long doesn’t mean you have perfect English.”

That point above, I totally agree to. I don’t think I’m ever going to have “perfect” (if there ever was such a thing) English grammar — which is one of the reasons why I gravitate away from any sort of writing (not including blogging, of course).

by mholic mholic — April 4, 2008 @ 8:29 am

Here here!
People need to realize that spoken English is vastly different from written English. Speaking English doesn’t make a person inpeccable or infaliable in anyway!

by Roniz Roniz — April 5, 2008 @ 7:11 am

I find that… funny. Haha, it actually made me laugh. Yeah, grammar issues bother me too… especially after 2 months of SAT writing drills. I’m starting to see subject-verb agreement, adverb-adjective, and pronoun issues everywhere. I don’t think I can even read my manga anymore without getting pissed off at improper grammar. It’s a pretty big pain in the ass, since most manga publishing/licensing companies do a pretty lackadaisical job of proofreading (not all, but many). I guess I’m a bit OCD-ish too. haha. When I picked up a Del Rey (I think that’s how you spell it =\)volume at Borders the other day, I realized that they consistently used “I did good” throughout the entire book. I overlook minor grammar issues in scanlations, but when it comes to books I purchase, it annoys me immensely. Those books aren’t cheap and if the companies are going to charge that much for one book, then they’d might as well hire someone who actually knows English.

Sorry, I’m ranting. This is probably the 3rd time I’ve gone through this rant in the past week. -_- I’m such a loser. haha =)

by 23LBturkey 23LBturkey — April 28, 2008 @ 12:06 pm

Grammar mistakes really irk me too.

by mel mel — May 14, 2008 @ 5:40 am

LOL! It would be quite hard to look for a proper proofreader. Proofreading isn’t an easy job, too, if I might add. It doesn’t necessarily mean mean that you can speak English, you already pass the qualifications. ^^; Well, good luck on finding one! ^^

by Euri Euri — June 20, 2008 @ 11:12 pm

Ha ha I was just having a conversation recently about how annoying bad grammar is… I feel your pain. It drives me crazy when people use the wrong “there/their/they’re” or “your/you’re”!

by Mary Mary — June 30, 2008 @ 7:51 am

“Ohhhh, if you want it to be possessive, it’s just I-T-S,
But if it’s supposed to be a contraction, then it’s I-T-apostrophe-S…
Scalawag!”

haha I just couldn’t resist :)
Strongbad is too awesome for words.

hmm… I’ve been thinking about whether I should apply… since I’m not doing anything this summer… but I don’t know… I’m too indecisive lol

by TwilightShiva TwilightShiva — July 19, 2008 @ 10:01 am

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