Proofreading and editing:
Business English:
BASF Coatings AG special individual proofreading and editing projects: From 1997 to 2007 I assisted various BASF Coatings clients with presentations, speeches, magazines, brochures, and other special projects.
Examination of an English translation of a confidential business document for a private client in Hong Kong who wishes to remain anonymous.Proofreading and editing of press releases, case studies, and company profiles for Csion Communications (www.csion.de) In 2007 I started working with a local company which is seeking to expand its customer base outside Germany. I am attached to the Marketing department as an English Language Consultant and Editor.
Working in tandem with a marketing team member we updated and greatly improved a less-than-perfect English translation of their website.
The problem, as is often the case, was that the complicated and somewhat formal and long-winded German version became the same in English. The translation was full of mistakes as well. It appeared that the translator did not double-check their work and also that the product was not quality controlled by their supervisor. This is usually the reason a client brings a translation to me for proofreading and editing.
The website text is now shorter, simpler, clearer - and friendlier - for international customers to understand.
I'm now editing the client's product catalog and working on special projects such as product and process brochures.
Medical English:
An article on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome by a medical author who wishes to remain anonymous.Examination of a German to English translation of an educational brochure by Striese and Dingenotto to be given to parents of children with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder and the English version of an information brochure for children with epileptic fits and their parents. Examination of two presentations concerning the contents of these brochures. A medical article on Intraarticular Triamcinolone Hexacetonide in Juvenile Chronic Arthritis: A Subgroup Specific Evaluation of the Efficacy by Willi Breit, Gerd Ganser, Michael Frosch, Achim Heinecke, and Ulrike Meyer of the Department of Pediatric Rheumatology, Northwest German Center of Rheumatology, St. Josef Stift, Sendenhorst, Germany. The article had been refused for publication because of poor English. It was later accepted.
Scientific English:
The sites of respiratory gas exchange in the planktonic crustacean Daphnia Magna: an in vivo study employing blood haemoglobin as an internal oxygen probe(R. Pirow, F. Wollinger and R.J. Paul of Institut fuer Zoophysiologie, Westfaelische Wilhelms-Universitaet, Münster, Germany)
This was the cover article for the November 1999 issue of The Journal of Experimental Biology, a respected British scientific publication. This meant that British English spelling and usage had to be followed, as you can see in the article's title ("haemoglobin" compared to American English "hemoglobin"). At the end of the article Dr. Pirow wrote "We are especially grateful to Alan Rietmann Knauth for the linguistic and stylistic improvements to the manuscript.". Over the years I have worked on several published articles with Dr. Pirow. This is only one example of our work together.
Proofreading and editing of two articles:
- Evidence for predictive validity of blood assays to evaluate individual radiosensitivity
- The loss of hematopoietic progenitor cells in flow cytometric analysis after erythrocyte lysing procedures - a systematic study of "where have all the stem cells gone?"
It was of course necessary to follow the rules of standard American English spelling and usage for these articles.
This last article was revised and became:
- The impact of erythrocyte lysing procedures on the recovery of hematopoietic progenitor cells in flow cytometric analysis
In the summer of 2008 I worked with a doctoral candidate in physics here at the university in Muenster. We worked together on his PhD thesis concerning extended stochastic models for anomalous transport in turbulent systems. We examined, refined, and clarified his abstract, introduction, summary, and conclusions and outlook section.
He then submitted it to his advisor. Later we addressed his advisor's suggestions and resubmitted the paper. It was accepted. My client has now assumed a position as a staff scientist at a Max Planck Institute here in Germany.
Also in the summer of 2008 I worked on the English version of a flyer for a biology laboratory in the Muensterland area. The text needed to be cleaned up and put in proper International English. The project was successfully completed to the client's satisfaction. Computer English:
Examination of a translation of a computer software manual concerning Lotus Notes Configuration Guidelines: A guideline to configure a worldwide communicationship with Lotus Notes, written by GROUP GmbH (Münster, Germany) which was seeking to expand outside of its national market.Examination of computer science academic papers on Guiding Principles for Object-Oriented Programming in C++, The Design of a 3D Rendering Meta System, and An Object-Oriented Framework for 3D Modeling, Animation and Interaction by Juergen Doellner, Andreas Voigtmann, and Klaus Hinrichs of the Institut fuer Informatik, Westfaelische Wilhelms-Universitaet, Münster.
Academic projects:
Current Nursing Concepts in the U.S.A.A research study for the Fachhochschule Münster Fachbereich Pflege compiled in Summer 1995. Interviews and related articles collected and edited by Alan Rietmann Knauth.
Websites:
The English version of www.active-websight.de The English version of "Chemorix" - a Degussa Online Game| go back |  |