Our keen eyes don’t miss a thing

You may already be familiar with exact! as a reliable and quality-conscious provider of professional translations, but we also have plenty of expertise in supplementary language and communications services. After all, a successful publication is characterised not only by a well-crafted, linguistically correct text, but also by error-free layout and design.

Some time ago, exact! was awarded a contract for editing services in a call for tender. Under the title, “Language editing of documents in German” the Publications Office of the European Union was seeking a service provider to get German publications ready for printing in terms of both language and form.

As a service provider for EU institutions and the European public, the Publications Office is committed to upholding high quality standards. We are proud to meet these standards.

The EU had originally planned to award five framework contracts. During the selection process, however, exact! was the only service provider to pass the day-long test, which five of our employees participated in. As stated in the award letter, “the price-quality ratio was not calculated because only one tender passed the technical award phase."

Since the award, our employees have been regularly revising and correcting online and print media on a wide range of scientific and political topics. One example is the edition of the EU magazine “Rural Review” on the topic of the bioeconomy.

In mid-October, our team was thrilled to receive special recognition for their work on a 31-page brochure on the history of the EU, which was found to be “excellent”. The head of the Publication Office’s quality control unit informed us that exact!’s top rating as a service provider was upgraded even further and congratulated us on our great work. The Office affirmed its high satisfaction with the services provided by exact! just a few days ago in its last joint video conference with the company.

In addition to the Publications Office of the European Union, other customers also rely on our trained eyes and linguistic expertise. exact!’s services in this area include both the editing of texts originally written in German or English as well as the revision of translations.

The revision of translations has always been a core competence of exact! Every translation that we complete in accordance with the standard ISO 17100 is carefully checked against the original by a second translator. The requirements for translation service providers set in this standard are integrated into all of our processes and work methods. Our customers know and appreciate the linguistic quality delivered by exact!

Many of our customers also require other competences when it comes to our editing services. exact! also handles final copy editing. Before a publication is sent to press, there is a final check to ensure that all orthographical, grammatical and punctuation errors have really been corrected and that all changes requested by the authors have been implemented. Each typographical and layout detail must also be perfect. Many slip-ups can work their way in during this process and ultimately ruin the overall impression. And once a publication has been printed, the errors can no longer be rectified.

An editor needs a sharp eye, great concentration and enough experience to always keep track of all error sources. Do the headers in the text match the table of contents? Are the footnotes numbered correctly, and does each one end with a period? Are the page numbers in the right position everywhere? Is each image accompanied by the correct legend? Does each subheader have the correct font size and colour? Do “widows and orphans” (unsuitable page and line breaks) need to be corrected? Did the layout program divide words incorrectly? Might paragraphs have even been accidentally deleted?

Other aspects to be checked include fonts, lists and numbering, the accuracy of cross-references and hyperlinks, headers and footers, line breaks, quotation, images and all typographical design elements.

Ultimately, nothing should be allowed to jeopardise the reader’s overall aesthetic impression. This is our commitment when crafting successful publications.

In conclusion, exact! is the right address for anyone who wants to make sure the linguistic and typographic quality of their published texts is professional down to the last detail.