Why use The Arabists?
To fully appreciate
the advantages of working with The Arabists,
allow us to take you through some interesting
observations of the market out there, then
take you through our strengths one at a
time so you can see how we compare.
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What makes a copywriter?
What
would you require in a copywriter? Any copywriter,
whether he/she writes in English, Arabic or
any language. You'd probably want creativity
and flair, the judging of which is a subjective
process which we shall not go into. At the very
minimum, wouldn't you expect a copywriter to
be able to write? The ability to write
right can be judged objectively. At
the very least, shouldn't that copywriter (or
translator) be able to spell? Shouldn't his/her
writing be grammatically correct?
What's
inconsequential?
A typo, or even a grammatical/spelling
error is not the end of the world, some say
(we don't). Some may even consider it inconsequential
(we don't). Let's stay with the English language
here. Would you trust a copywriter who did not
know the difference between "quite" and "quiet"?
Would you trust a translator who couldn't tell
"their" and "there" apart? Or "it's" with an
apostrophe and "its" without? Or if he/she spells
"receive" with an "i" before "e"? You know,
the sort of mistakes we were taught not to make
in 9th grade!
Mistakes
forgivable, but only as an oversight
A copywriter/translator
may very well make such mistakes, but only as
an oversight, not out of ignorance. Maybe the
writer had his spell-checker on while writing
a long piece, and the spell-checker corrected
"ther" to "there" instead of "their". That mistake
may go unnoticed at the time; but only as a
temporary oversight (which the writer will eventually
correct when he proofreads the document).
But
mistakes made out of ignorance?
However, no self-respecting
copywriter or translator would make such a mistake
due to him not knowing the difference between
the two words. Ordinary people can be excused
for making grammatical and spelling mistakes.
But someone who claims to be a copywriter/translator
is NOT ordinary people! He/she gets paid as
a copywriter not only for being creative, but
also for having a better grip on language than
most people.
The
state of Arabic copywriting and translation
When we say their's (oops!),
there's a lot of rubbish out there, we mean
it. It's sad, but it's true. Some have taken
advantage of a situation where clients can't
read Arabic or judge it, and made the standards
of Arabic writing deteriorate to ridiculous
levels, not only in the translation industry,
but also in communication-based industries,
like Advertising, Public Relations and Publishing.
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