The martial art I practice is called Tang Soo Do. It is a traditional Korean martial art, somewhat related to Shotokan karate, which shares some of the same forms. We emphasize focus, discipline, respect and hard work and strive to better ourselves as human beings.

Being someone who has a hard time focusing on one particular thing, my martial arts training has taught me just that. When I perform a form, or hyung, as it is called in Korean, I do just that. Not one thought other than what is required to do my form enters my head. I am just present. This kind of focus has enabled me to be completely present for translation or editing tasks at hand as well. I know what it feels like to narrow down and zone in on my work, and it is a very satisfying and productive mode both I and my clients benefit from.

Then there is the aspect of respect. In the dojang (practice hall), we respect one another, no matter what rank or experience our opponent or partner has. We understand that we are dealing with another human being whose goal it is to be happy and accepted, and we learn that when we respect others, they respect us as well. I respect my clients, and though I may not always agree with them, I can maintain that respectful attitude I have been practicing for so long in my martial arts.

Freelancing is not for the procrastinator and requires self-motivation, which is a matter of discipline. The discipline I’ve learned in martial arts can be as basic as showing up for class or as challenging as performing each movement with 100% attention and effort. It is a mindset that can become habitual and that can greatly help any kind of performance. I approach my work the same way I approach my martial arts practice: With discipline and self-motivation.

In all of this, I am a human being. I have good days and bad days. I have moments where I have to interrupt my work for a while because it’s just not happening. I’ll take our dogs for a walk and come back refreshed and with a new approach.  My martial arts practice, which takes at least 5 hours of my time each week, is something I cannot imagine my life without and which is a wonderful counterpoint to sitting at my desk, and a great inspiration any day.

We all know that using a spellchecker isn’t sufficient.  This poem by Anonymous really brings it home:

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plain lee marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.

Eye ran this poem threw it
I’m shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

-Sauce unknown

"One is the downside of our brain’s highly developed “autocorrect” function. Dropped and extraneous words are frequently overlooked, because we automatically ‘see’ what we think we should be seeing. Some editors have tricks to try to overcome this tendency, such as proofreading with all but one line of type covered at a time. This forces you to slow down and see what’s really there, not what your brain expects to find."

To increase my chances of finding my own errors, I generally:

1. Avoid proofreading immediately after I’ve finished a translation
2. Look at those segments first I translated at the end of the day
3. Print out a copy if I think I need a “fresh” look at things
4. Proofread in the morning when my brain hasn’t already been bombarded with thousands of words

What I haven’t tried yet but will is using a Text-to-Speech program, such as TextAloud by NextUp http://www.nextup.com/TextAloud/ Perhaps someone has had some experience they would like to share?