Qwir text + design

Texts are more than just words. They come with a certain structure; they have a soul and a purpose. They may be meant to inform, convince, agitate, express something, make something happen, evoke specific emotions, lead to specific reactions, excite, deter, make us think, make us laugh …

Professional text design ensures that texts fulfil their desired purposes. We support you in creating, optimising and finalising your English and German texts specifically for your communicative intentions. With us, your texts will do what you want them to do.

Copy-editing: thorough text optimisation

Copy-editing is the most thorough form of text optimisation. In copy-editing, we check a text on all levels, from the micro (e.g., orthography, punctuation) to the meso (e.g., clauses and sentence elements, argumentation structure) and macro (e.g., integration into textual landscapes and societal discourses) level. This covers the levels of grammar, syntax, cohesion, coherence, stylistics, and text logic as well as checking facts and references included in the text. In other words: In editing, we not only check how something is written but also what is written and why, whether it’s consistent and logically sound, which expressions are used, and how the text positions itself in relation to others.

Proofreading: reliably correct

Proofreading is a less extensive version of editing, for which we check a text for linguistic correctness only. We correct mistakes on the levels of orthography, grammar, and syntax; apply punctuation according to the respective norms; and fix any smaller errors such as typos.

Proofreading offers a faster yet efficient way to revise a text and format it according to the desired conventions in situations where checking the text’s content, style, and argumentation is not required or not a priority.

Preparing texts for academic publication

Academic texts follow specific conventions that differ from those of other (even technical or subject-specific) texts and depend on the respective discipline. Additionally, they need to meet different standards for style, notation, and formatting (such as APA, Chicago, Harvard etc.). Reference lists and bibliographies also need to be aligned with certain norms that dictate details even on the level of punctuation.

We offer professional copy-editing for academic texts such as monographs, contributions to academic journals and edited books, undergraduate and postgraduate theses, dissertations and post-doctoral theses, as well as abstracts and research applications.

Read more about our copy-editing work for academic texts.

Keeping an eye on AI

Translation requires both precision and creativity. Machine translation and generative artificial intelligence (AI) are useful tools, but despite many recent claims to the contrary, they cannot replace real translators’ knowledge about context, their attention to detail, and the richness of their creativity. Whether we translate an academic article, a children’s book, an ad slogan or something else – good texts need a human touch.

We revise translations created by AI in respect to source text, translation strategies, and target-text effects. This includes checking the pre-translated text’s logic, structure, style, and discursive positioning, making sure that the translation is not only linguistically sound but also effective and meaningful.

Check first, print later

For texts that are set to be printed, a final check of the printing document is crucial. In proofing, we make sure that everything is in its right place. This includes spacing, line and page breaks, leading, staircase effects, contour settings, margin aligments, ligatures, numeral styles, and more. We mark all necessary changes or implement them directly for you.

How much is it?

Prices for copy-editing and proofreading depend on a number of factors, including text length, type, and complexity. We also consider how consistent and comprehensible the text is. In some cases, a text might benefit from more comprehensive restructuring. Additional aspects such as style guides, rules regarding formatting and terminology, and submission deadlines also influence the price.

We calculate our prices for editing and proofreading based on standard pages. One standard page is 1,500 characters including spaces.

We usually provide edited texts as Word documents (.docx files), though other formats are possible. We use built-in Word styles for formatting so that the translated texts can be processed directly in desktop-publishing software such as Adobe InDesign.

We are happy to provide additional services after the editing has been completed, such as preparing the text for content-management systems, publishing it online, layouting, etc. Please contact us to discuss further details.

We look forward to your request for a quote. Please send us all relevant information about the project in question (such as the text to be edited and your ideal/possible submission deadlines), so that we can provide you with a response tailored to your needs.

Prices are final prices exempt from VAT in accordance with § 6 (1) no. 27 of the Austrian VAT Act.