Copyediting Outsourced to India

I just spent this week fixing some content for a client who hired a copywriter in India, so I don't have much faith, either. One of the actual lines this writer wrote included the phrase: "Exciting, throbbing cities in the US..." The piece was about web design.

Oh noes. I think some penicillan would fix those throbbing cities. Goodness.

There is a limit to what we can outsource. I think they've found it.

I believe it's important that they're outsourcing copyediting, not any other type of editing. Isn't the purpose of the copyeditor to identify technical errata? I've met plenty of Indians (granted, probably the smarter ones who made it to US universities) who had excellent control of English orthographical conventions. They aren't being asked to do any "real" editing and they aren't being asked to actually be fluent in the language. They're just fixing the written form...

Soccer Mom said:

There is a limit to what we can. I think they've found it.

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Amen! I agree.

SPMiller said:

I believe it's important that they're outsourcing copyediting, not any other type of editing. Isn't the purpose of the copyeditor to identify technical errata? I've met plenty of Indians (granted, probably the smarter ones who made it to US universities) who had excellent control of English orthographical conventions. They aren't being asked to do any "real" editing and they aren't being asked to actually be fluent in the language. They're just fixing the written form...

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Perhaps this is a good point.

Oh my goodness golly gosh!

caw

Hell no. HELL no. I can't even sort out cell phone billing problems, and I'm supposed to rely on outsourcing to work in this instance? Hell no.

It depends on exactly what's being done. From the article, it seems to be limited to page layout, grammar/typographical checking and some fact checking.

Given that standards of English amongst Indians working in the sector are generally pretty high (in fact, I've dealt with Indian graduates out in Mumbai who'd put English university graduates to shame in terms of written English skills), there should be no problem with their doing it and I would presume that any contract would specify the skills base required of the employees. In addition, most outsourcing contracts have 'bedding in' periods where the companies work closely to flush out and then resolve any potential issues.

In fact, the only issue I'd have with outsourcing this type of work to India is that there are power problems out there as the electricity network isn't particularly stable, particularly in the summer when they can be prone to blackouts. In an industry where you're subject to tight deadlines and dependent on technology to stay in touch, it could lead to significant problems.

Call centres on the other hand, are a whole different ball-game (although that doesn't excuse the abuse that call-centre operatives have to take on a day-in-day-out basis).

MM

Possible for technical documents. But I doubt fiction or creative nonfiction publishers will find success in outsourcing copyediting. If they think it's hard enough trying to get a copyeditor to accept a writer's clever turn of phrase (if not stretch of the definition of a word), then having a technically-oriented non-native speaker certainly won't help, no matter how fluent that person may be. Isn't it the natural tendency of copyeditors to reduce a lot of the expressiveness in the language into something straightforward and direct (and therefore bland and/or cliched)? The best copyeditors know how to find a balance between creativity and clarity/conciseness/correctness, but I think someone with a technical orientation (as the Indian education system generally encourages) wouldn't understand the "art" of copyediting.

I can't imagine how this would work for a daily newspaper which has tight deadlines. Seems an in-office copyeditor would be much more efficient and right there when you need him.

There is a big difference in proofreading and copyediting. Anyone can learn to proof. copyediting requires a much higher skill set.

Given that standards of English amongst Indians working in the sector are generally pretty high (in fact, I've dealt with Indian graduates out in Mumbai who'd put English university graduates to shame in terms of written English skills), there should be no problem

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I agree with inkkognito. I also think that companies who outsource are often not looking for the types of workers you describe -- they often seem to be looking for the least expensive workers. That's a big part of the problem.

Given the vast amount of publishing work that's already being done in India, I see no reason something like copyediting should be immune. Not to say that I don't completely agree that it's a bad idea, but in these bottom-line times, "cheap" wins over "good" every time.

Actually, in my experience working with Indian vendors, there's very little that they can't get the hang of eventually, but there are times when that learning curve can be absolutely brutal.

The CEs at my publication have been watching this with interest/dread.

I don't have anything else constructive to add at the moment. :\

Let 'em muck with the ads, I don't read them anyway.

The company I work for is headquartered in India (is that proper English?) so the majority of my coworkers are Indian. In my experience, some of them aren't as fluent yet as others, but for many of them, you wouldn't be able to tell from their writing style that English was not their first language. So I think it could prove to be interesting.