At the moment, there are quite some people involved in The AEGEEan to ensure that we can publish our articles regularly, ranging from the editors and editor-in-chief to the IT responsible and from the HR responsible to journalists. A quite invisible yet very important part of the team consists of the proofreaders, who ensure that the articles you read come without mistakes and are as flawless as they could possibly be. It is about time we learned more about this essential part of the team!

Just like the journalists, proofreaders also have their own Editor. At the beginning of 2015 a new function was created especially for them: the Chief of Proofreaders (CoP), who is responsible for guiding our heroes behind the scenes and updating the internal documents like knowledge transfer and general proofreading rules. The first one to take up this position is Sabina Guja, member of AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca. Together with Antonija Parat, Connor Russell, Iliana Koumpli, Katharina Krüll, Katja Sontag, Maria Arends, Maurits Mink and Svenja van der Tol she also ensures that all the articles that are published look perfect. Time to get to know them a bit better, because we owe a lot to them!

Antonija Parat, Comité Directeur

When and why did you join the AEGEEan?

I joined The AEGEEan some time before Spring Agora Enschede 2012. When I joined the magazine, it was still pretty new, and I thought it was great to have this internal channel where our members can get different news from the Network and beyond, because it was kind of missing at the time. This is why I wanted to contribute to the magazine, to be a part of an initiative that is useful for our members.

What is your favourite part about proofreading?

I like to think about how to shape sentences to make them sound not only understandable, but also interesting and ‘alive’. Sometimes it is a challenge to shape the article properly, while also respecting the author’s style and making sure that you are not changing the meaning of the original article. I actually enjoy these types of challenges, brainstorming for solutions, trying out different versions of sentences etc. So this is very fun for me, although I guess it doesn’t sound so fun to everyone. Maybe it’s a language student thing [she laughs].

What are important qualities you think a proofreader should have?

I think it’s important to be detail-oriented: to go through the article many times, to check all facts, to make sure that the flow of the article sounds right etc. Also, naturally, it is important to have an appreciation for languages – to actually enjoy polishing the grammar, vocabulary, and style of articles.

Connor Russell, AEGEE-London

What made you decide to become a proofreader?

I am rare in AEGEE – a native English speaker. I always feel lucky at AEGEE events that everyone speaks my language, and in all honesty a bit guilty. I speak French and German but far from fluently. I guess this is my way of making a linguistic contribution.

What is your favourite part about proofreading?

Trying to understand what someone really means and writing it out naturally, rather than literally correcting what they have written.

What are important qualities you think a proofreader should have?

Thoroughness and precision but also creativity – it’s important to think of the different ways something can be phrased.

What is the funniest mistake you have seen?

‘The keys are in my friend’ – meaning my friend is carrying the keys. If this were literally true it would be very painful indeed!

Iliana Koumpli, AEGEE-Thessaloniki

What made you decide to become a proofreader?

Ever since I began my studies in the field of Translation I have always respected and enjoyed the part of proofreading and I have always wanted to be one of them! The satisfaction you receive when the final outcome is good and you know that you have contributed a little bit yourself cannot be described.

What is your favourite part about proofreading?

My favorite part about proofreading is the moment I spot something which could otherwise be difficult to spot and corrected. It shows me that I did well in my job.

What is the funniest mistake you have seen?

Once, while proofreading in my own language I spotted mistakes in the spelling that made that particular word similar to a swear word which should not EVER be seen written.

Katharina Krüll, AEGEE-Passau

When and why did you join the AEGEEan?

I started proofreading for the AEGEEan somewhere around Agora Patras because I liked the magazine but I could not dedicate time to writing myself.

What is your favourite part about proofreading?

I like that we contribute to making the content of the AEGEEan even better and that proofreading contributes to better understanding.

What is the funniest mistake you have seen?

Pretty much any mistake that can be related to the nationality of the author is very funny; meaning that sometimes people try to implement their own languages grammar rules to English which does not always work out well.

Katja Sontag, AEGEE-Aachen

What made you decide to become a proofreader?

Working in a great team makes you want to push this team forward. Even though I have to say that I like working as a journalist more, I think I can be of help for everyone when I also proofread. Since I am an English teacher, I hope my skills in the language are sufficient enough to be of use.

What are important qualities you think a proofreader should have?

Good English skills, of course. A knowledge about the differences between British and American English. Endurance and patience, and finally: One should like it.

What is the funniest mistake you have seen?

I only joined the team recently. But believe me, in the career of a second language teacher, you see a lot of funny mistakes. When my sixthgraders wrote about their job choices, I had to laugh a lot when one of them misspelled “cook”. I think you can guess what he wrote instead of the second “o”.

Maria Arends, AEGEE-Tarragona

What made you decide to become a proofreader?

The fact that I’m always bitching on spelling and grammar [she laughs].

What is your favourite part about proofreading?

The fact that you are helping someone to make their document/article look nicer and more readable.

What are important qualities you think a proofreader should have?

You should have a good command of English, you should like to read, and you should be willing to do some research (or ask other people about these strange sentence structures I was mentioning before). Furthermore, it would be a bonus to be a little bit of a perfectionist, so you don’t mind reading things over and over again in order to make sure it is actually correct.

Sabina Guja, AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca

When and why did you join the AEGEEan?

I joined the AEGEEan in March 2013, and I did it because I wanted to be more active in AEGEE and also to try out working on the European level.

What is your favourite part about proofreading?

For sure getting to read the news before everyone else [she laughs].

What are important qualities you think a proofreader should have?

A proofreader should have first of all a good command of English, secondly patience and some imagination – you need these for the cases when an article proves to be a challenge and you need to understand what the author is trying to say, and sometimes slightly reformulate an idea, while keeping to the core of what is being said.

What is the funniest mistake you have seen?

I’m sure I once proofread an article written by Yoda.

Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

What made you decide to become a proofreader?

I’m already a private proofreader for my friends (sometimes unwanted, sometimes in exchange for chocolate) so I guess it was to be expected that I would become a proofreader for The AEGEEan too [she laughs]. I actually don’t remember how it exactly started anymore, but I probably couldn’t help myself correcting texts instead of only editing them up to the point where I was simply added to the proofreader team. I guess you can say I’m quite passionate about properly written texts.

What is your favourite part about proofreading?

As a proofreader, you are contributing to a perfect article, while improving your English a lot too. I’m not Super Grammar Woman (this should be a real superhero), so sometimes I’m not sure about things. When I google them, I always learn a lot more about for example grammar rules, which is always fun. Also, as a very curious person I like being one of the first to read a new article.

What is the funniest mistake you have seen?

I’m embarrassed to say this, but they would probably be my own, because I often tend to text people while being half asleep. Let’s say at those moments my eye for grammar is still asleep, which leads to very creative ways of writing words or making sentences.

Do you have a good level of English and would you like to join the team too? Write us an e-mail with your name, antenna and motivation. As Sabina summarises: “Joining as a proofreader is a great way to start, to get to understand how The AEGEEan works and to grow from there. You will also be joining a great team: active, motivated and professional!”

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

Like every month, The AEGEEan elects a member who stand out for his or her contribution to our association. In October this person was Sabina Guja from AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca, rewarding her for being the Public Relations (PR) responsible of the Culture Working Group (CWG) and having been part of two proofreaders team (The AEGEEan and the Key to Europe), a job that is often not mentioned, but helps the associations publications to have a high standard of English.

The AEGEEan: Can you please introduce yourself? How long have you been in AEGEE and what is your European Level experience?

Sabina: I started in AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca in November 2011, after meeting Yvonne Antonović from AEGEE-Utrecht at a Youth in Action project in Serbia. She got me really curious about AEGEE and as soon as I got home, I contacted my local and that’s how it all started. For a while I was active on the local level (being main organizer for our pre-Agora Budapest event was my crowning achievement), and after that I moved on to the European level by being a member of the Culture Working Group, where I coordinated the Movie Library  and a few other smaller projects and finally became Public Relations responsible last autumn. Now I am living in Brno (Czech Republic) and I try to attend most of the meetings of AEGEE-Brno, but my heart stayed with Cluj-Napoca.

You are a proofreader for The AEGEEan and you were a proofreader for Key to Europe. What is the most difficult thing about being a proofreader?

I think the most difficult thing about being a proofreader is trying to hold on to a high standard, while also keeping the personal style of the author. I don’t think it’s any secret that not everybody has awesome English skills and of course we are very happy to have articles to proofread, but sometimes it can be really challenging trying to understand what the real meaning of a sentence is.

Proofreaders are always unnamed as they work “behind the curtains”. Do you have some fun facts concerning the task?

Well I can’t remember any specific details right now, but I can imagine it can be funny to watch me proofread, because a lot of times I will start talking to the walls and asking them what sentences mean… I’m not sure when they will be able to answer, but I am persistent.

You are Public Relations responsible for the CWG. What was the best initiative that you had in the Working Group?

I think my best initiative would be the cards CWG gives out at their stand at the Agora Fair and EPM (former EBM) Fair. We started at EBM Lublin, continued at Agora Patra and now are in the finalization process for Agora Cagliari. Here’s a sneak peak at what you can expect, and this is just one of our cards, so be sure to drop by our stand.

Weekly Newsletters are a helpful tools for members to be updated on the most recent happenings in the Network. The CWG made one to cover the Venice International Film Festival (VIFF). You said that it doesn’t happen very often. How did you feel in September?

When I sent the info about VIFF I wasn’t sure if it would be published or not, because my past experiences with the newsletter were not so great, but this time it happened! So, of course I was excited! The whole network could see we are active and more importantly read about VIFF from one of our own AEGEE members, not just from mass media.

You are in the board of CWG. Lately, we saw some discussions about the current status of Working Groups. What do you think about the topic, being actively involved in one of them?

I saw the discussions and I agree that there is a crisis in the Working Groups, if we can call it that. Having a lot of members, yet few active can be discouraging for a board. At the same time, we are talking here about volunteers, so forcing people to be active isn’t the option. I don’t think that criteria such as doing a certain amount of tasks would help, the desire to be active should come from within. I also think that, from a member of the board’s point of view, it’s much more fun and easier to work with people who want to do it, because the task actually speaks to them, rather than because they have to do it.

Agora Cagliari is approaching, can you give us some anticipations about Agora Fair or Cultural European Night?

Like I said, our cards will be there and you will get to meet some of our members and chat with them. Other than that let’s keep it a surprise.

What are your future plans?

I am not sure yet. My term as CWG board member is coming to an end, and I am not sure what my next step will be. What I know now is that I will remain both proofreader and CWG member for another year, but to what degree my involvement will be, remains to be seen.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia