Please note that all of the below may also be applied to translating. The proofreader’s job is to catch translational errors; thus, the requirements are the same.

GENERAL TASKS

Spelling: Yes, at the most basic level, proofreaders must be able to find and fix spelling errors. They must also keep in mind the differences between American and British spelling/punctuation, and fix for one or the other depending on the version their particular group/series decides to use.

Grammar: Obviously, being able to fix grammatical errors is a must as well. HOWEVER, proofreaders should always keep in mind that they are (usually) proofing dialogue, and thus it would be more correct in some cases to include common speech errors as opposed to making the characters sound like an expository essay.

Flow: This is, perhaps, the most important of all the tasks, and the one most often overlooked. A proofreader should make sure the English version of the manga flows just as fluently as the Japanese version. Translating is not merely converting words over from another language. Fundamental differences in speech habit, sentence structure, and culture must all be taken into account. For example, in Japanese, the verb is always at the end of the sentence and the subject is often dropped altogether, implied rather than said. This may result in a sentence meaning “I want some pie” translating literally to “some pie want.” This is called a word-for-word translation. Many translators will translate this to “Some pie. I want it.” which as we see is an improvement, but still sounds choppy and awkward, something we might call Engrish as opposed English. A subtler example: in a dramatic moment, Syaoran makes the profound decision, “I will definitely protect her. No matter what.” Whereas in Japanese the “definitely” adds emphasis and punch to the statement (likely because they have no solid future tense), in English it actually takes out punch and ends up sounding softer as opposed to a rock-hard “I will protect her.” In such cases the “definitely” is undeniably in the original Japanese, but whether or not to keep it all comes down to a matter of judgment and analysis.

OTHER

Accuracy: A proofreader should have at least some basic knowledge of either Chinese or Japanese so that they can check the raw against the translation and try to keep the meaning as close as possible to original while maintaining good flow.

Consistency: This is less important for one-shots, but in a series the translations should stay consistent. If a name has been spelt one way for most of the series, proofreaders should make sure it doesn’t suddenly change halfway through. Usage of name suffixes (-san, -kun, -chan, etc) should also be taken into consideration. Formatting consistency is a problem for editors and QCers to deal with.

Bubble sizes: Yes, having a brilliant translation is nice and all that, but do try to be considerate of the editors. For most series this is not a problem, but if you see a particularly slim, vertical bubble that would really have trouble with long words, where the Japanese inside could be translated either as “sad” or “depressing,” just... do the editors a favor and use “sad.”