Prooflistening

[ColleenMc]

I just volunteered for my first prooflistening. The directions for standard seem pretty strightforward -- if you are not doing a word-perfect one, do you usually just listen and pay attention for any ear-catching noises or repeats/stumbles while, say, cleaning or knitting or somesuch, or do you follow along with the text as you go?

Any other tips for new PL-ers?


Thanks!
Colleen

[mightyfelix]

I usually do not follow along. Yes, listen for the things you mentioned. Also, just anything that doesn't make sense, or seems off. For instance, I recently proof listened a section in which the reader saw the word "wound" and pronounced it as the past tense of wind, but in context it seemed to me that it was wound, as in injure. That is the kind of thing that can change the meaning just slightly and makes it sound "off" just a bit.

[Foon]

Personally, as a rule of thumb, I don't follow along with the text.

But, there are reasons that make me read along, such as:
- It is a new reader for whom it's (one of) the first recording(s), because you never know what you're going to get with new readers (e.g. unfamiliarity with the MW leading to wrong text being recorded, etc).
- It is a reader of whom I know that they are more prone to errors in reading (some people are word-perfect almost all the time; some have a tendency to change words). And in those cases, the recording can benefit from reading along.
- I usually read along in poetry projects, because poems often have convoluted syntax and this makes the meaning of sentences not always immediately clear; it is much easier to make a mistake in a word which changes meaning in old poetry than in, say, a children's book.

And sometimes I read along just because I want to sit and listen and not do anything else, so I might as well have the text open
So, if it were, say, a solo book: I would probably read along with the first chapter to get a feel for the reader's accuracy, and when I'm satisfied of that I just listen.

[DACSoft]

I generally follow along with the text. I won't point out minor word changes or variances that do not change the intent of the phrase, sentence or paragraph. I will point out missing phrases or sentences, because I have found, in some instances, that the missing parts wouldn't have otherwise caused me to think that there was an interruption to the flow of the narrative if I wasn't following along.

In every case thus far, the reader was appreciative that I called these types of issues to their attention, and they made corrections (and as a reader, I appreciate when others do the same for me).

FWIW,

Don

[JayKitty76]

I always follow along with the text. Usually the project will not require word-perfect prooflistening, but if it does, I'd definitely recommend following along with the text. As long as the recording 'errors' do not include any of the following, I do not make a comment on it.

*Change of tone in the sentence
*Change of meaning in the sentence, quote or anything else
*Mispronounced in such a way that it changes the word's meaning
*Extra silence (for more than, say, three seconds) within a sentence
*Repetition (e.g., "the raft the raft landed")
*Extra inflection (e.g., making it sound like a question instead of a definite statement)

I allow a little bit of misplaced inflection (for example, if the reader's first language is something other than English), a little bit of extra silence, small word changes (like "out-doors" instead of "out-of-doors"; that does not change the general meaning of the sentence), and things like that.
I'd recommend you follow along with the text, but do whatever you decide is best. Here's a link from the wiki, on prooflistening tips and a general quiz afterwards:

https://wiki.librivox.org/index.php?title=ProofListening_tips_and_quiz

Have fun prooflistening!

[annise]

There is always a disagreement about reading with text/ not reading with text and I don't think one side will ever convince the other. I haven't had time for much PLing recently but that is what I did for the first few years. And I didn't read along, I only went back to the text if I thought something didn't "sound right"
We are producing sound files, and I want to listen to audiobooks that sound right rather than one that needs me to read the text at the same time to follow what is going on - so I believe it is better not to read along because when I am listening to a book I don't have the written clues.
And I don't think I ever had an error report about a book I had proof listened

Anne

[ColleenMc]

Thank you all, this was very helpful!