Many non-native authors prefer to write their own English texts, be it for a conference presentation or a publication. Often such authors have a good grasp of English and produce texts with no obvious grammatical errors. However, even a very competent non-native user of English will have difficulties with the finer nuances, such as when to use which past tense, what preposition goes with a particular verb, or when it is necessary to include an article before a noun.

As an experienced editor and a skilled writer, I combine an eye for detail (e.g. consistency with capitalization and hyphenation, differences between British and American punctuation) with an ear for a stylish turn of phrase. The final stage in both my editing and translation is to print out the text and read it aloud, listening for any awkward phrasing, jarring repetition, or over-long sentences that have escaped earlier revisions.

As a German to English translator, I am particularly well placed to edit English texts by German authors: if the meaning is unclear I can often translate back into German, work out the original meaning, and re-translate it in a way that makes more sense to English-speaking readers.

My editing is on the level of language, style and sentence structure rather than content. If I notice any striking errors or inconsistencies I will point them out, but I do not normally check for factual accuracy or critique the overall argument.

If you are preparing a text for publication in a specific journal or publishing house, I am happy to adapt spelling, punctuation, forms of citation etc. in accordance with the relevant style guide. 

.