Editing and proofreading Polish text, including AI drafts
There’s Polish copy already. Maybe it came out of DeepL or ChatGPT, or a colleague who grew up speaking Polish checked it over lunch. It’s probably correct. The question is whether it reads like a Polish company wrote it. I proofread and edit Polish text so that it does.
from €5 excl. VAT per 1,000 characters · usually 2–4 working days
W czwartek od 8:00 do 14:00 nie będzie wody.
In English: No water on Thursday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Editing and proofreading Polish text, including AI drafts
There’s Polish copy already. Maybe it came out of DeepL or ChatGPT, or a colleague who grew up speaking Polish checked it over lunch. It’s probably correct. The question is whether it reads like a Polish company wrote it. I proofread and edit Polish text so that it does.
from €5 excl. VAT per 1,000 characters · usually 2–4 working days
W czwartek od 8:00 do 14:00 nie będzie wody.
In English: No water on Thursday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
One paragraph, before and after
A paragraph from an invented Polish shoe shop, the way it might look after machine translation and an AI polish. Grey lines are English glosses.
Jesteśmy dumni, że możemy zaoferować Państwu szeroki wybór obuwia najwyższej jakości. Skontaktuj się z nami już dziś, aby dowiedzieć się więcej!
- An English opener translated word for word. Polish readers skip it. The replacement came from the client’s answers, not from the draft.
- The draft switches from the formal *Państwo* to the informal *ty* halfway through the paragraph. This shop chose *ty*. The new line also says what writing in is actually for.
The facts in the new version come from questions I ask while editing. No draft contains them, which is why an edit needs you as well as me.
What editing an AI or machine-translated draft involves
- cutting openers that spend a paragraph warming up before they say anything
- swapping empty nouns ("solutions", "quality", "commitment") for what you actually do
- breaking the rhythm: models love three adjectives, three benefits and paragraphs of equal length
- catching calques, which are Polish words set in English word order
- fixing register, so formal *Państwo* and informal *ty* don’t share a page
- flagging every number, date and claim that looks invented
- asking you for the specifics only you know
Proofreading or editing?
| Proofreading | Editing | |
|---|---|---|
| What changes | spelling, punctuation, grammar, typos | all of that, plus clarity, tone, word order, paragraph order and repetition |
| What stays | style and content: it’s still your text | the facts: anything doubtful gets a comment |
| Pick it when | the text is fine and needs cleaning up before it goes live | the text says the right things but reads badly, or reads like a translation |
| Price excl. VAT | €5 per 1,000 characters, min. €60 | €10 per 1,000 characters, min. €90 |
| Turnaround, up to 20,000 characters | usually 2 working days | usually 4 working days |
| After delivery | 1 round of questions | 1 revision round |
Proofreading or editing English text: on request. Neither, sometimes — if less than half the text would survive, it’s more honest to write it again, and I’ll say so in the quote.
What it comes to
A five-page website runs to about 15,000 characters, or roughly 2,200 Polish words. Proofreading it costs €75 and editing it €150, excluding VAT.
I count the characters, including spaces, in the file you send, and quote one fixed amount. It doesn’t go up if the edited version comes out longer.
Included
- a tracked-changes file and a clean copy, comments on anything doubtful, and the economic rights to my edits, which pass to you once they’re paid in full
Costs more if
- you need it in a rush (+50%, if the calendar allows)
- you want an extra revision round (15% of the price, min. €60)
- for texts over 20,000 characters, the turnaround is set in the quote
Not included
- fact-checking
- legal review of Polish consumer wording (returns, warranties, terms)
- SEO
- layout and design
- writing missing sections, which is new copy
Editing and proofreading on the price list
Prices are shown net of VAT. I’ll add a VAT line once that’s settled on my side.
I read it before I quote
Send the file
(Google Docs or Word), with a line on where it’ll appear and who reads it. The English source helps too, if there is one.
I read all of it before quoting,
and tell you whether it needs proofreading, editing or a rewrite. Sometimes less than you’d expect.
I work in tracked changes,
so you see every edit and can reject any of them. Questions go in the margin, in English.
You answer the questions
and I work the answers in. That’s the one round.
You get two files:
a clean one to publish and one showing the changes.
A bakery where the bread runs out at eleven
Not an edit: this one was written from scratch. It shows the level of detail every edit is aiming for: names, opening hours, and the one thing that sets this bakery apart from the one next door. An invented business, shown as a sample.
Do wyczerpania zakwasu.
In English: While the sourdough lasts.
When editing isn’t enough
- Website copy
when the draft isn’t worth saving
- Landing page copy
when a page has one job and the draft is trying to do five
- GuideWhat copywriting costs in Poland (2026)
what editing costs compared with new copy
Editing questions
Our Polish copy was machine-translated. Should we edit it or start again?
If the translation kept the meaning and the page works for Polish readers, editing is the cheaper route, at €10 per 1,000 characters. If the page leans on English wordplay or references, it needs transcreation. If it needs rethinking, it’s new copy. I’ll tell you which once I’ve read it. Transcreation
A Polish-speaking colleague already checked it. Isn’t that enough?
It catches the worst mistakes. What it tends to miss is register, word order borrowed from English, and phrases that are correct but that no Polish brand would write. A proofread is the cheap way to find out how much is left.
Will the edited text pass AI detectors?
I don’t run detectors, and I don’t promise any result from them. They’re wrong often enough, in both directions, that promising a score would be dishonest. What I can promise: every sentence you receive is written or rewritten by me, and checked by me.
Do you check facts, or the legal wording for Polish customers?
I flag, I don’t verify. Numbers without a source, dates, names, legal references and quotes all get a comment. AI drafts tend to collect a lot of those, because models invent statistics with a straight face. Wording on returns, warranties or terms for Polish consumers should go past a Polish lawyer.
How do you count characters?
Characters including spaces, counted in the file you send. It’s the standard measure in Poland, and 1,000 characters is roughly 150 Polish words. The quote is one fixed amount based on that count.
Send the text and I’ll tell you what it needs
Paste a link to the document (Google Drive, Dropbox) into the form. I’ll read it and reply with a price, usually within 2 working days (Mon–Fri, CET).
Send your text for a quote See pricingoffice@splendidcopywriting.com