[ProWritingAid] 1. ProWritingAid Review. Good English-improving Writing Software!

ProWritingAid

ProWritingAid review. The English grammar correction software is good in performance but cumbersome to use.

제 워드프레스 블로그를 다국어 블로그로 만드려고 나름대로 여러 시도를 하고 있습니다. 그 시도의 일환으로 다국어 플러그인인 Translatepress를 사용했었고, 지금은 다른 WPML이라는 플러그인을 사용하고 있습니다. 물론 아직 큰 소득은 없습니다만…

여튼 다국어 플러그인은 어디까지나 제 블로그를 영어 등 다양한 언어로도 만들 수 있도록 일종의 판을 깔아주는 것에 불과하고, 결국은 번역된 내용들을 스스로 작성해줘야 합니다. 위의 다국어 플러그인들이 구글 번역 등으로 블로그 내용을 자동으로 번역해주는 기능은 있습니다만 다들 아시다시피 한글 – 영어 번역은 그 번역 수준이 좋지 않아서 결국은 사용자들 스스로가 만져줘야 합니다. 그러다 보니 문법 교정 소프트웨어를 따로 사용하는 것으로 가닥을 잡았습니다. 이 문법 교정 소프트웨어들 중에서 가장 유명한 친구는 아마 Grammarly일테지만 저는 Grammarly와 더불어서 ProWritingAid를 사용하고 있습니다.

This post contains many comparisons to Grammarly for the purpose of overall explanation. Please refer to this part.

ProWritingAid review. The English grammar correction software is good in performance but cumbersome to use.

Prowritingaid interface — Personally, I don’t like the interface…

Prowritingaid Summary — Personally, I don’t like the interface…

ProWritingAid’s basic interface is a bit disappointing, but its its advantage is that it is thorough and detailed.

To be honest, the basic interface of ProWritingAid is a bit disappointing. At first, I didn’t know how to use it, but I could roughly understand it as I used it. Once you click the “Summary” button at the top of the screen, you can get a general overview of how much you need to fix your writing. Then, it checks each part such as structure, words, grammar, and style one by one and modify the parts that are lacking. I like that it is systematic, but the interface is not very good, so it is a bit cumbersome to use.

It’s like something analog. Also, I felt that there were many unnecessary spaces, and when I personally use writing apps or software, the most emphasized thing is the spacing between sentences. I thought it was strange that this part was not modified. Also, since grammar correction is the main function, so it is not very good at formatting and editing. It also feels a bit like a word processor. MS Office’s so-called “ribbon menu” has been adopted by many of softwares, but ProWritingAid seems to have been influenced by it in a half-hearted way.

However, the biggest advantage of ProWritingAid is that it is more detailed than other apps when correcting grammar. When using the software, you can write in a variety of styles, such as formal, academic, or informal. The style you choose will depend on the purpose of your writing. I’m not a native speaker and I haven’t tested it one by one, so I don’t know exactly what the difference is, but if you can set it more precisely according to your own purpose, it looks okay at first glance.

This is also the case for the Chrome and MS Word versions that will be explained later. Most of the changes are accompanied by detailed explanations, so you can understand why they are being made. However, these changes are not mandatory or compulsory. This is something that I like about ProWritingAid. In other words, we can say that it is software which is faithfully performing the basic function of the software.

ProWritingAid is excellent value for money.

Another advantage ProWritingAid has over Grammarly is its price. Usually, the price is not that expensive, but you can buy a lifetime pass with Black Friday discounts. Of course, Grammarly is also at a level where it is almost always on sale, but usually, these apps are only discounted for the first year and then return to their original price from the next year, but prowritingaid does not have such a thing.

It’s a pity that ProWritingAid doesn’t have its own app

Another disappointing thing about this app is that there is no separate app for smartphones. Of course, it seems that the development team has not completely overlooked the idea, as the web version appears to be somewhat usable on smartphones as well. However, it is still not as efficient as the actual app, as expected. While it is true that there may be a shortage of manpower for services like this, it is still disappointing.

In the past, Grammarly had only an app for iOS, while Android had only a keyboard app. However, when I recently checked while making revisions to my writing, I discovered that an app had appeared for Android as well. I have a desire to keep up with that trend to some extent. Even though I can tell what kind of usage is being encouraged by the app, I still think it’s important to be able to use it on a smartphone.

ProWritingAid is software that seems to be more recommended for use as a plugin.

In addition to the above, I am also disappointed that this software is updated quite slowly. This article discusses many of the shortcomings of the software. However, at least I could understand what the developers were trying to achieve in this part. I felt that the producers were more encouraging the use of the software as a plugin for other apps than as a standalone app.

ProWritingAid는 글쓰기 소프트웨어답게 MS 워드와 구글 문서에 모두 플러그인을 만들어놨습니다. 그 뿐 아니라 구글 크롬 확장 프로그램도 존재합니다. 크롬 확장 프로그램이 존재한다는 것은 엣지, 파이어폭스 등 어지간한 웹 브라우저에서 모두 사용가능하다는 것입니다. 그리고 제 느낌일 수도 있습니다만 자체 소프트웨어보다 워드에서 업데이트를 더 많이 한다는 느낌입니다…

In fact, the problem of the interface being poor, which was mentioned above, was hardly felt in Word or my Vivaldi browser. As mentioned above, the feeling of emptiness is less, and the problem of the editor itself can be resolved because Word and Google Docs have good editor functions.

Users may also want to use it as a plugin. For example, for people who use Scrivener, or who don’t use MS Word or Google Docs, an own editor seems to have been created. The intention is good, but the performance is…

This can be a good option if you mainly write in English on your desktop.

I’ve said a lot of good and bad things, but in the end, ProWritingAid is a software that is somewhat cumbersome to use despite its detailed and thorough features. So, personally, there are a lot of things that would be nice to improve, so it’s a pity. Especially the editor. However, if you mainly write on a desktop, it is likely that you are using one of MS Word or Google Docs. Therefore, I think there is some room for consideration.

솔직히 가격을 제외하면 여러 부분에서 Grammarly가 더 좋은 것 같습니다. Grammarly 무료 버전으로도 어느 정도 사용에 무리가 없기도 하고요. 다만 두 앱들이 묘하게 문법 교정사항들이 다릅니다. 그렇기에 지금은 이 두 친구와 마이크로소프트 편집기(Microsoft Editor)까지 세 친구를 동시에 사용해주고 있습니다. 솔직히 저 editor는 더더욱 마음에 안 들긴 하지만 저 친구만 또 가끔 짚어주는 요소들이 가끔 있거든요… 여튼 Grammarly의 대용품 중에서 가장 대표적으로 언급되는 소프트웨어 중 하나가 바로 이 친구여서 앞으로 더 개선되기를 바랍니다.