Friday, 4 November 2005: 15.30-16.45
METM 05, Barcelona, Spain

When translators edit: issues in potentially conflicting roles

Karen Shashok, translator and editorial consultant, Granada, Spain. Karen has been a freelance translator and editorial consultant for about 20 years, and has published in European Science Editing (EASE), Learned Publishing, BMJ, Medscape, the Pan American Journal of Public Health, Panace@ (MedTrad), The Write Stuff (EMWA), Editing Matters (SfEP), and the WAME list. Aside from STM translation and editing, her main research interests are peer review, and good editorial and publication practice. kshashok@auna.com

Most translating involves some minor editing along the way to ensure that the target text reads fluently and meets readers’ expectations for current, idiomatic usage. This workshop will focus on a different sort of editing translators often perform: changes in the actual deployment of information (what information to include, and where) akin to the work a good copyeditor or substantive editor might do. These more substantive changes can make the target text a more effective tool for information transfer than the source text was. Suggestions will be offered on when (and when not) to edit, and how to handle conflicts.