Does the Editor Need to be a Translator to Offer Quality Multilingual Content?

Does the Editor Need to be a Translator to Offer Quality Multilingual Content? Laura Rodríguez Mejía, Independent Editor, Proofreader and Translator

Although a larger number of journals publish in at least two languages (the article’s original language and English), it is less common to see publications that offer three or four languages: Spanish, Portuguese, French and English, for example, and even less common to include indigenous or other regional languages. To accomplish multilingualism in publishing, greater cooperation is needed: a single publisher cannot afford to provide its content in more than two languages, sometimes it can barely manage to publish in two. Cooperation, however, needs to be supported with resources (including economic resources) to support the work of translators, proofreaders, and reviewers. This includes an often-overlooked resource: translation sensitivity, the ability to identify the need to distance from literal translation to offer a text that is truly faithful to the original content.

Laura Rodríguez Mejía is an independent editor, proofreader and translator. She has a degree in Modern Languages and another one in Literary Studies from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia. She currently works as a Professional of Periodicals in Ediciones Unisalle where she oversees the standardization of editorial processes, the review of different textual typologies, and translations and content in English and Spanish.