Editing in a Foreign Language (Part I)

Have you ever done writing, editing, or proofreading in a language other than your native language?

I’ve had the opportunity to edit in Spanish at my last two contract assignments. Professionally speaking, it is the most interesting and challenging work I’ve done in years. This blog is called “Part I” because I have a feeling I’ll have more to report once I get further into my current gig.

Currently, I am copyediting a brand-new Mexico edition of a trade magazine for the construction industry. The English version has been around for decades. This Spanish version is the brainchild of a company executive out west.

“I can feel my brain stretching,” I told my Facebook friends last week. The areas of my mind that store all my Spanish are being re-energized, synaptic connections strengthened, old pathways repaved, old vocabulary remembered, new vocabulary learned.

Editing in Spanish is different than editing in English, in some ways, but in many ways it is strikingly similar. The two languages are similar enough that the basic elements – commas, participial phrases, etc. – are familiar.

But differences pop up where I didn’t expect them. For instance, in Spanish, if you want to say $2 billion, you don’t say “$2 billones.” You say “$2 mil millones,” which is literally “2 thousand million dollars.” With help from the excellent Oxford Spanish Dictionary and from our two freelance writers, I am learning these new facets of Spanish-language written communication.

More to come. Toward the end of this 2-week gig, I’ll talk more about what I’ve learned from the experience and what has helped me along the way.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear more about your experiences in this area.