About Editing 也談編輯工作

Translation always involves editing work. It is either you edit others’ articles or your own works. Proofreading and editing require meticulous checking. Careful proofreading is particularly important when you come across Chinese-language writers who thought themselves to be great writers. Or lousy English-language writers who wrote articles in a careless manner and thought it was good enough to express ideas ambiguously.

I find it to be funny when I am editing Chinese pieces, especially during this era when standard of Chinese language is miserably low. It is rare that I come across quality Chinese publication ever since I graduated from university. Which explains why I usually edit from first to last sentence when I am working on Chinese editing project. Due to the fact that English publication is of higher standard, I am always referring to and pondering about advanced grammar problems when I am editing English works.

English editing work is always my no.1 favourite. What I learned from English reading and listening contents is always a great help in my editing work. It always gives me great joy when I am editing an unclear and grammatically wrong English article and manuscript into a fairly good version.

翻譯工作當然也需要編輯功夫，若不是修改別人的文章，就是修訂自己的文章。審稿需要細心檢查，尤其有些作者／譯者自以為中文很好，或者認為自己的英文文章隨便寫只要意思大概表達得到就好。

修改中文文章的時候難免覺得啼笑皆非，尤其是這個中文水準普遍慘不忍睹的時代。大學畢業以來，我好像沒看過什麼好的中文作品，所以凡是接到修改中文稿的工作都是從頭改到尾。修改英文文章通常我常常需要參考、思考高級文法的問題，因為英文出版品的水準較高。

就我個人而言，我還是最愛英文編輯審稿的工作。將一篇表達不清晰、文法混亂的文章／書稿修改得中上水準或以上，信手拈來將自己讀過／聽過的英文內容應用在審稿與編輯工作，絕對是一大樂事。