Good reading, good writing 文章好從來靠讀書

Writing is never easy, if you are writing for a living. I am fortunate to be making a living by working on copywriting, translation, transcription, subtitling and editing. Given the variety and genre of business documents, I have to always keep reading to gain more knowledge to produce good work for my clients.

Other than Jeffrey Archer fictions, I also read psychiatric books and more recently, the works of Stephen Hawking. Reading English-language books allows me to build a broader world view and be a better English translator and proofreader.

When I receive Chinese to English translated pieces for editing work, it becomes easier for me to spot sentences and phrases that require polishing. This is all thanks to my English professors in Taiwan and all meticulous writers from different parts of the world.

Speaking of meticulous writers, I thought of Anthony Seldon, the writer who wrote biographies of modern British prime ministers. Perhaps it is time to read his works again when I translate or edit history manuscripts.

若靠寫字為生，其實並不容易。我是相當幸運，可以靠著撰寫廣告文案、翻譯、謄寫、字幕、編輯工作為生。由於商業文件種類繁多，我必須靠閱讀增加知識，以便產出讓客戶滿意的文案。

除了英國作家傑弗里阿徹的小說，我也閱讀精神科研究的相關書籍，最近則是拜讀霍金大師的大作。閱讀英文書讓我建構一個比較廣闊的世界觀，同時訓練自己成為一個更出色的中譯英譯者與校對員。

每當我接到中譯英稿件的編輯工作，我比較容易發現需要修改、潤飾的句子與詞組。這些功夫都是多得臺灣的英文教授教導我，還有很多個世界各地很細心的英文作者。

說到很細心的英文作者，我總是會想起安東尼塞爾登。他寫過好幾位現當代英國首相的傳記。若之後翻譯或編輯歷史書稿，也是時候再拜讀他的作品了。