From Translation to Bookshelves: Journey of a Manuscript
435 Advanced Translation Studies I
When a translator sends the completed manuscript to the publishing house, the text is at the moment untouched, unpolished, raw. There are probably a number of errors which need to be detected and corrected. These may be either grammatical errors, or the mistakes in meaning which is almost unavoidable in the process of translation. At that point, the translator is the one and only person who worked with the text, therefore the importance of a qualified copy editor is ever more pressing. It is the mission of an editor to prepare the text and make it ready for publishing.
When a translated manuscript is in my hands, the first thing I do is taking a panoramic look to see what is the style of the translator; how does she translate certain phrases? Does the text flow as if it is written in the target language? What are the primary problems throughout the text? This first look is crucial because it sets the course of the editing process that comes after.
Then comes the heavy work; the process of actual editing, line by line. The copy editor polishes the manuscript, clears the meaning when there is ambiguity that may hurt the text, corrects the grammatical errors, et cetera. If the text belongs to a certain genre, for example science fiction which is a genre I usually work on, the copy editor checks the terminology and make it consistent and coherent. If the book is a part of a series, consistency of the translation is even more important. The translation of a term should not change haphazardly, from an instalment to the next.
In addition, installing footnotes is a sensitive matter; the editor should avoid dumping information to reader, yet in some cases, for example cultural references or some enigmatic passages, footnotes can be very useful. Through 2013 to 2016, I had the chance of editing Turkish translations of three Doctor Who books. When I started to work on the first one, I made a decision regarding footnotes. I chose not to use footnotes to explain terms related with Doctor Who mythology; I assumed that the target reader is familiar with the terms and concepts of Doctor Who. However, when I came upon references apart from Doctor Who which may be crucial for understanding the text, I chose to add footnotes that will guide the readers. What it comes down to is the editor’s working method.
There is one final editorial process before the manuscript is ready for publication. In Turkish, it is called “son okuma”, while in English it is usually called proofreading. A professional proofreader reads the text, and corrects the grammatical mistakes that the copy editor may have overlooked. It is a crucial phase, for detecting typos and other little errors is harder than it looks; the human brain corrects the line one reads, making it harder to notice the errors. The duty of a proofreader is working against the brain by using the same brain, and with a careful eye, detecting these mistakes. When this process is completed, the book is sent to the design team, who handles tasks like designing the cover, typesetting, etc. The manuscript is out of the editors’ hands now. If all of the editorial processes have been handled skilfully, the manuscript is now polished enough to be published and presented to the reader.
