Openings: Editor
We are a Japanese translation company specializing in scientific papers. Currently, we are looking for freelance editors (native speakers of English). If you are interested in this job, please send your CV to 
.
Freelance scientific editing
Basic requirements:
--experienced scientific editor, or upper-year or graduate-level science training
--thorough command of native-speaker-style scientific English (anything less than this will be pointless)
--high level of discipline, personal responsibility, and ability to work with deadlines
--professional association certification in scientific editing would be an asset
WTS editor’s introduction
Brian Jones (8 years with WTS)
I am a freelance editor for World Translation Services.
The company and its coordinators (who arrange the editing work) are excellent to work with; personable, thoroughly professional, and honorable in the classic Japanese style.
The company assigns mostly natural science documents, either in translation (J-E), or written in English by a Japanese author, which arrive in what I call ‘Jenglish’—sometimes close and sometimes far from English; and the job is to turn it into publishable English for major international journals, conferences, presentations, etc.
I’d say a good portion of the documents come from chemistry (including biochemistry, pharmacology and genetics), electrostatics (including silicon technology), material physics, and IT; but the company accepts everything under the scientific sun, so one cannot seek shelter in one’s specialty, but must adapt one’s thinking and intuition to the field and mindset of the individual author; which is true of any good editor, of course, but more demanding in this case, because the corpus of scientific research is now largely pursued at the capillary level, with every capillary distinguished, linguistically, by its own, often highly technical, jargon, acronyms, etc. Thus, adaptability, guided by what I would call rigorous intuition, is, I think, critical to success (and low-stress production).
The work is sometimes demanding (depending on one’s command of English and range of scientific experience of course), and the deadlines can be tight, but I find it mentally invigorating, highly rewarding in personal terms (as I admire and like the coordinators very much), and well-paid.
.Freelance scientific editing
Basic requirements:
--experienced scientific editor, or upper-year or graduate-level science training
--thorough command of native-speaker-style scientific English (anything less than this will be pointless)
--high level of discipline, personal responsibility, and ability to work with deadlines
--professional association certification in scientific editing would be an asset
WTS editor’s introduction
Brian Jones (8 years with WTS)
I am a freelance editor for World Translation Services.
The company and its coordinators (who arrange the editing work) are excellent to work with; personable, thoroughly professional, and honorable in the classic Japanese style.
The company assigns mostly natural science documents, either in translation (J-E), or written in English by a Japanese author, which arrive in what I call ‘Jenglish’—sometimes close and sometimes far from English; and the job is to turn it into publishable English for major international journals, conferences, presentations, etc.
I’d say a good portion of the documents come from chemistry (including biochemistry, pharmacology and genetics), electrostatics (including silicon technology), material physics, and IT; but the company accepts everything under the scientific sun, so one cannot seek shelter in one’s specialty, but must adapt one’s thinking and intuition to the field and mindset of the individual author; which is true of any good editor, of course, but more demanding in this case, because the corpus of scientific research is now largely pursued at the capillary level, with every capillary distinguished, linguistically, by its own, often highly technical, jargon, acronyms, etc. Thus, adaptability, guided by what I would call rigorous intuition, is, I think, critical to success (and low-stress production).
The work is sometimes demanding (depending on one’s command of English and range of scientific experience of course), and the deadlines can be tight, but I find it mentally invigorating, highly rewarding in personal terms (as I admire and like the coordinators very much), and well-paid.
