I’m Katie, a two-time graduate of the University of Exeter with a BA in English and an MA in Translation Studies. I began working as an in-house editor for Cadenza in May last year—disproving my fears that my humanities education would never get me a job!
Here, I’ll briefly reflect on my first impressions of the work we do, which has been challenging, exciting, and incredibly formative. I’ll also go into more detail about my role here at Cadenza.
First, though, I want to show you the various stages of the journey undertaken by the academic articles we work with:
By illustrating this process, I want to demonstrate that for Cadenza, translations are not a one-person show. Instead, they are a communal and lengthy undertaking, sometimes involving three or four actors, and these multiple and interlinking stages mean that our work always feels collaborative, despite each phase usually only involving one individual.
The thoroughness of our process also means that editing is more challenging (and more fun!) than I could have anticipated. It is informative and creative, requiring in-depth research into theories and terminology, and an active imagination, to convey ideas meaningfully for a target readership. Most importantly, the range of miscellaneous knowledge that I’ve gained through my research into everything from film theory to economics has made me a force to be reckoned with at pub quizzes!
Working for a small team has proven to be really exciting, allowing me to develop a variety of new skills. As well as editing, I’ve translated abstracts and short articles, transcribed audio files, written summaries of texts or journals and website copy, and honed my IT skills in order to edit and work on Cadenza’s own website.
For all those staring into the abyss of the post-degree job hunt, fear not: there could a great opportunity to deploy your exact skills, right around the corner!
