Eoin Purcell's Blog

A former colleague of mine works in Oxford University Press and has mentioned before the trouble that can arise when copyediting work is done in a non-native English speaking environment. My own personal feelings are beginning to form only recently as I have previously not encountered the scenario.

However with the increasing drive to perform as many tasks as possible in the lowest cost environment the practice is becoming more and more likely and in some cases reality. My principle thoughts are commercial. Will it cost me less and allow me to commission and sell more titles with greater ease and so increase revenue and profit?

I suspect that it will in general do so, certainly outsourcing design and layout functions has freed the Irish arm of Nonsuch to commission more titles and (When we get the time) to promote our titles a little more with the help of our sales agents.

One problem with text editing is that even in England Irish sayings and phrasing may not be comprehensible so how on earth could we expect someone from a country where English is a second language to understand?

I suspect that though I am all in favour of this necessity a very small part of my brain is resisting change as might be expected. The new and the different are often a challenge for the best of us. But just because we find it a challenge doesn't mean it will stop.