LANGUAGE STUDIO

My focus is on commercial translation and copy-editing, and I also sometimes assist organisations with copywriting tasks.

I work in English and Afrikaans.

My main clients (in terms of volume of work) are the online journal LitNet; the related accredited online academic journal LitNet Akademies (Geesteswetenskappe); the Pietermaritzburg-based provincial newspaper The Witness; Falcon Agricultural Equipment in Howick, KwaZulu-Natal; Magda Streicher, amateur astronomer and author; and Jeffares & Green, Hilton, KwaZulu-Natal.

Earlier (1987 to 1998) I was very closely involved with the translation and proofreading of the upmarket agricultural economics magazine Effective Farming / Effektiewe Boerdery, which closed down in 1998.

My motto, "Simply clearer", speaks of my conviction that even the most complex messages can and should be conveyed with simple clarity.

The aim is always to cut through the clutter of ambiguity, redundancy and clever-sounding phrases and to get to the essence of the message.

The final product always has to be crisp and clear.

Why set such a high premium on clarity?

For two reasons:

1. If you are going to communicate at all, you may as well do it with maximum clarity, because maximum clarity means maximum effectiveness.
   
   What is the point of painstakingly drawing up a written report, or delivering an oral report, if the message does not communicate 100 percent clearly the first time? From a reader's or listener's perspective it is like watching TV with a defective aerial: what you get is scratchy sound and snowy or multiple images.


2. There is no doubt that unclear, careless communication conveys disrespect towards your intended recipients. In effect you are saying to them: "You are not important enough for me to want to get my message across to you as tidily and clearly as possible. Instead, I expect you to expend extra effort on trying to understand me."

The converse is obviously equally true: careful, thoughtful and clear communication carries with it an implicit message of consideration, courtesy and respect – attitudes of which we appear to be becoming more aware by their absence than by their presence in much of our modern living.

Read more here about this important subject.