Languages Work*

Maureen

Job Title

Deputy Editor

 

Company and Location

Informa

London

 

Industry Sector

Publishing (Healthcare)

 

Background

BA (Hons), Strathclyde University (including two years in Madrid before final year)

One year teaching English in Madrid after university

Post-graduate diploma in Technical and Specialised Translation (major languages Spanish and French; secondary languages Portuguese, Italian and German)

 

What do you enjoy most about your job?

The sheer variety of the job. One minute I will be debating the finer points of a particularly complex piece of US government policy with a would-be contributor to one of the journals, and the next I will be liaising with our production department over how best to lay out the pages of the journal.

 

What kind of skills and qualities do you need?

Patience, persuasion, sense of humour, good communication skills and an ability to relate to people at all levels, an eye for detail.

 

What are your main responsibilities at work?

I am jointly responsible with the editor for all aspects of producing two quality high-cost subscription journals of international scope on the subject of pharmaceutical and medical device regulatory affairs (The Regulatory Affairs Journals). My job involves commissioning and editing articles; managing a network of foreign correspondents; writing editorials and opinion pieces, covering international conferences, page layout and design, proofreading, etc.

 

How do languages come into play?

I use my Spanish-language skills when commissioning or securing articles from senior government officials and/or industry representatives in Spanish-speaking countries. I have travelled extensively throughout Latin America attending industry conferences. I frequently scan Spanish-language websites and sometimes carry out original-language research for articles that cover Spanish-speaking markets.

 

Any tips?

Having a second language has shaped my career from the outset; I started out as a translator (mainly from Spanish, but also from French and Italian) and then moved on to become a journalist covering Spain and Latin America. Now, when we recruit new journalists on the journals, we always look for language skills on top of whatever core skills are needed for the job.

 

Source:Consejería de Educación