On Language Editing of Research Articles Translated from Lithuanian to English

Abstract

The major language editor’s role is to enhance the quality of a particular text by correcting language errors and adapting the text according to some formal guidelines. The language editing of a translated text is complicated since many texts, including medical research articles, are translated by non-professional translators, which often results in a low-quality translation forcing the language editor to work hard in order to provide a proper quality to the text. In addition, texts are often translated by writers themselves leaving language editors in a more challenging situation since manuscripts contain abundance of language errors, including those in grammatical and syntactical structures, choice of lexical items, and terminology. The present study analyses a number of medical research articles translated from Lithuanian to English and presented for the publication in an international scientific magazine. The major attention is on the corrections made by a language editor. The most common language mistakes are identified. An assumption is made that the most frequent mistakes will be related to grammar (article usage, number agreement, tenses, word order, prepositions, etc.); however, more corrections are made by a language editor, namely those related to the formal features of the text. The study shows that not all the corrections made by a language editor demonstrate the quality of a text.