Editorial Mediations in Translation: A Study of Translator’s Role Beyond Linguistic Equivalence

Translation is a process that involves in-depth comprehension, analysis, transference, and reconstruction keeping the grammatical, referential, connotative, denotative, and socio-cultural meaning of the source text intact.In highly literary translations, simple, word-to-word translations alone do not suffice.What is required is a quality translation that is accurate, error-free and that which offers relevant contextual and cultural nuances of the original text to its readers.For it to be so, the process must go through rigorous checks and rechecks, expert editing support and responsible proofreading to ensure quality.There is confusion about the role of translators, editors, proofreaders, and reviewers as their area and scope of work often overlap.Though editing and proofreading are two separate activities, they often get used interchangeably.Their end objective is similar -delivering accuracy and quality but the degree of criticality varies.There are different linguistic aspects involved in it; each must work towards imparting a finesse to the text in hand.This paper intends to trace how the lines between them are vague and how the translator is expected to take over the three-in-one role, the myriad challenges that she must face before a polished product can be delivered to the publisher.