Louise Brand - Translator
Melkbosstrand, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
An Afrikaans/English Editor/Translator passionate about making books from all over the world accessible to Afrikaans readers
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Overview
Once upon a time, there was a little girl who loved listening to stories read by her mom. When she learnt to read herself, the wonderful world of books became a reality for her, and to this day, she can't get enough. Becoming a journalist happened automatically after finishing her studies (BA with Afrikaans & Dutch) – more because of her love for stories than anything else. But the reality in South Africa soon had her writing about all the nasty stuff, unfortunately, because it sells newspapers and it was what her editors expected of her.
She consequently resigned from Media24 and started working as a freelance editor/translator/proofreader in the educational publishing industry – something that she enjoyed from the outset. Being an optimist and an idealist, the idea of contributing to something as uplifting as education made her feel right at home. She also loved working with language itself. Her career led her to work as a freelancer for three years, then to join Pearson Education as a Managing Editor for two years – initially on contract and thereafter in a permanent position.
In March 2017, with a new batch of skills under her belt, she felt ready to take on some new challenges in the big wide world of books, and consequently resigned. Now she lives happily (hopefully for ever after) in the quaint seaside village of Melkbos on the West Coast of South Africa, surrounded by books and doing what she loves.
Louise is also passionate about her own language, Afrikaans. There are so many wonderful books out there that the Afrikaans reading community do not have access to, or have difficulty reading. Translating books into Afrikaans is thus something that she loves and believes is necessary to make the world of the Afrikaans reader open up to what is on offer worldwide.
Services
Book Translation
Translation Assessment
Fiction
Children's - Middle Grade
Christian
Crime & Mystery
Women's Fiction
Non-Fiction
Children's Books (Non-Fiction)
Christian (Non-Fiction)
Religion & Spirituality
Self-help & Self-improvement
Certifications
- Accredited by SATI (the South African Translators' Institute) for translating from English to Afrikaans
Work experience
Freelance translator, editor, proofreader
Self-employed
April, 2017
–
Present
(over 1 year)
Managing Editor
Pearson Education Africa
January, 2016
–
March, 2017
(about 1 year)
Project management of various titles for the African market from manuscript phase up to submission and/or real book. This includes commissioning of editors, illustrators, proofreaders, indexers, etc, and managing the process within budget and on deadline. Quality control. Problem solving.
Managing Editor (6 months contract position)
Pearson Education Africa
February, 2015
–
July, 2015
(5 months)
Project management of various titles for the African market from manuscript phase up to submission and/or real book. This includes commissioning of editors, illustrators, proofreaders, indexers, etc, and managing the process within budget and on deadline. Quality control. Problem solving.
Managing Editor (3 months contract position)
Pearson Education SA
November, 2014
–
January, 2015
(2 months)
Project management of various Afrikaans language titles (novels, poetry anthologies, short story anthologies) for the South African senior schools market from manuscript phase up to submission. This included commissioning of editors, illustrators, setters, proofreaders, indexers, etc, and managing the process within budget and on deadline. Quality control. Problem solving.
Freelance Language Practitioner
Self-employed
January, 2013
–
Present
(almost 6 years)
Freelance Publishing Services:
Project Management; Editing; Translating; Proofreading; Writing (and over-writing)
Reporting; Photography
Recent work: Proofreading of English titles for NB Publishers, eg. Gang Town; Roughing It
Co-owner
West Coast Unlimited
January, 2012
–
December, 2012
(11 months)
Service included:
News reporting, news & media releases, newsletters, magazine articles, columns, web articles, speeches, copywriting, promotional writing, graphic design for newspapers & magazines, copy editing, proofreading, translating, research, reports, and more
Proofreader/Promotions Coordinator
Media24
February, 2011
–
October, 2011
(8 months)
Promotions Coordinator:
Meeting with advertising clients, gathering information, photography
Writing advertorials
Translating advertorial copy
Layout
Organising, launching and handling competitions
Getting sponsors and liaising with them
Organising hand-over of prizes
Organising functions
Promoting new book releases in the newspaper with write-ups and sms-competitions
Proofreading:
Display advertisements; Internal communication of Marketing Department
Copy writing:
Internal marketing material for supplements and features
Advertising material for competitions
Advertorials
Journalism:
Writing of editorial content for features and supplements
Research, interviews, photography, layout
Freelance Journalist
Weslander, Media24
November, 2009
–
January, 2011
(about 1 year)
Reporting on news in the Velddrift area on the SA West Coast; Photography. Interviewing. Also page layout 2 days of the week in the office.
Senior Journalist
Media24
November, 2006
–
October, 2009
(almost 3 years)
Reporting on crime, local government, human interest, business, entertainment, sports, schools, events and more
Photography. Page layout. Copy editing. Proofreading.
Owner/Manager
Namaqualand News Community Newspaper
August, 2002
–
May, 2005
(over 2 years)
Louise started the business and managed it for the period mentioned. This included managing editorial content, ad sales, graphic design - advertisements and page layout, human resources, creditors and debtors, print orders as well as distribution and PR.
Advertisement Representative
Ons Kontrei Community Newspaper
January, 2000
–
June, 2002
(over 2 years)
Louise started her second period at Ons Kontrei handling a small ad-booklet, Die Snuffeltjie. She covered a range of tasks including ad sales, graphic design (Corel Draw), liaising with clients, copy writing, presenting proofs to clients and doing page layout. The editorial content was also thought out, resourced, written and designed by her. When other sales staff resigned, she automatically moved into ad sales for the newspaper once again. With only one graphic designer on duty (with a heavy work load), Louise continued doing copy writing, designing her own ads, taking photographs, writing advertorials, sending proofs to clients, as well as doing page layout.
Although not officially a journalist, she continued writing articles when coming across an interesting news story.
Junior Journalist/Advertisement Representative
Ons Kontrei community newspaper
May, 1995
–
April, 1998
(almost 3 years)
Louise started as a junior journalist, ad representative and layout artist. The business was small and so was the staff; so multi-tasking was part of the job. She wrote community news stories – from local school news, sports and municipal news to crime, news of the wine industry and business news. She sold advertisements to local businesses and was responsible for page layout as well. She worked in Vredendal and surrounding areas including the towns of Lutzville, Klawer, Vanrhynsdorp, Citrusdal, Clanwilliam, Lamberts Bay and as far north as Springbok in the Northern Cape. The job taught her to work as part of a team as well as independently and to adhere to deadlines.
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