A date with industry advisor

Tan sharing about her working experience

The Jade Studio Managing Director Tan Giek Lian, who is also the industry advisor for the UTAR Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS), was invited by the ICS to present a talk titled “Words, Nourish and Abundance of Life (文字，滋养和丰盈生命)” at Kampar Campus on 9 August 2017.

The talk aimed to provide a platform for the students to have a deeper understanding of editorial, translation and writer job. Guests present at the talk were ICS Deputy Dean for Student Development and Industrial Training Dr Ling Liong Ngo, Head of Postgraduate Programme Dr Tan Beng Piou and ICS lecturers.

Dr Ling (second from left) presenting a token of appreciation to Tan

Tan is experienced in writing and translation, has served as an editor, translator and columnist, and currently operating her own studio for copywriting, translating, editing, proofreading, designing, desktop publishing and printing works. She is also a PhD candidate in Chinese Studies at the University of Malaya (UM), engaging in research related to children’s literature.

During the introduction session, Tan shared about her life experiences and how she started to become a wordsmith. Her plan was initially to become a teacher after graduating from UM Chinese Studies. Coincidentally, she started her first job in a publishing company, responsible for primary school textbooks editorial work.

She revealed, “Apart from mastering the language skills, we must also be familiar with the syllabuses because students from different grades have different ability to understand vocabulary and comprehension. So, we will prepare the exercises according to their grades.”

She recalled, “During the early stage of my work, I found out that many of my stroke order of Chinese characters and sentences have been wrong for a long time. During the process of writing and editing textbooks, I had the chance to review a lot on my knowledge related to language and grammar. Moreover, to reduce publishing errors, I had to check the dictionary and pictures quite frequently. Our publications are prepared for students. It will be an endless trouble if any error occurs. And most importantly, publishing good publications is our major responsibility.”

Then, she served as a senior editor and head of department in another publishing company and involved more in the editing work. She said, “Editorial work is actually an accumulation of experience and also a continuous learning process. I gain a deeper understanding of publishing operation, process and layout work in this stage.”

Furthermore, she shared about her experience living abroad in Scotland. She wrote a lot of travel notes and articles during her stay in Scotland, especially about the life of the children living there, and most of the articles published in her column for our local children’s magazines provided a window of vision for the children.

After heading back to Malaysia, she once again served in an editorial company but change to Malay and English market instead. She mentioned, “Similar to the Chinese readers’ market, we need to figure out the target reader. The concern about the illustration, font size and many others depend on the target reader. Therefore, knowledge and common sense are very important for a textbook editor, especially for Malaysia’s multiracial society.” 

She added, “An editor does not only sit in the office to work, but can also get involved in event planning such as book fair. We can know more about the market and the reader’s demand through the feedback we receive from our readers and their parents.”

In conclusion, she advised, “The power of words is great, every writer and translator have to be serious and responsible towards their works, and should not take it lightly.”

During the Q&A session, the audience asked questions related to editorship, operation of a publisher, market demand, textbook, the creative and packaging of copywriting and translation of classic literature.

Tan (front row, third from right) with the participants