Taking the Potholes out of the Road: Prepublication Recording as a Means of Editing in Oral Preference Cultures

Many translation projects begin typesetting almost immediately after a “final read through” which may come six months to a year after the final book is checked by a consultant. For some groups, however, following this standard methodology leaves them with an uneven translation that has been produced over several decades and checked by a variety of consultants. In one group, the translation was described as being like a road with potholes. In this paper, the methodology and results of using prepublication recording in two languages of Papua New Guinea will be examined and the impact of distributing prepublication recordings will be described. There is no doubt that prepublication recording is not an “efficient” process. It is expensive and time-consuming, but the resulting improvement in the translation makes it worth the effort.