Award-winning author and editor Mekiya Outini shared invaluable insights for other editors on an episode of the Writing and Editing podcast. We continued the discussion after the show, and it is my hope that other editors will take his advice to heart to improve their professional and interpersonal skills. 
Did you always intend to edit academic materials?
Honestly, I had no game plan. I got into academic editing after working at university writing centers as a side hustle while pursuing my BFA and MFA. While I was in school and for a few years thereafter, my client base consisted almost exclusively of international students and scholars writing articles, theses, and dissertations. My first love is literary fiction, and these days, I work mainly with fiction and memoir, but I still take on academic projects from time to time. I’m a sucker for a really solid piece of academic writing, and I love to learn about subject matter that I haven’t formally studied, so I still get excited whenever an academic reaches out to me.
How did this lead to you working with EFL clients? Is this something that happened right away in your
editing career?
International students are overrepresented among university writing center clients. Native speakers need that support, too, but most of them don’t know it. The international students know it. They’re more likely to seek help. As a tutor, I had regulars from all over the world: Saudi, Chile, India, Indonesia, Japan. You name it. Most of them stuck with me after I left the writing center, even though it meant paying out of their own pockets, and some of them started referring their friends and colleagues to work with me as well.
When did you first realize you might need to take a different approach when editing for EFL clients?
I take a case-by-case approach to all new clients. It was only in retrospect, after I’d already worked with a few dozen EFL regulars, that I started noticing distinct patterns, in their writing and in the methods that proved useful to them, that differed from those prevalent among native speakers.
Can you explain how this editing style might differ from what’s found in common guidance for academic editors?
In many cases, it’s a difference of degree rather than kind. The likelihood of miscommunication is higher. The stakes are also higher because the client is often on a shoestring budget and/or on a scholarship that depends on their doing well in school.
In terms of substance, international students and scholars tend to have a better grasp of the subject matter than native speakers and a clearer understanding of what they want to say, but less competence when it comes to actually saying it. If they’re studying at a university in a foreign country, they’ve already been through a highly competitive screening process. (In practice, those slots sometimes go to whomever has the most money, but there’s still stiff competition that weeds out the less competent scholars who might’ve gotten in if they were native-born citizens.) Conceptually, then, the internationals are on top of it, but execution-wise, they struggle. Little things tend to trip them up: phrasal verbs, for example, are an absolute nightmare for EFL writers. They lead to all sorts of syntactical contortions, and simply altering or dropping the preposition can yield major unintended changes in meaning. The worst a native speaker is likely to do with a phrasal verb, by contrast, is to end a sentence with the preposition. I’ve found that with EFL writers especially, it’s unwise to start with what’s on the page. Start with a conversation about what they intended to put on the page. Then, once you’ve got that in your head, turn to the page, assess what’s there, and help the client understand what’s working and where they went wrong.
Additionally, international students tend to be more motivated to accept and apply feedback, but also more likely to say that they’ve understood your feedback when they haven’t. As the editor, you’ve got to develop strategies for double- and triple-checking that they’ve understood what you said without their realizing that that’s what you’re doing. Many cultures condition people to show deference to authority, and in that situation, clients are likely to read you, the editor, as the authority, so you’ve got to work around the client’s impulse to just say, “Yes, yes sir,” instead of asking the questions that would help the two of you stay on the same page. I’m speaking from my experience as a male editor here. I imagine that female editors probably face the inverse challenge when working with clients from more patriarchal cultures.
These are generalizations. I’ve worked with individuals who break every single rule I’ve listed here. Exceptions are out there. That said, they are few and far between.
You take a collaborative approach when you work with your clients. Can you explain what that looks like and why you’ve adopted this method of working together?
It grew out of the observation that what’s on the page often differs substantively from what the client intended to put on the page, and that an ongoing conversation is needed to ensure that what ends up in the final draft accurately conveys the client’s content knowledge—knowledge that you, as the editor, may not share. Whenever I take on a new project, I approach it simultaneously as an expert (on the writing and editing process) and as a novice (in relation to the material). I ask a lot of questions. I ask the same question over and over in different ways. Sometimes, I’ll ask the client to educate me about the subject matter until I understand it well enough to flag the gaps and errors in what they’ve written. It’s all about two-way communication.
What challenges do you think they sometimes face when working with and hiring editors?
I’ve lost count of how many clients have come to with horror stories about hiring proofreaders and getting nothing for their money besides having a few comma splices and typos corrected. When EFL writers hire editors of any sort, they typically assume that an “editor” is someone who will help them write more effectively, meaning more accurately, with greater elegance and clarity, in accord with the stylistic and technical specifications of their discipline. Not all editors do that. I believe emphatically that before you take someone’s money, you should make sure they understand what you will and will not provide in exchange and confirm that what you offer is what they’re seeking. Even if you call yourself a “proofreader” rather than an “editor,” that’s not enough. Make sure the client understands what those words mean.
What are some of your suggestions for best practices when editing for EFL clients?
Stay humble. Ask questions. Offer detailed explanations for every edit that you recommend. Double-check to make sure that the client’s understood your questions and your explanations. Finally, to the extent possible, get to know them as a writer, a thinker, and a person. The fact that you don’t share a culture makes it all the more important to engage with them as an individual. Above, I’ve flagged some common trends, but there are always exceptions. The next EFL client you onboard might be one of those exceptions. The only way to know is to get to know them for who they are.
How do you phrase and share your feedback and explanations?
In as many different ways as possible until I figure out what clicks. When you’re ignorant of the client’s home language and culture, their level of exposure to American culture, and their level of fluency in written English, the only way to find out what works is through trial and error. In terms of sharing feedback, I prefer to do so in both written and verbal forms whenever possible so that the client will have more material to cross-reference. Unfortunately, this isn’t always possible. Sometimes, the client is located in a different time zone and can’t schedule a live call. Sometimes, they can’t speak or listen as well as they can read or write. I try to be creative, gauge what resonates with the client, and work with whatever tools I have.
Why is it important to stay culturally curious?
You can spend your entire life traveling and learning foreign languages, and you’ll never master them all. There’s always a possibility that a client will show up from someplace to which you’ve had zero exposure, and no matter how cosmopolitan you are, you’re back to square one. Since none of us can be all-knowing, the next best thing is to be eternally curious. Every client has something to teach you. Every project is an opportunity to learn.
What is your top tip for editors who would like to begin working with EFL clients?
It’s all trial and error. Don’t be afraid to try a new approach, or even an old approach that hasn’t worked for native speakers in the past. You never know what’s going to work with any particular client until you try. Just remember to remain alert, and when you start getting signs that something isn’t landing, change your approach. You’ll develop rules of thumb and instincts over time, but in the beginning, it’s best to go in with a broad palette and brushes of every shape and size. The only absolutes are these: be respectful, stay humble, and take the client’s money only when you know that what they need is what you offer. Otherwise, it’s an art that can only be mastered with practice and time.
If you’d like to learn more about Mekiya or inquire about his services, you can reach him through The DataKeepers.
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