Shauna Laurel Jones
Academic
As both an Icelandic-to-English translator and an English-language editor, I relish the opportunity to work with academic texts for two main reasons. First and foremost, I enjoy helping scholars communicate complex arguments and important findings in lucid English, thus maximising the reach and impact of their research. I also love it because it means I never stop learning.
My own background in art history (MA, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2007) and environmental studies (MSc, University of Iceland, 2018) has given me a solid foundation in terms of engaging with scholarship across a wide array of fields. Combined with the depth and breadth of my vocabulary and my facility with writing in an academic style, I am capable of taking on translations in the humanities and social sciences. (Note that while I do not translate scientific literature, I am open to editorial work in most scientific fields.)
In recent years, I have translated abstracts and articles for scholars at the University of Iceland and ReykjavíkurAkademían. I also work regularly with Sögufélag, the Icelandic Historical Society, translating and copy editing abstracts for the journal Saga. An academic component can also be found in a number of my arts-related translations: my essay translations in recent publications have drawn on art history, critical theory, and philosophy.
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Shauna has translated and edited scholarly texts on a wide range of topics for the Icelandic Historical Society and the journal Saga. She is a meticulous and conscientious translator and often solves linguistic problems in an ingenious way, in addition to being easy and friendly to communicate with.
—Kristín Svava Tómasdóttir, historian and editor of Saga