Editing Canadian English: A Guide for Editors, Writers, and Everyone Who Works with Words

by Editors' Association of Canada, Karen Virag

Editing Canadian English is a style guide, reference manual, judgment-call coach, and much more. Written by expert editors from across the country, it presents a flexible but systematic approach to creating workable Canadian styles.

This comprehensive update includes valuable information on:

• Canadianization

• inclusivity

• spelling

• compounds and hyphens

• capitalization

• abbreviations

• punctuation

• measurements

• citation

• the editor's legal and ethical responsibilities

• working with French in an English text

• professional editorial standards

Here is a reference book for everyone who has puzzled over Canadian spelling (.-our. versus .-or.), measurements (metric versus imperial), place names (.the North. versus .the Far North.), French in an English text (.La Francophonie. versus .the Francophonie.), and other thorny issues. It is an indispensable tool for editors, writers, translators, journalists, students, teachers, librarians, copywriters, and marketing and communications professionals – in short, for anyone who uses Canadian English.

Genres: Nonfiction, Writing, Reference, Canada

785 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 15, 2015

Reviews

[Robert Runte]

I mostly use Chicago Manual of Style and/or American Psychological Association style guides in my role as editor, but it's nice to have this resource on my desk for Canadian content that doesn't require strict adherence to either APA or CMOS. The book contains intelligent discussions of the Editors Association of Canada (Editors Canada) take on a whole range of issues--dealing with racism, sexism, ableism in writing, for example--that move the reader from a simple prescriptivist perspective found in most style guides to a much more sophisticated understanding that is closer to the way professional editors think.

Highly recommended for all Canadian editors, and for writers interested in self-editing.

[Ivonne]

Los canadienses tienen una forma bastante particular de escribir y hablar, este libro da cuenta de muchos de esos detalles y cosas a tener en cuenta a la hora de abordar un texto o comunicación para este público. Sin embargo, siento que la guía pudo estructurarse de una manera distinta, a veces es confuso navegarla.

[Jaclyn]

Very useful and handy for any writers or editors in Canada. Canadian English is messy!!!

[Dianne Volek]

This is my top book for people who are experienced editors, but are working for clients in Canada. Every country has it's own unique "flavour" of English - not just spelling and words derived from indigenous and settler cultures, but also the way thoughts are expressed.

Canada is a polite culture. Strong emotions are rarely expressed. If someone says "I'm sawry" [sic] they are expressing sympathy and solidarity, and not responsibility.

Speaking fluent, flowing English and showing off your vocabulary is a status indicator. Academia is particularly fond of using long, arcane words. One of the clear messages of this book is the value of Plain English in getting your message across. The reason why we speak and write is to communicate. We communicate better with short sentences, using words our audience will not misinterpret.

One of the other important sections in on inclusive language to remove unconscious biases about age, race, gender, culture, citizenship, disabilities and more. It provides useful tips on what to look for, and also how to correct the language to be less offensive. Considerable research has been done with specific communities about the identifiers that each prefers, rather than making assumptions.

[Vivian Zenari]

It's a guidebook. It does the job.