Language Work

For 7 years between 2015 and 2022, I worked as an independent editor, content writer, and English-French translator for the creative, knowledge-based and high technology sectors for clients in Montréal and around the world.

After graduating from Concordia University with a degree in Creative Writing in 2016, I began offering my advice to individuals, collectives, and organizations on writing and editing in English and French. On top of writing my own blog for over a decade, I advised my clients on their blogs and newsletters, as well as on creating strategic social media content.

I also worked with artists, community organizations, art galleries, and museums across Canada to advise them on the inclusiveness of their communications and programming.

My personal and professional objectives included combatting linguistic insecurity, promoting the visibility of women and gender-non-conforming trans people in the French language, experimenting with French in order to make being nonbinary in French a true grammatical possibility, as well as confronting the colonial and imperial histories of both English and French.

Table of Contents

• Testimonials From Former Clients
• Services Offered
  • Translation & Localisation
  • Editing & Writing
  • Consulting

Other relevant links

• In February 2023, I posted the following blog post about putting my professional practice on pause as I needed to take care of some health issues that had become gargantuan.
• In September 2020, I wrote the following blog post about the then-state of some of my own issues with machine translations: On Correcting Machine Translations

Testimonials From Former Clients

Working with Gersande is exceptionally easy and satisfactory; they took extra care of properly capturing the essence and sensibilities of our project. We are looking forward to working with Gersande in the future! — Jordi de Paco, Deconstructeam, March 2022

Gersande offers thoughtful, positive feedback. They have always offered constructive criticism and encouraging enthusiasm in equal measure. (They also like to edit using pretty ink!) I would absolutely recommend them as an editor for your work. — Oliver Leon Porter, March 2022

Gersande provided creative solutions as well as thoughtful, detailed advice on improving my short stories. — Lauren Lawlor, February 2022

Merci beaucoup/thank you to @gersandelf for all their quick, professional help in translating our pages and posts into French, especially the urgent expansion of the Career Accelerator to include all marginalized genders! 💖— Pixelles, 10 February 2020

Gersande treats the work with the utmost respect and passion for the craft of storytelling. They are a thoughtful, thorough, impassioned, enthusiastic, vibrant, gentle, otherworldly proof-reader and editor. — Michael Berto, January 2019

Je suis en train de compiler la traduction anglaise de ma capsule sur l'histoire des travesties [vocabulaire de l'époque] au Québec (allô pour ton super travail de traduction @gersandelf) et j'ai presque les larmes aux yeux! Enfin un produit finit! — Roxane Nadeau, 9 June 2021

I asked Gersande to translate and edit a cover letter that I wrote for a job application to a competitive legal position in Quebec. Gersande was prompt, professional, detail-oriented, and a total pleasure to work with. (I was even invited to interview for the job I applied to.) I’d wholeheartedly recommend their services to anyone I know! — Yuan Stevens, December 2019

Gersande m’a été d’une grande aide dans la correction des textes de mes demandes d’admission pour des universités anglophones. En plus de ses suggestions toujours pertinentes et de ses retours rapides, ses méthodes de correction et ses explications m’ont permis de saisir beaucoup de subtilités de la langue anglaise, d’améliorer la qualité de mes écrits, et puis de recevoir des offres favorables des universités en question. Je suis entièrement satisfaite de mon expérience avec Gersande, et je recommanderai très certainement ses services à mon entourage. — Justine Dupont, March 2019

Nous avons eu la chance d’être accompagnées par Gersande lors de la rédaction et la traduction de documents. La précision de son travail, sa capacité à être juste dans l’estimation du temps et des montants ainsi que sa grande facilité à comprendre les enjeux et messages importants nous donnent une grande tranquillité d’esprit. Grâce à son aide et son talent, nous sommes en mesure de nous concentrer sur le fond et savons que le reste sera entre bonnes mains. — Gabrielle Bouchard, former President of the Fédération des femmes du Québec, May 2019

Gersande a su capter l’esprit de mes poèmes et traduire leur essence avec imagination, précision et subtilité. Je recommanderais ses services sans hésiter! — Maryse Andraos, August 2018

Gersande is a talented editor and writer with a remarkable critical mind and a keen eye not just for technical errors, but also word-flow and clarity. They’ve always provided me with excellent constructive feedback on my written work and I highly recommend working with them on all sorts of creative projects. — Carolyn Jong, January 2017

I sent in a last-minute request for English to French translation for an important grant application for our video game company. Gersande was easy to work with, professional, and swift. We will definitely get in touch with them in the future if we need more translation, since they have the soft skills and technical knowledge to understand and explain our work. — Samantha Cook, Artifact 5, March 2018

Gersande is a fast and creative translator. They were very quick to communicate and ask questions, and made sure the tone of our project was respected — with a speedy turnaround to boot. Would definitely recommend them to anyone looking for help with their creative works! — Mattias Graham, October 2017

Gersande did an incredible job editing my personal statement and proved to me the value of a good editor. I'll definitely be asking Gersande to look over my writing in the future. — Wendy Liu, March 2017

I'm currently going over @gersandelf's meticulous copy-edits on my dissertation—basically, editors are amazing. You should get yourself one. — @em.ciel, phd, January 2017

Dear World, if you are looking for an editor for your next project, I can strongly recommend Gersande La Flèche!!! — Zoe Todd, December 2016

Services Offered

Copied verbatim to this page in December 2023, hence the present tense. As of 2023, I no longer accept new clients.

Translation & Localization

"I assist individuals and teams small or large in all sorts of industries with their communications in both English and French."

Editing & Writing

"On top of creative writing and a lot of experience with marketing, I have a background in computer science, web design, feminism, as well as the medical issues faced by the queer and trans communities that is essential to ensure the clarity and accuracy of all sorts of texts."

Consulting

"I've been extremely online for a long time now, and I can share with my clients my expertise in navigating online spaces, as well as actionable feedback with their writing, their blogs, feminist and nonbinary-inclusive French writing strategies, among other consulting that I do."