The news service provided by Andina News Agency is primarily aimed at an English-speaking audience, has played a vital role at international events hosted by Peru and is the only state-run media outlet that produces its own local news products in English.
Get breaking English language news about Peru with just one click at the English version button on the Agencia de Noticas Andina website, or visit the agency’s English version site at http://www.andina.com.pe/ingles.
“The website is designed not only for English speaking countries but for everybody around the world who, in one way or the other, speaks English as their second language,” said Editor Martin Villena.
The portal was launched in 2007 and it was during the Asia-Pacific Economic Coorpetation (APEC) Forum —held 2008 in Lima— that it proved to be a highlight attractive, media-friendly resource.
Since then, Andina news agency has been considered a news source in Peru by foreign media.
According to Villena, the website's most popular contents feature economy, tourism and politics-related issues.
“It is not a question of simply translating every Spanish-language news article into English. We follow a selection process,” states Reynaldo Mallque, translator at the news agency.
In the beginning, the news stories used to focus on government and politics-related issues, and their translation lied right next to the original text —as an attachment— on the Spanish website.
The team now translates and adapts such news to upload them on their English language site that is composed of five sections: Politics, Business, Tourism & Gastronomy, Nation and Miscellaneous.
Most readers are American, including the 22,000 who subscribed to the Peruvian Embassy to Washington site, which publishes the state-run agency’s articles.
There is a high number of visits from readers in the United Kingdom. Also, embassies in Peru and foreigners settled in the country search the official version of Peru-related facts, many of them do so to keep track of the economy.
The current team also comprises two translation and interpretation school graduates: Alejandra Villar and Heriane Martinez.
The most awaited events of the year include the presidential elections in April, the president’s inauguration in July and the APEC summit in November.
“Andina’s English language service is the only one among state-run entities that includes its own pieces of news in that language,” Editor-in-Chief Felix Paz affirmed.
Besides the website, the team is also in charge of producing supplements and material for El Peruano official gazette, as was the case at the Lima Climate Change Conference—COP20 and the 2015 Annual Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the IMF and the World Bank Group.
(END) DOP/LIT/RMB/MVB
Published: 2/1/2016