Copywriting

I agree.

If a client gave me an idea about what he wants to be written, and that I have to write it down in the form of an essay or the like. Is this considered as copywriting?

Agree

Think of it like this: you receive a list of selling points from the client and you have to produce a piece of original writing which states the selling points in a good way. You could also be asked to write an essay or article about a particular subject. Copywriting is simply producing a piece of original writing based on the input of the client.

I have come across the term, here in Brazil, being used to mean that material is submitted to the translator with a view to improving it during the translation or revision process, rather like an editor/translator. I don't know if this is a very local or more widespread interpretation though???

I agree.

@ Bruce:

I agree that there is sometimes confusion between copywriting and copy editing. A copy editor for a magazine will receive copy from the copywriter and then edit it, improving it where necessary and ensuring that the final copy meets the style used by the magazine. All magazines have a style book, and this will include how to spell certain words (Kroushchev or Khrushchev), where to put inverted commas and so on. When clients ask you to copywrite an existing translation, they are actually asking for copy editing.

Thanks for clearing that up Jonathan. :o)

I agree

Agree