Next Tuesday, a series of workshops and discussions on translating children’s literature is taking place in London (click here for details). One of the workshops, translating extracts from Hans Christian Andersen’s stories, caught my eye because I love Hans Christian Andersen, and have done ever since I saw the biopic starring Danny Kaye when I was about 5. (Incidentally, I’m not sure it really counts as a “biopic”, as from what I can tell the life story presented in the film is entirely fictitious!) When I saw this workshop, I realized how many, maybe all, of the fairy tales I read (or watched) as a little kid were English translations. Andersen’s translators provided us with The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, and one lesser-known story that gave me nightmares of bloodthirsty hounds with eyes as big as saucers, The Tinderbox. Translators of the Brothers Grimm gave us Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood and Rumpelstiltskin, and Cinderella and Pinocchio are French and Italian respectively.
Until recently I had really only read two types of translated literature post-fairy tales – “grown-up” classics, and (only as part of my language degree) a few modern German and Spanish authors. The translated versions of these modern books seemed like they had been written exclusively for us language students, as copies were only available in specific branches of academic bookstores, at inflated prices, and nobody who I spoke to outside my course had ever seen or heard of the books or the authors!
As a child, I didn’t just read fairy tales, I read a lot of contemporary books too, all of which had English authors. As an adult, almost all the contemporary fiction I read is by English authors. Thankfully in the last few years some new translated fiction has made it into mainstream bookstores, and can easily be read by non-language students! For example, novels by Isabel Allende, Paulo Coelho, and, of recent fame, Stieg Larsson.
But why is it that for the most part, classics are widely available in translation, and newer foreign novels aren’t? Is it just a perception, because the translated classics are the lone survivors from the thousands upon thousands of books that have been published over the last few centuries? Or are people less interested in translating literature (or publishing literary translations) nowadays?
Wouldn’t it be nice if, in addition to all the novels published in the English language, we had a vast array of books by Spanish, French, Polish, Arabic, Japanese authors at our disposal too? People in non-English-speaking countries have these options – in Spain you can go into any bookstore and find almost every recent English bestseller – in Spanish – as well as dozens of new Spanish books. Why do we miss out on this variety in the English-speaking world?
As the wonderful website Three Percent points out, “only about 3% of all books published in the United States are works in translation… And that 3% figure includes all books in translation—in terms of literary fiction and poetry, the number is actually closer to 0.7%”. And then take that 0.7% and consider that “only a fraction of the titles that do make their way into English are covered by the mainstream media”, and I’m guessing, sold in mainstream bookstores. In addition to Three Percent, other groups, including Booktrust, And Other Stories, and 2 Seas Agency are doing something to address this issue. But maybe authors and translators need to take it upon themselves to get translated books out there. See this blog post by Corinne McKay for inspiration!
What was your exposure to foreign literature as a child? As an adult? Is the story very different if you’re a native speaker of a language other than English? Why do you think foreign fiction is so rarely translated into English?
I’d like to hear your two cents’ on this subject, so please leave a comment below! And if you know any other useful resources on translated literature, please mention them in the comments too!
I thought this was a very interesting read. I think you hit the nail on the head with, “…the translated classics are the lone survivors from the thousands upon thousands of books that have been published over the last few centuries”. It just seems like there were more back then because we can pull those titles from memory and struggle to pulll examples from the sea of current literature.
The lack of current translations might be due to overall declines in book sales. To commision a translation, the publisher needs some confidence that it is a money making proposition. That requires time to identify the foreign best sellers that an English audience would buy and a lack of English written materials to promote.
Perhaps the move from large publishing houses to boutique or self publishing will facilitate more translated works being readily available? It would probably require the translator to accept a cut of publishing revenue in lieu of a traditional flat fee.
Thank you for your comment! You might be right about the decline in book sales. Hopefully, as you say, self-publishing can do something to improve the options available to English readers.
I see you don’t monetize your site, don’t waste your traffic, you can earn additional bucks every month because you’ve
got high quality content. If you want to know how to make extra
bucks, search for: Boorfe’s tips best adsense alternative
I think a lot of people probably have no idea that some of what they’ve read is even translated! Growing up I certainly didn’t realise Hans Christian Andersen was originally written in a foreign language, for example – not until I was old enough to see that his foreign name probably indicated a foreign ancestry and thus language.
I often wish I was completely fluent in another language so I could at least notice the differences in word choice. It happens with me in French from time to time with the (very) limited French that I know. For example, I saw a sentence that was “When we are apart” and it was translated as “Lorsque nous sommes…” rather than “Quand”. I didn’t know lorsque, so looked it up and it seems that, on a basic level, it’s simply a more formal version of quand. But it made me think about these many nuances of a language and how complex translation is.
Great post!
Hi Anna,
Yep, I don’t think I mentioned it in my post, but translations usually are marketed to appear as English originals. I really don’t know why this is – I think it would add to the reading experience if people knew more context about the author and setting.
I think it would be great if people were fluent in other languages and could read the original books, but the fact that most English speakers aren’t is all the more reason to publish translations, so at least they have access to the book in some form!
Hello blogger, i must say you have hi quality content here.
Your page should go viral. You need initial traffic
boost only. How to get it? Search for: Mertiso’s tips go
viral
I see you don’t monetize your blog, don’t waste your
traffic, you can earn additional bucks every month because you’ve
got high quality content. If you want to know how to make extra $$$, search for: Boorfe’s tips best adsense alternative