"The Non-English Patient"

Excerpts from a panel held on Oct 7 at the Frankfurt Fair, participants were: media specialist Rüdiger Wischenbart (host), Esther Allen, compiler of an eye-opening study on translation and today's book industry; Susan Harris of Words without Borders; Anne-Bitt Gerecke of Litrix.de; and Thierry Chervel, founder of signandsight.com's sister site Perlentaucher.de. My comments are in festive, tasteful orange; tell me if it doesn't come through.

RW: We all know that many books are translated from English, and very few are translated back into English. For the case of German – or French and English: between 55 and 60 percent of translations into our languages have English originals. And at the same time there is a tiny line pointing in the other direction. We have only 3 to 5 percent – so one tenth – of translation back into English. To make things worse, just think of what it means to be Hungarian or Romanian, and how difficult it is not only to find someone to buy, read and translate your books into German or English, but just to communicate with your neighbour in Hungary, Serbia, or Poland. There are almost no translations on that horizontal level. So we are in a very odd situation.
and
A-BG:I think it's important to show there's a global interest in literature being translated from different languages into different languages, that it's not a one-way street only translating things from other languages into English.

Interesting angle, eh? I never think about intra-European translation difficulties. Mostly because I do see books by Europeans of other countries in foreign catalogs. But not that many, I now realize. I guess I assume that most publishing houses naturally favor national writers (German writers in Germany, etc etc), if there are enough national writers around. (Polemical moment: So if the lack of translations in US reading culture is a 'crisis', then it's a crisis we share with Western Europe. Or this might suggest what doesn't seem at all bizarre, that the languages of the big, rich countries dominate and that conscious work has to be done to correct this imbalance, ie IT'S NOT A CRISIS, PEOPLE. Or IT'S A CRISIS BUT IT'S A NORMAL CRISIS.)
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Useful Numbers from Esther
EA: There is an organisation that keeps tabs on the United States publishing industry and the global English language publishing industry called Bowker. They issued a report in October of 2005 which says that the number of new books published in English worldwide in 2004 was 375,000. That's a fairly gigantic number of books. And I would hazard to guess that's probably more books than are published in any other language. Of these, 14,440 were translations, so significantly less than 5%.

But even that figure is misleading, for example in the US book market alone, there were 4,982 translations. This is everything, Japanese computer manuals, your new car guide from Volvo, everything. 4,982 translations in the United States in 2004. That's less than half of the 12,197 translations reported in Italy. And imagine how much larger the US book market is. So proportionally it's much less. In fact, it's only 400 more than the number of translations reported in the Czech Republic. Given the proportional sizes of the markets, it's very very low.

Now even when you think about a figure of 3% as being very alarming, when you look at literary writing, the figures become far more alarming. A study by the National Endowment for the Arts which focussed only on fiction and poetry for the year 1999, found that in that year, the total number of fiction and poetry translated from all languages in the US, was 297. And this was a year when well over 100,000 books were published in the US. And most alarming of all, the most recent study, done by the Center for Book Culture in Chicago, focussed only on contemporary fiction. Just to give you an idea, looking at the major languages. How many contemporary novels from Germany, Austria and Switzerland have been translated in the last six years? 36, which is an average of six a year. So if you think of the number of contemporary works of fiction that are coming out in those three countries every year, to consider that only six of them get into English is quite shocking. France has the most 8.7 per year, out of the last six years. 52 French novels translated into English in the last six years. And in fact if you know the field at all, it's very surprising to learn that there were as many as 52. It's a real global failure, a failure of globalisation.

The last sentence here is interesting, linking this in to the greater problems of globalisation. Could be.
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Useful Definition of Words Without Borders
SH: But translation of course should sell. It sells intellectually, artistically, aesthetically. Sometimes it does not sell financially to certain levels. And as a result, if you are going to publish literary translation in the States in English, you need to find a medium in which to do so that will reach the largest number of readers at the lowest possible cost. Not only for the publisher, but also for the readers themselves. This is much of our mission at Words without Borders. So, we're trying very much not only to publish excellent work and be a thrilling publication, but also to serve as a clearing house and a central point for all activities of translation into English.

I love this idea, that translations sell intellectually, artistically, etc...

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Pointless Jab by Sal
EA: I can respond to that with my own experience. There seems to be a problem of mentality within the US publishing industry that isn't really borne out by fact. One experience I had demonstrates that. For many years I was in correspondence with the Spanish writer Javier Marias. He did not have a publisher in the United States. This was a particularly extraordinary situation, because in 1996 he won the world's richest literary award, the Dublin Impact Award, for 100,000 Irish pounds, for the best book published in English that year, The Harvill Edition of "A Heart So White". So, he had been consecrated as the author of the best book published in the English language in 1996, and could not find a publisher in the United States for several years after that. Finally he was picked up by New Directions publishing.

Actually, Drenka published Javier Marias originally. I don't know when he went to New Directions or what the whole story was. But the story is more complicated than above.
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What More Translations Might Expose!
Audience Member: And Roberto Calasso was saying in New York just a few months ago that in North America there are many authors who are issuing books that are bad copies of those European authors which are not translated. And he was giving names.

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Whoa, Resource!
Audience Member: I would also like to mention one project meant to promote our literatures and intellectuals. It's called the Hungarian visiting card. These are samples from 77 Hungarian authors translated into 22 languages. And this is practically only a sample of another bigger initiative, which is called Babelmatrix. It's a free online page, and in principle it's able to present samples from all European literatures translated into all European languages.

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New Oxford Translation "Historical Reader"

we students of translation are all a-glow... this book gathers together, for the first time, a comprehensive collection of critical thought on translation, ranging from medieval to contemporary writings, poets and scholars, etc.etc.

thank you daniel weissbort, astradur eysteinsson and Oxford University Press!


Click Here for book description from OUP

Reviewing Translations

Also on PEN's website, this guide to reviewers. Interesting.....

REVIEWERS GUIDELINES FOR TRANSLATED BOOKS

The members of the PEN Translation Committee have grown increasingly concerned about the way book reviewers approach works in translation, and specifically about the attention being given to translators and their indispensable role in bringing us the literature of other languages and cultures. We thought it might be useful to offer some suggestions to reviewers of translated works, in a spirit of cooperation in what is after all our common endeavor: encouraging the reading, study, and enjoyment of literature.

It is understandable that with limited space available, reviewers may be reluctant to stop and discuss the translation. But in fact comments about the translation are not a distraction or divergence. The translation is integral to the book; without it, there would be no book in English. All translations are literary collaborations. All translations display not only the writer but the translator as well, who has chosen every word in English and worked to replicate every nuance of sentence structure, idiom, diction, metaphor, rhythm, tone, and voice.

First and foremost, reviewers should state that the work is a translation and should mention the translator's name. This may seem obvious, yet it is surprising how often the translator is not acknowledged, as if the book had metamorphosed into English on its own. Reviewers might also mention the translator's previous works, along with awards or other distinctions. If the translator has written a preface indicating his or her approach to the work, this too should be considered.

Reviewers who don't know the book's original language may feel unequipped to evaluate the translation. Even so, they are certainly equipped to address matters of style, coherence, and narrative tone. For instance, at the simplest level, does the language flow naturally and smoothly? Does the author present any special stylistic or other challenges that the translator has successfully--or heroically--met? In a work of fiction, is the dialogue persuasive and idiomatic? Does the tone shift to represent different characters' voices? Has the work been translated before, and if so, how does the version in question compare to earlier ones?

New translations of classics or very well-known books, of course, are usually assigned to reviewers familiar with the original language, who can comment on the need for a new translation, what the new version highlights or omits, how its idiom suits present-day readers, whether it offers new insights or emphases. In such cases the crux of the review is rightfully the translation itself.

One practice that is distinctly unhelpful is pouncing upon minute errors (or assumed errors) of word choice. Reviewers who do this seem to be under the impression that translating is like working a crossword puzzle. But literary translation is an elusive art--the rendering of a sensibility and a style--in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Moreover, such “errors” may be careful choices intended to support the entire structure. Focusing on minutiae out of context deflects from the overall evaluation of the book and the translation.

Even for those who devote their working lives to it, translation is difficult to define. At its best, we tend to forget that it exists, like a window so clear that birds attempt to fly through it; at its worst it makes reading like trying to see through a glass darkly. A poor translation can make a good book appear less good, just as a fine translation can enhance a mediocre book. In any case, reviewers would do well to consider these issues, for in describing the book, they are describing the translation, intentionally or not. Far better, then, to be aware of what they are encountering: a work whose words have been selected and arranged by the translator to convey not simply the letter of the original but its spirit.

Recommended Book Lists

PEN maintains an unusual list of recommended books as yet untranslated or not in print in the US: http://pen.org/page.php/prmID/313

If you are a PEN member, you can add to the list. Check it out: the diaries of Pavese are up for a new translation.

Hey Diana, so I've looked through the materials I've collected about all things translation and I'm proposing these categories, below. When you start a post, just put a category name on it (ideally at some point, I'll figure out how to create different files on a blog) (unless you know how to do it?). Feel free to add category names:

Grants
Awards
Reviewing Translations
Translation Cases
Translators
Non-Literary Translation aka Translation in the World
(Spottings of the phrase "Lost in Translation")

Main resources like PEN's website, wordswithoutborders, I'll post as links.

First post! This is a blog for Diana and I, to store translation information that we find useful or interesting. Just an electronic home for those dusty articles I've been holding on to. Also, I'm convinced that a lot of money & effort is poured into translation without everyone being aware of all the resources already out there. Thus the need for a central organization. Thus, this blog and one day, one day, the Translation Library.