Translation Goals

[Queshire]

Lately in certain corners of the internet the topic of translating fictional works has become, shall we say, controversial. I'll spare you the details, but I'm wondering... As writers what would desire or seek to prioritize if you were to have your work translated into another language? Say, Japanese or Chinese?

Would you prefer a strict one-to-one translation? Would you be okay with certain changes to help improve the flow & tempo in the new language? How would you want word play to be handled when it's based off of the language the story is originally written in? If a story cultural aspects that exist where you live as a large part of the story, but those cultural aspects might not be applicable in the language it's being translated to would you rather keep them in or try to find local equivalents in order to keep the themes accessible to foreign readers? Any other thoughts on the topic?

 

[Mad Swede]

OK, writing this as someone whose books have been translated into another language.

To produce a readable book what you need is an interpretation, not a one-to-one translation. That's because you have to deal with things like word play and cultural references (which may be explicit or implicit) in order to make the book accessible to readers in other countries. A good interpretation will have very similar flow and pace to the original, but it will not be identical. Producing a good interpretation is not as easy as it seems, and in my view we as authors need to be closely involved in the translation/interpretation of our works so that our themes and ideas don't get lost.