The challenge of translating Finnegans Wake
Last year Shanghai People’s Publishing House released the first part of Dai Congrong’s Chinese translation Finnegans Wake. The book was an instant bestseller, clearing through its initial print-run of 8,000 copies… Read more »
A lot of Japanese literature gets translated, but not into English
A good book can overcome many barriers in its quest to find an audience, but the Pacific Ocean apparently isn’t one of them. This is the case for Japanese literature,… Read more »
The task of the translator
An article by Spanish and Portuguese translator Jethro Soutar in the Guardian last week has shed light on the role that literary translators sometimes find themselves playing: lifeline. Soutar is the… Read more »
Breaking translation news: Scandinavians invent animal-to-human-language translator
The Nordic Society for Invention and Discovery, a Scandinavian design firm/ad agency/creativity lab, is working on a new product that will revolutionize the one area of translation that even Google… Read more »
One woman spends a year reading a book for each nation
Last month on Publishing Perspectives, Olivia Snaije interviewed and profiled Ann Morgan, a woman who—from January 1 to December 31 of 2012—“set herself the challenge to spend one year reading a… Read more »
What’s worse: being stuck in a bunker for two months or translating Dan Brown?
Recently, there have been a number of reports of the hellish conditions endured by the translators of Dan Brown’s upcoming blockbuster, Inferno. According to the Independent: The translators are said… Read more »
Ode to IMPAC Dublin and Translations
Five out of ten of this year’s shortlist nominees for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, often billed as “the world’s richest literary award,” but more precisely the world’s richest… Read more »
Libraries in Romania: an update
It has taken more than 25 years but, at long last, the new building for the National Library of Romania has opened its doors. Hermina Anghelescu and Leonard Kniffel look… Read more »
Translating between Englishes: Is it really necessary?
Tim Parks is frustrated. Writing in an excellent post at the NYRBlog, he details the process of editing his new book about Italy and train travel, which will be published… Read more »
“Vachement” and other untranslatables
Over at WWWord, they’ve been running an excellent series on untranslatable words, where speakers of various languages pick out and attempt to define words from their languages that particularly defy… Read more »