About Translating Books

Don’t be insular friends.

I feel like in the United States, we don’t talk enough about books in translation. Maybe we don’t get enough foreign books in translation. Maybe our education system fails us in a very basic way. Maybe we as a nation aren’t multilingual enough (understatement, I know).  So much for our “melting pot.”

However, we can bring light to the situation. You as a reader should Tweet, email and write to publishers to bring new and old works in translation to your hands. Or your e-reader. Ever wonder how “The Brothers Karamazov” plays across different translations.

I was born and raised in Mexico, and I read English and Spanish literature at the same level. I feel very lucky because I have enjoyed Cervantes, Marquez, Fuentes and many others in their original form. I have also appreciated Shakespeare, Milton, Raymond Carver in English.

And translations, in all their Babel-like glory, allow you, the reader to appreciate the writer’s work through the inevitable prism of the translator’s mind. Do not be afraid of this. Embrace it. And when a new translation comes out, rejoice. There will be a new way of viewing the work.

With that in mind, check out Fabio Fernandes’ insightful, thoughtful post today at Tor.com regarding translations. Follow him on Twitter too. Brilliant guy.

And I will quote the best line of Fabio’s article “every translation is in itself a piece of Alternate History.”

That, my friends, is poetic, true, and inspiring.

Now get the hell of this blog and go read a book, in translation. You owe it to yourself, Gentle Reader.