Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

37 views
Archived > Translator questions

Comments Showing 1-4 of 4 (4 new)    post a comment »
dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Steven (new)

Steven | 4 comments I'm a translator, and I had a couple of issues regarding books I've translated:

I am the translator of the book Grave Goods by Fernando Iwasaki (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...). Right now the English translation is included as another edition of the Spanish-language book. The problem with that is that when I try to search for "Grave Goods" or do a search for Iwasaki in the search field, the English-language book doesn't show up. And I can also see English-speaking readers just getting confused if they do enter the search and they get taken to the Spanish edition. Could the English book be made into its own thing on Goodreads (though maybe still connected to the Spanish)?

I also recently published a translation of Federico García Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba through Kindle Direct. My version is currently included on Goodreads as another edition of the Faber and Faber translation (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... and https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...). The problem with that is that my translation is different, original. When you search for the play or for the play with my name, you don't see my version, you don't see my book cover; instead you see someone else's. Can my translation of the play be made into its own thing on Goodreads so that when someone who has read my translation and is searching for it will actually find it?

Thank you for the help!


message 2: by Z-squared (new)

Z-squared | 8575 comments Steven wrote: "The problem with that is that when I try to search for "Grave Goods" or do a search for Iwasaki in the search field, the English-language book doesn't show up...Could the English book be made into its own thing on Goodreads (though maybe still connected to the Spanish?"

Unfortunately, this is a limitation of the Goodreads database. Goodreads policy is that books with the same content, even translations into other languages, must be combined together. So no, we can't separate your translation from the original text. Keep in mind that most Goodreads users are generally pretty savvy and know to click on the 'all editions' button to find other editions, including those in other languages.

Steven wrote: "Can my translation of the play be made into its own thing on Goodreads so that when someone who has read my translation and is searching for it will actually find it?"

Sorry, again, same policy. However, the edition YOU translated is the one that appears on your own author page, so users will be able to find it if they search by your name, or, alternatively, they'll be able to find it when looking at the 'all editions' page. It will also appear as a thumbnail image on the other edition pages as well, given that there are only a few other editions.


message 3: by Steven (new)

Steven | 4 comments Thank you for your responses.

Regarding your first response, then why is it that when I search for One Hundred Years of Solitude or Kafka's The Castle, it pulls up the English-language versions of both of those books instead of the originals? Why can't the same happen for my translation of the Iwasaki book?

Regarding your second response, why then does one of the editions get to be the preeminent, default edition of the book that gets seen while the rest of the editions don't get seen by someone searching? What claim does it have? Why couldn't mine be the default edition? (For example, mine existed as an e-book before any of the others. Couldn't that form the basis for a claim?)


message 4: by Philip (new)

Philip (burnnerman) | 5912 comments I think the same answer will be for both issues.

When there are multiple editions of a book, the edition that is shown by default is the one that has been shelved/rated/reviewed the most per the information in the link below. The exception to this is when the Primary author of a work has selected a specific edition as the Default edition.

https://www.goodreads.com/help/show/166-primary-default-edition-of-a-work


back to top