Translated series in different order

[Christine]

Dear fellow librarians,

this question has probably been asked before, but I can't seem to find it in the discussions. How do we deal with series in translation that have a different order in one or more translation languages than in the original?

This is frequently the case with German translations of English children's books, for example Enid Blyton's Famous Five (concerns some of the later volumes) or Julie Campell's Trixie Belden (concerns many volumes). Rätsel um ein grünes Auto for instance is #18 in the German series, #34 in the English series.

Since I have seen nothing of the kind, I assume that the policy is not to create multiple series names with different numberings. But are there any workarounds or recommendations? Cases like the Trixie Belden series are misleading for German readers.

One example I found are the Obernewtyn Chronicles, which are differently numbered in the North American/UK and the original Australian Edition. Two separate series with an explanatory remark have been created in that case. But the difference is only that one of the Australian volumes has been separated in two and the second half been published as an additional volume in the UK and the USA.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Christine

[Radka]

There's a note about this in the librarian manual:
Please do not add a new series for each language the books have been published in, unless the numbering of the books differs from that of the existing series.

If the numbering differs in the translated series, it is okay to create a new one so that e. g. German readers can follow the correct order.

It is recommended to leave a note in the series description to clarify why there is a separate series. See Slovak series that I've created for The Three Investigators: https://www.goodreads.com/series/3509.... You can see on the right that there are currently many language-specific serieses for that one because of different numberings.

[Christine]

Thanks a lot, Radka! That resolves the main problem.

Related questions:
– What about the series information added in the title field (in brackets, with #)? I assume that this can be put in the same language as the edition, and combined with the numbering in that language?
– Order of series names: The series name that comes first in order will be displayed on the top of the book page. In the case of multiple series, should the series title in the language of the edition accordingly be moved up? That would seem the best solution to me, but it is hardly ever the case, not even in famous, multitranslated series. Also in the Serbian translation of the Three Investigators that you mentioned, the Original English titles are usually first in order and consequently displayed on the top of the pages.*

Christine


* ... even though I strangely found a German series title on the top of the entry for Záhada dopingového bežca = Traja pátrači #15. That should surely be corrected – but to the English or to the Serbian series title/numbering?

[Radka]

Your first assumption is correct. Series should be added in the translated version with the local numbering.

As for your second point, that would certainly make more sense but it is not possible in the current GR setup. Series info is added on the Work level, not on the individual edition level. It is not possible to change the series order for each edition. That's why there's always the original series displayed as a default one. When you create the new translated series, it is added to the last position in the list. Unless there is a strong reasoning to change the series order, it should stay that way.

"Záhada dopingového bežca" does not show the English series because it is not part of the original EN series. It belongs to the subsequent German series. Three Investigators are a bit complex in this matter.

Hope this clears things up.

[Christine]

I see! Thank you very much for the information.