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Have you had your book translated into another language?
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Paul
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Jan 26, 2012 03:08PM
I have a book that I think will appeal to some European and Scandinavian countries. Specifically, I'm interested in Germany, Norway, Sweden, Finland. Does anyone know about foreign rights as well as translation? Thanks.
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I'm not a writer and I know next to nothing about foreign rights, but I'm wondering whether Nordics translation would be worthwhile, as (especially Sweden), the majority of the population is quite comfortable with the English language. The same thinking also applies to the Netherlands (who are voracious readers might I add!). A German translation would probably be worthwhile if you want German readers.
I've often wondered how translators get paid. Do they earn a royalty from the sale of your book, or are they usually just paid a one-time amount for the act of translating the text?
Paul wrote: "I have a book that I think will appeal to some European and Scandinavian countries. Specifically, I'm interested in Germany, Norway, Sweden, Finland. Does anyone know about foreign rights as well a..."Hey Paul,
Blogger and writer Christa Polkinhorn translates into German, I believe. Worth checking.
http://christa-polkinhorn.blogspot.com
On the same note if anyone knows a Japanese translator who has handled large volumes of copy before, that would be really helpful!
Gabriel wrote: "I've often wondered how translators get paid. Do they earn a royalty from the sale of your book, or are they usually just paid a one-time amount for the act of translating the text?"like editors, translators get paid by the word. Having considered taking up translations, I've checked this website: http://001yourtranslationservice.com/...
Like Dean Wesley Smith says: never ever pay somebody with a percentage of forever. Always go for the upfront flat fee.
Sorry, but I don't speak German! ;-) And like Kat says, Scandinavian countries are very proficient in English! :-D
To reach European readers, the European version of Smashwords is XinXii (which is... German), btw...
Just thinking about this a little more - you'd have to have a lot of trust in the translator - English has a lot of "un-translatable" words, and German isn't a literal translation (like most other languages in fact!), so the translator would, in effect, be re-writing parts of your book.
Kat wrote: "Just thinking about this a little more - you'd have to have a lot of trust in the translator - English has a lot of "un-translatable" words, and German isn't a literal translation (like most other ..."most things get lost in translation... no matter the language. I'm rewriting in English my Italian stories - and I know what I'm changing. Working for somebody else, though... that's why I ended up NOT trying to be come a translator.
Believe it or not as bad as my company is one thing I think they do do is translate my book into other languages. Where they produced a process of my book was in another country and they tend to make mentions of other countries as well not meaning they do translate but i would imagine they do.I get alot of countries on my website surprisingly.
