Literary translators: how did you start out?
December 21, 2021 9:28 AM Subscribe
I would like to be a literary translator when I grow up. Where do I learn about this craft and the business of it? If you'd like to offer consulting services, I'm happy to pay someone for their time!
I'm a good translator, a sensitive writer and editor, and a voracious reader of fiction.
Literary translation might just be my thing. Doesn't matter if there's not a ton of money in it. I have a couple of Romance languages that I could work in.
Where do I start learning about this craft and the business of it?
My research efforts have yielded these resources:
As I said in my FPP, if you'd like to offer consulting services, I'm happy to pay someone for their time!
I'm a good translator, a sensitive writer and editor, and a voracious reader of fiction.
Literary translation might just be my thing. Doesn't matter if there's not a ton of money in it. I have a couple of Romance languages that I could work in.
Where do I start learning about this craft and the business of it?
My research efforts have yielded these resources:
- I found The American Literary Translators organization, which seems to have good information for newbs.
- I hope to speak with a translation business consultant soon, but I'll need to check her experience in literary translation (or counseling on it).
As I said in my FPP, if you'd like to offer consulting services, I'm happy to pay someone for their time!
(PS: she is based in the UK, but has contacts in central/South America, and if she can't help you she may be able to suggest someone who can)
posted by altolinguistic at 11:26 AM on December 21, 2021
posted by altolinguistic at 11:26 AM on December 21, 2021
Best answer: I don;t have recommendations for courses or consultants, or enough experience to be a consultant in my own right, but I just thought I'd briefly share what I learned from my own very limited experience.
The biggest thing that helped me, probably even more so than fluency in the source language, was my own experience writing in my native language in the same idiom as the piece I was translating. Now, that may not be a great deal of help if your plan is to be able to translate a wide variety of works, but it's what served me best in creating an English version that people would enjoy reading/singing. You can always get help with the literal translation of words and even figures of speech, but the thing that nattered most to me was my composition work in the destination language.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:59 AM on December 21, 2021 [4 favorites]
The biggest thing that helped me, probably even more so than fluency in the source language, was my own experience writing in my native language in the same idiom as the piece I was translating. Now, that may not be a great deal of help if your plan is to be able to translate a wide variety of works, but it's what served me best in creating an English version that people would enjoy reading/singing. You can always get help with the literal translation of words and even figures of speech, but the thing that nattered most to me was my composition work in the destination language.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:59 AM on December 21, 2021 [4 favorites]
Response by poster: @altolinguistic I just joined the community @Rosenkrantz is part of! And I'm chatting with my consultant after the 1st of the year. Thanks for the great tip.
posted by Sheydem-tants at 9:55 AM on December 22, 2021
posted by Sheydem-tants at 9:55 AM on December 22, 2021
You may also be interested in the work that PEN does on translation. There's also an EU group. The only other thing I'd add, with apologies for the grumpy pessimism, from having friends who are literary translators, is that it seems really hard to make a reasonable living just from translation and most of them also have some other job with more steady income.
posted by RandlePatrickMcMurphy at 7:08 AM on December 23, 2021
posted by RandlePatrickMcMurphy at 7:08 AM on December 23, 2021
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A friend of mine who is a full-time literary translator (I'm a translator, but not in literature/fiction) offers mentoring to newbies. She's Rosenkrantz on Twitter.
posted by altolinguistic at 11:12 AM on December 21, 2021 [2 favorites]