Literary Translation: An overview

There are so many myths and wrong ideas about what it means to translate literature. This article aims to show what it means and what it is like to work as a literary translator, what possibilities translators have to improve their skills, the importance of labour, how the market changes, what to expect, and what the future holds for literary translation.

What Makes Literary Translation

It would be an appropriate place to start by sharing a description of translators written by James Wood, a literary critic, as it is not a typical example — many critics and reviewers tend to forget to mention or even notice translators’ work:

“Literary translators tend to divide into what one could call originalists and activists. The former honor the original text’s quiddities, and strive to reproduce them as accurately as possible in the translated language; the latter are less concerned with the literary accuracy than with the transposed musical appeal of the new work. Any decent translator must be a bit of both… Translation is not a transfer of meaning from one language to another, Pevear writes, but a dialogue between two languages.” (Grossmann, 2010)

Literary translator Márgara Averbach has a similar idea; she says that to understand better the position and function of translators, translation is to be thought within communication: the translator is the bridge between the writer and the readers that do not share the same code, meaning the same language. (Averbach, 2011)

Literary translation is the kind of translation in which it is as essential to keep the authors’ style and structure as it is to transmit the exact meaning of the original text.

For this reason, many consider that translating literary texts is an art form in itself and as important as the creation of the original piece. This comparison is not far-fetched: working with a text in which the meaning is just one of the many things to consider is an arduous task and a gratifying challenge once completed.

What Makes a Good Literary Translation

In the translated text, the author’s style, tone and voice have to be present and reflected. The reader of the translation has to get what the author wanted to say and experience all the feelings the original readers did. It goes without saying that it is impossible to produce an exact one-to-one translation, making precisely the same piece. As the author had chosen one word over another, the translator does the same. Nevertheless, the effect of the text has to be the same, no matter the language. That is simply what makes a good translation, or in the words of translator Edith Grossmann:

“As a first step toward accomplishing so exemplary an end, translators need to develop a keen sense of style in both languages, honing and expanding our critical awareness of the emotional impact of words, the social aura that surrounds them, the setting and mood that informs them, the atmosphere they create.” (Grossmann, 2010)

Thus, this is what the aim of a translation should be: getting as close as possible to the original.

How to Become a Literary Translator

As with other professions, the path will look different for each translator. Clearly, studying translation and literature is a solid foundation to start building up a career in literary translation. Fortunately, there are a number of options for translators wanting to specialise in this kind of field; there are several master’s and postgraduate degrees around the world in addition to the numerous options of bachelor’s degrees in Translation Studies. Besides formal education, translators could also benefit from different talks, congresses, conferences, and short courses organised by various translation associations and institutions with a focus on improving the skills of translators and students.

Some Spanish speaking literary specialisation options are:

The Market: A Changing Field

If translators were to insert themselves into the traditional editorial world, they would likely encounter some obstacles along the way. The translator has to make contact and needs to know whom to make contacts with, which publishing houses do translations and what their specialisation is. Moreover, within this research, the translator needs to note what makes each publishing house stand out; this is what they do “right” and what they do “wrong”, or, basically, what they, as translators, can bring to the table.

In general, publishing houses and editors have a group of translators that they work with, and they do not tend to incorporate new translators, but when they do, they ask for references and a translation test. Additionally, they consistently prioritise translators with experience and knowledge on the topic: the exact reason why it is difficult to enter this world.

The traditional market is a tight network based on trust and confidence between the editor and the translator. The translator has to show interest every step of the way and illustrate what makes them different from the rest. It is a bit surprising that the majority of traditional publishing houses have no formal requirements, but it is indeed expected that they showcase enthusiasm, interest, professionalism (respect deadlines) and trustworthiness; in some cases, they want translators with literary knowledge, literary sensibility, good command of both languages and an even better command of the target language.

What to expect

As expected, publishing houses ask for fluent and “faithful” translations; what is surprising, then, is that in the big names of the industry, there is no one to correct/compare the translation with the original to make sure the translated text is of quality. From the translator, it goes to the proofreader, who just checks spelling, and only in certain special cases is there a revision by a specialist. Otherwise, translators are in a much more stressful position, as the responsibility falls only on them.

Moreover, many editors expect translators to be able to see the potential a book might have, detect its market and place that book in its “perfect market”. This is basically expecting the translator to know the market as well as the editor; maybe this is due to the fact that many publishing houses do not publish what editors want or decide but what translators offer. It is worth mentioning that translators do not receive any monetary compensation for all the extra work and the new role they are occupying.

Choosing the market within the market

In the Spanish-speaking market, the major traditional publishing industry is in Spain, as it is the most important market and the one that creates the most work. Averbach says that because of this power imbalance, Latin-American translators are asked and used to use “neutral” Spanish, but translators in Spain do not show the same consideration if the work is also for the Latin American market —it is full of localisms that make more difficult the understanding to readers outside Spain (Averbach, 2011). It is important to mention that finding and deciding what is “neutral” will be different for each translator and editor.

This particular situation creates an interesting outcome: hiring translators from Latin America is, generally speaking, more economical (at a later time, it could be discussed how problematic this aspect is), and the translations are overall more “readable” and palatable across the Spanish-speaking countries and can be sold to both continents without any significant problems, easing the distribution of the book. Over the last decade or so, multinational publishing houses have imported and printed translations from various countries. Nevertheless, small and medium-sized publishing houses, especially independent ones, have taken a more defining role in creating jobs for translators.

Going independent

If taken into consideration, especially what is happening in the online world, things have changed considerably. Growing numbers of authors are publishing independently, managing their own translations, and selling their books in various markets; indie authors are everywhere. This shift in the publishing paradigm has its pros and cons.

Authors understand that to share their work with more people, their work needs to be translated and promoted in different languages.

To do so, they look for translators or translators and “translators” get in contact to get the job done. Occasionally, the “translators” are neither professionals nor trained, and they tend to do a mediocre job at best, which costs more time and more money in the long run; a translation that needs to be corrected, proof-edited and then proofread is going to be pricier than a translation that just needs to be proofread. Sometimes, the translator chosen to be responsible for the task is a proper translator and gets the job done. Besides choosing a competent translator, authors have to decide which market they want to favour; that is, which language(s) they want their work to be translated into, in this case, European or Latin American Spanish.

The translator and the author need to communicate and work together continuously to ensure a quality product at the end of the line. On the one hand, the translator needs the author to solve any issues that might come up to provide a good translation. On the other hand, the author needs the translator to create a version of their book in a different language to broaden their audience and share their work with more readers.

How to Start

In any given situation, each person will have a unique approach and experience from the rest. With translation, there is no difference; every translator will have a different experience. Most literary translators struggle to integrate themselves into the literary world. Sometimes they have to study other careers, like literature or the like, to be able to secure a job in a traditional publishing house, and they would only translate for those publishing houses. But that is not the only way.

Networking is any professional’s best tool; it can definitely make a difference between being out of work and having a steady inflow of projects. Being in contact with other like-minded professionals, such as editors, proofeditors, proofreaders, writers, and other translators, will increase the chances of getting contacted by them or by one of their contacts. Keeping an eye on what the professional associations are up to and the latest topics of discussion in forums, like translators’ rights, helps translators stay updated and connected with the realities of the profession.

Teamwork or Lonely Endevour?

In the traditional sense, teamwork* is not as common; more accurately, one person is responsible for the translation. Then the text might go through other people, like a corrector, editor or proofreader, and “teamwork” might be a thing, but each individual has their own task, and they work together to deliver a final product. Having contact with the author and editor/corrector is key, which is a kind of teamwork.

Being able to talk to the author to resolve comprehension or translation issues is highly rewarding, as it improves the overall quality of the final book. The same goes if there is at least one round of edition in which the translator can see the corrections or suggestions. Sometimes none of these interactions is possible, and the translator has to do their work alone, as there is no other option.

*Some translators share the belief that if there is teamwork involved in the translation per se (several translators working on one project), the book has little to no literary value. Because an editor would have to unify all the different sections done by various translators, and a significant part of the work would be lost by the unification.

Connecting with Others

Reading about what is happening in the literary world is also advantageous, as it might bring some enlightenment or awareness of certain changes or tendencies within the market. This includes reading publications from various associations and institutions. As previously discussed, being in contact and continuously conversing with other translators is going to play a major role in feeling connected and not completely alone—even if the job does not exactly involve other people to discuss issues with.

What Characterises Literary Translators?

There is a general consensus that translators have to read a fair amount. It seems pretty obvious, but there are many before-mentioned “translators” who do not read or are not interested in developing their reading and writing skills. It is, then, not surprising that it shows in the work they do. We have written an article to help authors avoid these types of “linguists”. You can read “5 Common Mistakes ALL Untrained Literary Translators Make and How to Avoid Working with a Bad Linguist” here.

Translators need to be interested in literature and the two languages that they use. They need to be able to detect the identity of the text, the voice, and the style. This is the exact reason why they have to read and write continuously, improve their skills and stay updated on any changes in language use.

Moreover, a general sense of curiosity should also be present. It will definitely help when researching and solving translation problems, as well as communicating with the author.

Competitiveness

The market is more competitive than ever. Current events, such as the pandemic, the Great Resignation, globalisation, and the broad reach of the internet, have created a more competitive market than ever before. It is active and constantly changing, and people all over the world are competing for jobs that were previously available only in one time zone or country. Even more so, many people are taking these opportunities to change careers. There are hundreds of thousands of articles encouraging people to translate, without any prior knowledge or preparation, as their side hustle that have put professional translators in a strange position.

The rates have dropped, but it is not the only thing that has negative consequences. The quality of the translated material is relatively poor, and unfortunately, it sets a precedent; many “new translators” can get away with what they do, without knowing about the ethics of the profession or even knowing the grammar rules of their language. Unknowingly, by doing so, they are damaging not only a profession and thousands of qualified translators but also their very own language by not being familiar with its grammar or conventions.

Conclusion

Translators are in charge of making their way into the market; they need a solid and ever-expanding network that would help them make new contacts and be in contact with the right people. Publishing houses, independent publishers, and authors generally do not consider translators’ academic training, but they use their contacts and references to find translators. There is this new expectation for translators to identify the market for the material they are translating, what it is worth translating—tasks traditionally associated with the editor.

Literary translation is the kind of translation in which it is as essential to keep the authors’ style and structure as it is to transmit the exact meaning of the original text.

Any training and further education that the translator can get will be beneficial in getting and improving skills and will help to create better translations and increase the quality of their services.

Times are changing, but it is not the only thing; the rules have changed, and there are new challenges and questionings. But it is not necessarily a bad thing; it is the opportunity to show and educate people about its importance and the far-reaching and rippling effect it has in the world.