Translation adjacent

Translators are the Clark Kent of the publishing industry. By day, they translate just as their name suggests. By night, they set out to save the world. Their work exceeds the name: the actual act of translating is only a part of what translators really do.

The stereotypical – and very misleading – idea of a translator might include someone who quietly collects a book, disappears to mysteriously convert it into another language and resurfaces only to deliver the now-translated book to a publisher. They are not seen or heard from again until the cycle repeats.

To test this stereotype, I conducted an informal survey. I asked around 80 respondents, people with an interest in world literature, to look through the following list of activities and, for each one, answer this question: “Who, in your opinion, is more likely to do this?” with the answer options being “translator” and “someone else”.

• Translating        
• Inventing new words
• Editing
• Co-creating with an author of the source text
• Scouting for new authors and new voices
• Tracking down the rights owners
• Researching sales figures, languages a certain book has been translated into and other data
• Writing reader’s reports
• Leading workshops
• Speaking at events
• Publicising books
• Organising events
• Hosting book clubs and discussion groups
• Carrying extra books around in case there are not enough copies at an event or a signing
• Researching the literary market to find out exactly which publisher, journal or platform would be right for the text or author they are translating or want to translate (also known as matchmaking)
• Persuading authors to experiment with a new genre or topic that would have particular appeal in a certain market
• Preparing pitches, pitch packs and elevator pitches
• Preparing catchy one-liners to quickly describe a book
• Writing statements about the importance and appeal of books and authors
• Writing commentaries, notes, forewords or afterwords
• Including relevant information in the writer’s bio and updating their Wikipedia page
• Applying for grants
• Representing authors in their absence
• Writing memoirs about their work process
• Acting as an intermediary between authors, publishers, editors, sponsors, cultural organisations and other people involved in the translation and publishing process, both in the source culture and the target culture
• Putting together projects that involve cultural organisations, development agencies, public bodies, universities and other establishments (also known as scheming)
• Increasing the visibility of international literature, diversity, multilingualism and multiculturalism

Had more respondents ticked all the boxes next to “translator” rather than “someone else”, there would be no urgent need to explore this matter further. However, this wasn’t the case. While “translating” was unsurprisingly the unanimous choice, each of the other activities was chosen by no more than 20% of respondents.

Considering the importance of the mission translators carry out in diversifying and enriching world literature [...] this state of affairs calls for more public awareness

This survey shows an interesting trend. It is evident that the items on the list do need to get done. They comprise a must-do list: not only practical but necessary. They provide international authors with a wider readership, expanding our understanding of the world, promoting multilingualism, giving voice to marginalised languages and cultures, diversifying the literary landscape, and many more. Translation-adjacent tasks are a mission, and it’s translators who very often end up with this mission. Why? Well, if anything, because no one else is willing to take it on. Even if they are, they won’t necessarily be able to do it.

These tasks signal several problems. One: there is apparently no established practice for translators to be empowered, financially and otherwise, to perform them. Not widely recognised as a direct part of a translator’s job, they are also rarely remunerated. Two: there is seemingly no established practice for someone else to effectively take them over from translators.

Even if the dream-like, hypothetical “someone else” did exist and was willing to take up all the tasks on the list (properly leaving translators with only translating), translators would still need to be consulted. A translator inhabits multiple worlds, navigating both source and target languages and cultures; this makes them a go-to person with the knowledge and skills needed for these tasks – knowledge and skills others might not have. But performing them demands a significant amount of time, effort and prowess, all on top of the other thing translators do, at least according to the majority of the survey respondents: actually translating.

While there have been some promising developments in this area, initiated both at an institutional level as well as by translators themselves, they still feel more like separate instances, results of individual efforts rather than a consistent movement. Considering the importance of the mission translators carry out in diversifying and enriching world literature, and the enormous potential of what could be done given the right conditions, this state of affairs calls for more public awareness, consistency and acknowledgment.

Although industry professionals might – or at least should – have more insight than the general public, there remains significant room to deepen their understanding and support for the range and multifariousness of translators’ labour. The ways that the publishing industry can show up for translators include providing them not only with visibility (such as featuring their names on book covers and spotlighting them in publicity events), but also with financial viability, where translation-adjacent activities can be reflected in contracts, grants and institutional support programmes just as a translation fee, as well as opportunities for translators to have agent representation. 

All this stems from being aware of a translator as a valuable asset across multiple avenues. If there is to be a better mechanism, it should start with a better understanding of translators, whose work goes far beyond single-tasking. We can only really know Clark Kent if we recognise that they are also Superman.

An earlier version of this essay appeared in Words Without Borders in December 2024.