I think even a bad translation is better than no translation at all, but for some reason the majority of books don’t seem to get translated. Why is that?
I think even a bad translation is better than no translation at all, but for some reason the majority of books don’t seem to get translated. Why is that?
Literary translator here. An average-sized book takes 4 months to translate, and I bill around 12k€.
90% of books don’t sell enough copies for the publisher to recoup the costs. And that’s books that have been picked amond hundreds because they’re good and/or might sell.
Additionally, you’d need armies of competent translators. It’s a complex skill that takes years to hone. Who would do it?