Literary translation, a one-of-a-kind practical guide

Alles verandert altijdLiterary translation nowadays is one of the most popular areas of translation. What do you need to do, what do you need to know to create an enjoyable literary translation?

Literary translators may find useful the manual "Alles verandert altijd. Perspectieven op literair vertalen," published recently by Leuven University Press. "Alles verandert altijd. Perspectieven op literair vertalen" (meaning "Everything changes, always. Perspectives on literary translation") is a 278-page manual that brings together the contributions of 23 experts in the field of translation.

It is a unique work: it deals not only with the rules, the art of translation or the skills necessary to work in the field of literary translation, but it also deals with the economic and financial aspects, the basic knowledge and skills that literary translation requires and subsequent operations of review, marketing and promotion.

The first part of the book is a practical guide to the most common questions: the reader can learn about contracts, translation rights, how to further develop the necessary skills in the field of literary translation, the relationship with the author, how to deal with possible existing translations of the text and the advantages and disadvantages of teamwork.

The second part deals in detail with some general features of literary translation: equivalence, translator creativity, multilingual texts and realia.

In the third part, the book focuses on the three traditional literary genres of fiction: prose, poetry and theatre. But the reader can also find contributions dedicated to the translation of philosophical texts, nonfiction, literature for children and young adults, since these are genres that nowadays are strongly present in the literary offer.

Finally, the last part of the book deals with the phases of review and self-review, the promotion of the translation by the translators themselves and the evaluation of the quality of the translation. It is therefore a manual that can be used as a template for translation courses, tutoring, conferences, translation events and other public activities with the same goal: to contribute to the translator's expertise and to establish a dialogue between beginner and experienced translators.

In addition, one of the contributions in the manual refers to the "privileged" position of translators working in the Dutch-speaking area, compared to the position of translators working in other countries.

The publication of the manual "Alles verandert altijd. Perspectieven op literair vertalen" is unparalleled and provides interesting insights and advice regarding literary translation, which until now were only accessible to a limited number of industry experts. As translators and experts in the language sector, it is important to stay up to date, discover the secrets of the trade, stay alert and continue to grow, to always produce texts that are as good as the original work and that act as a way to connect the author to his foreign audience.

To find out more, read the article published on De Taalsector (a Dutch-language online platform for language professionals) or visit the book's website "Alles verandert altijd. Perspectieven op literair vertalen" (in dutch).


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Author: Margherita Pancaldi

Machine translation: SDL Machine Translation (previously SDL BeGlobal)

Post-editing: Margherita Pancaldi

Source language: italiano (it)


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