I delivered my latest translation of a novel to the editor in late February and so am currently in between book contracts. At first, it feels wonderful to be free of a huge project that has been on my plate for months. Before long, however, I miss it and am anxious for the next project. There’s no shortage of things to do in between book contracts, though, and I’m kept pretty busy with the following:

1. Read. Finally, you can read for pleasure without worrying that your translation may be “infected” by another voice. You’ve likely got a stack of books you want to get to, so dive in. Some of those may actually be new works in your source language and it’s important to keep up with the industry, not to mention find the next book you want to translate.

2. Network. Now that you have more time, you can actively pursue future opportunities. Reach out to former editors, let them know you’re currently available; pursue authors you admire; connect with other writers, translators and editors on LinkedIn.

3. Learn. This is the perfect time to brush up on writing skills, editing practices, anything at all that will help you in your career — or simply something you like to do but don’t always have time for!

4. Blog. This time in between contract is the perfect time to write all the posts you might have drafted or simply jotted down as ideas. It’s a good time to offer guest posts to other writers, too, in order to build community.

5. Write. With less on your plate, there’s time to tend to your own writing projects. Every minute spent writing in whatever genre is well spent.

6. Prepare sample translations. Undoubtedly, there are other works you’re interested in translating… Well, this is the perfect time to work on a sample translation to try and find a publisher.

7. Plan the book release. It can often be several months — or even a year — between when you deliver the translation to the publisher and when it is released. But since most of the marketing that promotes not just the book and the author, but you as the translator, is up to you, it’s never too early to start thinking about how you will promote this new work.

8. Update resumes, profiles and websites. Now that the translation has been delivered to the editor, you can add the book to your professional profile as “forthcoming”.

9. Reconnect. If you’re anything like me, you were likely completely consumed by this latest project and may have let some of your personal relationships slide. Now is a good time to get back to your exercise regime, go for coffee with a friend, have that date night.

10. Rest. Do give yourself some time to rest without feeling guilty. Literary translation is intense work; your brain quite likely needs a little down time. Give it that so you can give your all to the next book.

What else do you do in between projects?

Readers Ask
Every now and then I will present questions that readers of Intralingo have sent regarding different aspects of literary translation, along with my answers. I’m hoping you’ll weigh in with your thoughts in a comment as well!

Hi Lisa,

I came across your website from another translator who gave me the link. I, too, translate from Spanish to English, and I am intrigued by your website and by literary translations in general.

Can I find published works and translate them for my sample translations? If I can’t, or that isn’t ethical, what samples can I use?

Also, I recently contacted many Spanish publishing companies to no avail. What is the best way to approach them, and how can I get them to “give me a chance”?

Sincerely,

Katie

~~~~~

Katie,

In terms of translating published works as samples, yes, you can do that, but you *cannot* then submit those for publication anywhere without first establishing who owns the copyright and whether the rights are available for your language.

It is, however, excellent practice, for your own edification.

If you want to use the samples you translate, then start with something that has a chance. I suggest you read literary magazines in Spanish, find a story or essay you like, write the author and get permission to translate it. That way you can then try to get your translation published. If it’s a work that has already been published in English or the rights have been optioned or are just hard to determine, your translation sample can’t go very far.

As for the contact you’ve had with Spanish publishers, I’m afraid that’s also par for the course with publishers… Unless you have a specific contact person, it’s hard to get a reply.

You’re also going to need to get some publishing credits first. Start by trying to publish a translation in a literary magazine — there are more and more of them. Build up a portfolio before reaching out to the big fish.

Also, if you want to translate into English and hope to work directly with a publisher, then you’re going to look at who’s buying translations of published works (English publishers) rather than who’s selling them (Spanish publishers).

Does this help? Any follow-up questions? Do let me know.

I attended a Style Boot Camp workshop this past weekend, sponsored by my local professional translation organization (ATIO), led by writer and editor Frances Peck:

Frances Peck is an editor and writer who has worked with words for over 20 years. She prepared the Canadian edition of The St. Martin’s Workbook, a grammar exercise book; co-authored the popular HyperGrammar website; wrote Peck’s English Pointers, an e-book (with quizzes) available on the Language Portal of Canada; and writes a column for the journal Language Update. A partner with West Coast Editorial Associates, Frances lives in Vancouver and teaches editing at Douglas College and Simon Fraser University.

Frances is known across Canada for her workshops. A magnificent presenter who clearly knows her grammar and editing, it was no wonder that most of the dozen or so participants were not first-time attendees. I can guarantee you I’ll be there for any other courses Frances offers!

In this particular workshop, we looked at three areas that affect style:

Consistency – avoiding needless shifts and improving parallelism

Flow – creating seamless transitions and emphasizing through subordination

Conciseness – zapping redundant words, shrinking wordy constructions, minimizing passive voice and expletives, weeding out weak verbs and using fewer nouns

Here are just a few of the tips I made particular note of to apply to my own translation and writing:

1. Watch for changes in tense over a paragraph or a span of prose. These shifts are easy to notice in a single sentence, but it’s important to review the entire document to make sure I am consistent throughout. This is particularly true in business-type translations from Spanish, where shifting tense is quite common.

2. Whenever possible, opt for active over passive sentences. This is an old truism as far as English goes, and I try to keep it in mind in my own writing. It is, however, something I have to watch out for since Spanish is much more prone to passive constructions. I’ve certainly been known to let it slip in to my translations more than is necessary.

3. Choose vocabulary appropriate to the style or tone of your piece. In translation, we often refer to how vocabulary can affect the “register” of a piece: formal, informal, slang, and so on. I find this is particularly important to keep in mind when translating dialogue in literary translation.

4. Be aware of your own writing style. I was nodding my head when Frances confessed that she is prone to long sentences in her first draft. Yup. Me too. Again, this may be an influence from the Spanish where long sentences are the norm. Whatever the case, I am paying more and more attention to the structure of my writing as I revise. My aim is to have a majority of medium-length sentences, with variations that are either longer or shorter.

5. Recognize the elements that lead to flow and use them. As Frances pointed out, flow is not some magical, innate ability that writers possess. All of us can achieve flow by effectively using things like parallel structures, transitional words and phrases.

6. Give your words more power and importance by eliminating those that are extraneous. This is likely the best reason of all to trim those redundant words and structures. I must admit that this one of my favorite aspects of editing, really paring down the language to make sure it achieves its full impact.

Any thoughts on these tips? Any others regarding consistency, flow or conciseness that you consistently apply? Do share in a comment!

There aren’t all that many movies out there about literary translators, but there is one documentary that I cannot recommend highly enough:

Woman with the Five Elephants

I saw this documentary at a special screening during Translate in the Catskills last August. It is about Svetlana Geier, a woman whose name you may not have ever heard of, but whose voice you might know if you ever read Dostoyevsky in German. (The “five elephants” are Dostoyevsky’s tomes: Crime and Punishment,The Idiot, The Brothers Karamazov, The Devils, and The Raw Youth.)

The film offers the most intimate look at Svetlana’s personal and professional life. In her eighties, we see her preparing family dinners, mourning the loss of her son, we learn of her childhood and her father’s imprisonment by Stalin, her work as interpreter for the for the Nazis. We watch Svetlana write translations out by hand, have them read and reviewed by her longtime friend, she adamantly making a case for her word choices.

Svetlana is hunched with age but independent, with determination and verve in her eyes. Svetlana embodies, I think, what many of us literary translators envisage our lives to be as we age: still working with passion until the end of our days. Indeed, not long after the documentary was made, Svetlana Geier died at the age of 87.

Sitting in the small local theatre, surrounded by other translators who share my dedication to this art, I felt enormously proud to be a literary translator, hopeful that I can do even a smidge of what Svetlana Geier did for world literature.

If you would like more information on this marvellous documentary, check out:

* This New York Times review.

* An interview with the filmmaker, Vadim Jendreyko.

* NPR’s review.

Have you seen the movie? What did you think? Do you know of other films about translators?

I’ve just moved into a house with major renovations still underway. In other words, as I sit here on a chair (no desk) in a room that is both my office and a makeshift kitchen, my laptop, well, on my lap, and sheer chaos in every room that surrounds me, my creativity has been seriously stifled.

I have a novel to reread, a translation sample of it to prepare, not to mention an ebook to revise, but my mind jumps to the million little things to be done in the house.

Chaos does that to me. I need to be challenged, yes. I need deadlines and a busy schedule to get my best work done. But if too much is going on, if my desk is too messy (or, um, if I can’t even find my desk in the stacks of furniture!), then my brain feels similarly cluttered.

Organization is therefore a priority. With a clean space in this, our new house, our first house, with sun shining in the huge new windows that my incredible, handy partner Jon just installed, I will find the serenity I need to be creative.

Does a certain amount of chaos work for or against you?