u/Final-Strategy-506

Hi guys,

upon suggestion I made a new thread out of the discussion section of a previous one.

When it comes to publishing translations, what are the responsibilities of each party involved (publisher, editor, translator, author)? Who, for examples, chooses a title? Who has to communicate and discuss what with whom? And what do you do if the author is dead?

I am mainly interested in perspectives from smaller independent publishing houses of literature, but I am also interested in perspectives from other domains!

Hi guys,

upon suggestion I made a new thread out of the discussion section in the one I made before. When it comes to publishing literary translations, what are the responsibilities of each party involved (editor, translator, author)? Who, for examples, chooses a title? Who has to communicate and discuss what with whom? Which questions can only an author answer? And what do you do if the author is dead?

I'm asking about literary translations specifically, by which I mean texts where the translator has maybe more freedom, but I'm also about perspectives from other domains.

Hi guys,

I’m an editor from a European country and I work for a literary magazine, in which we regularly publish poems, prose, plays and translations. I joined the magazine three years ago, while still a graduate student of comparative literature, and absolutely love it, although it is a lot of work and mostly unpaid.

My favorite part is the editing process, where I work closely together with the writers and translators. Surprisingly, I find the writers (the ones writing in my native tongue as well as the ones who are being translated) mostly very relaxed and easy to talk to, whereas I often feel like I have to walk on eggshells with translators. Here, seemingly minor misunderstandings have in the past led to hostile e-mails and even accusations, which I guess comes from their precarious work conditions and constant struggle. Although I find this unfair, since I myself work precariously too and am even more invisible than translators, whose names we put on the cover, I try to be kind and understanding.

Yesterday, a translator (via e-mail) snapped at me again, because I compared her translation to a previous one, overlooking the word-to-word-translation she sent me in an earlier e-mail. I acknowledge that the mistake was on my side and apologized, since I did overlook her first e-mail, and offered to go through her translation alongside the word-to-word-translation again. But her tone made me feel like I made a way bigger mistake. It may be strange comparison to make, especially since in this example we are both white females, but I felt like my whole approach was problematic, similar to when you notice a blind spot regarding your own sexist or racist beliefs.

So what I'm trying to do now is to reflect my role as an editor of literary translations. What is expected from me? How should I enter the editing process? How and how much should I communicate with the translator and the author? What are my responsibilities, what are the ones of the translator? Would love to hear the perspective of literary translators and fellow editors.

(I know, the most important thing is enumeration, but unfortunately, we are sitting in the same boat here.)

Dear translators, 

I’m an editor from a European country and I work for a literary magazine, in which we regularly publish poems, prose, plays and translations. I joined the magazine three years ago, while still a graduate student of comparative literature, and absolutely love it, although it is a lot of work and mostly unpaid.

My favorite part is the editing process, where I work closely together with the writers and translators. Surprisingly, I find the writers (the ones writing in my native tongue as well as the ones who are being translated) mostly very relaxed and easy to talk to, whereas I often feel like I have to walk on eggshells with translators. Here, seemingly minor misunderstandings have in the past led to hostile e-mails and even accusations, which I guess comes from their precarious work conditions and constant struggle. Although I find this unfair, since I myself work precariously too and am even more invisible than translators, whose names we put on the cover, I try to be kind and understanding.

Yesterday, a translator (via e-mail) snapped at me again, because I compared her translation to a previous one, overlooking the word-to-word-translation she sent me in an earlier e-mail. I acknowledge that the mistake was on my side and apologized, since I did overlook her first e-mail, and offered to go through her translation alongside the word-to-word-translation again. But her tone made me feel like I made a way bigger mistake. It may be strange comparison to make, especially since in this example we are both white females, but I felt like my whole approach was problematic, similar to when you notice a blind spot regarding your own sexist or racist beliefs.

So what I'm trying to do now is to reflect my role as an editor. What do you, as literary translators, expect from me? How should I enter the editing process? How and how much should I communicate with you and the author? What are my responsibilities, what are yours?

I know, the most important thing is enumeration, but unfortunately, we are sitting in the same boat here...