Fantasy novels in other countries

**Nimea** · September 5th, 2003, 04:15 PM

For some weeks now I entertained myself with these questions. After reading Mithfanion's comment about a Dutch fantasy trilogy on another thread, I decided to finally start this thread.

And what is it about?
It is about non-english fantasy, so to say. I want to post some questions for those of us whose mother tongue is not English.
Here we go:

- Do you read more English than your own language? And if so, why?
- How are the translations from all the UK/US/Australian novels?
- How is the market for fantasy novels in your country? Good, bad, non-existant? How is fantasy received?
- What about novels written in your language? Are there many fantasy writers? Are there any good that you wish would be known outside of your country? Or are there even books that were translated and published in the UK or US?

You don't need to answer all the questions! Those are just things that came to my mind . . . maybe some will even post about books that were translated from other languages than English.

Oh, it reminds me of reading the Locus' 'International Reports' in the August edition.

Ogier · September 5th, 2003, 04:33 PM

-I have just recently - 'bout a year ago - started to read books in English instead of Finnish. The main reason is the WoT.

It was much easier to buy all of them in English because in the translations the Finnish publisher - in the hope of making more money, of course - has decided to divide every book at least into two books, most into three

-And to answer the fantasy market situation... In my local book store there are some fantasy novels, most of them in Finnish unfortunately, but if you want to get a more "exotic" book you would have to order it. And by exotic I mean names like Gemmel, Goodkind or Feist.

I didn't even know there were authors with such names before I bumped in these forums...

And to mention a few of the translated writers: Le Guin, Eddings, Weis & Hickman and other Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms authors and Jordan, for example.

Bardos · September 6th, 2003, 03:33 AM

- Do you read more English than your own language? And if so, why?

I certainly do, not because I like the English language more than the Greek one, but b/c I like reading something in the language that it was mean to be (and the translations are usually... not good enough), and b/c there is actually no fantasy in Greek, apart from a few books I can count in my fingers!

- How are the translations from all the UK/US/Australian novels?

Depends on the translator. (I have translated texts my self, and they are the worst.

j/k) But any translation can't be like the original.

- How is the market for fantasy novels in your country? Good, bad, non-existant?

I'd say average, for translations and English books. But there actually isn't any market to talk about for Greek fantasy books.

How is fantasy received?

Most people don't know the term "fantasy". I think that says something...

- What about novels written in your language? Are there many fantasy writers?

There are (and here's one, too

), but most are not published, nor do the published ones expect to get any real money out of it.

Are there any good that you wish would be known outside of your country? Or are there even books that were translated and published in the UK or US?

Fantasy books, no. But, apart from the real bad ones, I don't think any Greek fantasy writer has anything to be jealous of writers like Salvatore or Weis & Hickman. And some dedicated ones might even compare with Erikson, Martin, etc. I think that counts for people of other countries, too. It's just that English is the Common Tongue, so to say, so it's a language for the big market. Other languages can't compare with that. And, if there is no gain in the publishing of fantasy, it isn't there any publishing to talk about.

For more Greek fantasy litterature --> http://fankingdom.topcities.com

Blackwing · September 8th, 2003, 08:13 AM

Do you read more English than your own language?
Yes. 90% of what I read is in English. The others are mainly translations from languages I can't read.

And if so, why?
English is a big market so a lot of different things are published in it. Finnish is such a small market that only things that already have a wide readerbase are published. Unfortunately for me the current trend (for the last 100 years and into the unforeseeable future) in Finland for the masses is realistic.

How are the translations from all the UK/US/Australian novels?
They wary a lot depending on the publisher. Hobb has a decent translation although he (the translator) doesn't seem to know the difference between a stallion and a gelding. (He doesn't know a lot about horses and isn't payed enough to find out.) Salvatore and Cunningham have... well, I really doubt that the translators are professionals. Let's just say that they suck. Haven't read Jordan or Eddings in a long time, but my impression is that the translations are good. Potter translation is at least very through.

Most seem to be US novels. Btw, the translators are not respected and payed quite little, which of course shows in the translation. Current trend: quickly and cheaply.

How is the market for fantasy novels in your country? Good, bad, non-existant?

For traditional fat fantasy they seem to be good. At least everything possible from Eddings, Jordan, Salvatore, Tolkien and Weiss & Hickman are being published. The first Gemmell book is coming out this autumn. The Tawny Man trilogy is coming out. (The Farseer has been translated, but the Liveship Traders haven't. And wont.

)

How is fantasy received?
Thanks to the LoTR films and Harry Potter there has been a Tolkien-boom, which seem to have aided the fat fantasy-boom. Gaiman is also popular.

It's still seen as a kids/teenagers thing. This, I suspect, influences a lot what is published in the Finnish language. See below.

What about novels written in your language?
Most Finnish fantasy has been written for teenagers. I haven't been one for quite some time, so I haven't read them. Finnish publishers (and hence the reading public) lean toward realistic, so most (about 90%, I'd say) fantasy is translated.

Are there many fantasy writers?
For kids and teens I can think of five of the top of my head. There are couple of more serious writers, but they seem to lean more toward short stories.

Are there any good that you wish would be known outside of your country? Or are there even books that were translated and published in the UK or US?

Yup. Johanna Sinisalo. "Not Before Sundown" is the book's name. I expect that the translation is quite different. The original was written in the first person and played with the idea that the reader couldn't know the main character's gender for quite some time. Since we don't have different genderforms in the third form like English does (he/she vs. han), it was quite easy to do in Finnish.

Honestly, I can think of a few Finnish short story writers who might sell quite well if they were writing in English. Although, I've heard that Americans don't try out a writer who is known to be a foreigner. Except English fellows.

allanon · September 10th, 2003, 01:25 AM

Well, I prefer reading in English than in Bulgarian. The language is faster, richer and however, more detailed. I actually find the English language almost perfect. The translations, with few exceptions are bad. Very bad. To sa it clearly, awful. There are two or three - certainly no more than five - good fantasy translators, but clearly not enough. The most popular authors in Bulgaria... J.K. Rowling, to begin. Her "Harry Potter" books sold 200,000 copies in my country and here a book rarely sells more than 2,000. Tolkien is quite famous, as well as Feist, Jordan and in lesser degree, Eddings, Goodkind, le Guin and Zelazny. Currently the mania is about R. A. Salvatore, who finally was published (The Icewind Dale).
The Bulgarian fantas authors are few, and even fewer are the good ones. Actually, the best Bulgarian fantasy novel was published here last year and it was called "Vow of the Seven" or something like that. It was an epic story about various lands, magic items and evil dark god, who is returning and it was quite nice. but the most popular Bulgarian author is Plamen Mitrev, known even in the USA as Leonard Carpenter. He writes about Conan.

**Nimea** · September 11th, 2003, 04:35 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by allanon
but the most popular Bulgarian author is Plamen Mitrev, known even in the USA as Leonard Carpenter. He writes about Conan.

Ah! Learned something new.

And now it's time to answer my own questions.

- Do you read more English than your own language? And if so, why?
Yes, the English books got more and more. It’s because I love the language and because I often don’t want to wait one or even two years for a translation. The German book I only buy if it is cheaper and better looking.

So maybe every 5th book I read is German . . . or even less.

- How are the translations from all the UK/US/Australian novels?
Depends, as always. Generally we have a lot of good translators in Germany, but as it seems they are not so often used for fantasy books.

It happened twice that I found a wrong translation without knowing the original. That’s really bad and sometimes I wonder what the editors do all the day. A friend of mine reads GRRM in German and he told me about some bad translations in there, too.
Yet, the translation of ‘Perdido Street Station’ was highly praised and won the Kurt-Laßwitz-award this year. Last year it was the translation of ‚To say nothing of the Dog’ (Connie Willis) and that book I totally enjoyed in German!

- How is the market for fantasy novels in your country? Good, bad, non-existant? How is fantasy received?
Good, I would say. We get every big name and sometimes we even get the gems.
Goldmann/Blanvalet (belongs to RandomHouse Germany) publishes lots of writers from the UK and USA (they have GRRM and Erikson, they also have the TSR bestsellers like Dragonlance and Salvatore).
Heyne is a weird publisher. It has bestsellers and a lot of stupid stuff, but the fantasy and sci-fi section is quite well, I think. Here you get ‚Fantasy Masterworks’, Robert Jordan, Michael Moorecook and a lot of other stuff.
Then there are some others with a nice programm (Knaur publishes Jacqueline Carey, Piper is going to publish Dart-Thornton and Barry Hughart) and even some small publishers.
And we have a lot of websites about fantasy and sci-fi – so there are a lot of places to get informed, both about English and German releases.
Hobbit: First part of ‚Ash’ was published this month (bei Bastei Lübbe).

The big bookshops have well-sorted fantasy shelves – in the English language section as well.

Big complaint: covers and the ‚let’s publish this novel in two parts’-style. At least the latter thing can be explained. For one thing they need to earn the (big) money they spent on the foreign authors and German is a little wordier that English – so the page count gets up.

Nonetheless fantasy is not received well in general. Most people think it’s quite stupid – even so lots of people read Harry Potter and watch/read LotR – and even don’t make a difference between science fiction and fantasy. They think that only nerds or geaks read this stuff. At least I can explain part of that: booksellers for example register in their minds only those that look like nerds or geaks and buy fantasy books. The rest, the ‚normal-looking’ people don’t count.

. . . was about to start ranting, but it would have been too off-topic . . .

It probably is not much different in other countries. And here fantasy never enters the bestseller list, but still a lot of books are published, so it probably doesn’t sell too bad. Maybe I should try to find out about sales numbers . . .

- What about novels written in your language? Are there many fantasy writers? Are there any good that you wish would be known outside of your country? Or are there even books that were translated and published in the UK or US?
There are some. Sure, we have more translated works than originals, just like in every other genre in Germany. Nonetheless we write a lot of stuff ourselves (overall we have 80.000 new titles [German and translations from all over the world] each year; 800.000 books are available).
Heyne even started to promote German authors. By the way, here you can take a look at Heyne’s upcoming fantasy novels.
Some are even good. And some might be translated. Just now, I don’t really know any. Only classics like Michael Ende or in some way ‚Thief Lord’ by Cornelia Funke. And I personally have not found a German fantasy novel that is really great – only a sci-fi book comes to my mind.

Anything else? Mmh, yeah, probably. For example I could go on about YA fantasy . . . but that is by far enough already.

Dallandra · September 11th, 2003, 07:30 AM

Do you read more English than your own language? And if so, why?

I do read more in swedish and in finnish than in english, mostly because I'm so slow when I read in english! But I have started to read more inenglish and am becoming faster!

How are the translations from all the UK/US/Australian novels?

Well I don't like them, I hate it when they translate names!! They do that in many books, Lotr is one that really goes on my nerves when they have translated a lot of names so they sound really stupid!

**Nimea** · September 12th, 2003, 01:50 PM

Shame on me, I totally forgot a series that I greatly enjoyed and would like to see translated - I think . . . you know, I read this books years ago and really don't know if I would enjoy them now.

It's called Enwor and is 10 novels long, written by Wolfgang Hohlbein, one of our most productive fantasy authors.
He wrote about 150 books and most young fantasy readers in Germany read at least some of his books.
I have read about 30 books by him but that is fairly enough. He repeats himself and is not very creative anymore - at least in my eyes. Enough is enough.
But Enwor (the world's name) was great and I was totally hooked. The main character (with the inventive name 'Skar' - he has a distinctive scar on his face) is an experienced warrior of a mighty warrior order. The story is dark, gritty and depressiv at moments but ends with one of the best end scenes I can remember.

Only a few years ago Hohlbein published an eleventh book in the series and there are supposed to be 2 more - I can't make myself read them because I fear my wonderful memories are going to be destroyed . . .

allanon · September 13th, 2003, 12:27 AM

Dhallandra wrote: "Well I don't like them, I hate it when they translate names!!"
I can understand you, the same problem here. very foolish thing that is, translating the names of the characters.

**Hobbit** · September 13th, 2003, 04:38 AM

Greetings, linguists!

Nimea - thank you (I notice these things you know!)

I'm always amazed when I look around and see how hard it is for people to get hold of sf/Fantasy books - even the stuff that is bestsellers in England/US. It was like that here in the early 1970's though - apart from Moorcock and Tolkien, they were thin on the ground. For all our moans and groans about certain authors, not so these days, thank goodness!

I am also even more amazed at people's linguistic skills. Languages were often my weakest area at school (apart from perhaps sports!).

So to take on a book in a different language I'm always in awe of. Congratulations to all who do so!

An old girlfriend of mine once many many years ago bought me a copy of an Issac Asimov story collection in french. I got so frustrated at it because I wanted to read more Asimov, but had to get the dictionary every other line! (Now I think about it, that's probably why she bought me it!

)

So this thread is fascinating - particularly when you realise that translations are not always the same as the English version...as Dall has pointed out.

It also points out the global nature of our Forum - something I am still amazed by!

Nimea - I've heard of Hohlbein, but not read any. Don't think any have been translated into English.

Thanks for the info, though!)

Hobbit

**Nimea** · September 13th, 2003, 02:17 PM

Hobbit,
Hohlbein was translated into a lot of other languages, but not English.

I don't know if that will ever happen . . .

Blackwing · September 14th, 2003, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by allanon
Dhallandra wrote: "Well I don't like them, I hate it when they translate names!!"
I can understand you, the same problem here. very foolish thing that is, translating the names of the characters.

I used to think that too, but lately I've slowly come to realize that sometimes you just have to translate the names. Usually, when characters have names that mean somthing (such as Dove Falconhand) the author wants the reader to know what the name means. Sometime the name is even a big part of the character's theme in the book (Hobb's Brashen). For all of us who know the language it is quite easy to puzzle these things out. But the translation is done for people who don't know the language. That's why it's translated in the first place!

So for those people you have to translate the names of people and places.
What's the alternative? Leave the names and either
a, leave out possibly a big part of the theme/irony of the reading
b, make footnotes explaning the words

c, have a list of the names and their meaning at the front of the book.

I like none of those options. And readers are not used to them either which means that the publishers don't like 'em either.

Bardos · September 14th, 2003, 03:16 PM

In the Greek translation of the Farseer Trilogy, they did (b) you mentioned (non-translated names with foot-note). I can assure you it was ugly...

I, too, like the meaningfull names to be translated -- with one exception: If the name sounds too stupid to exist in the given language.