{"id":988,"date":"2012-06-21T12:09:31","date_gmt":"2012-06-21T04:09:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=988"},"modified":"2012-06-21T12:09:31","modified_gmt":"2012-06-21T04:09:31","slug":"on-the-tyranny-of-big-languages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=988","title":{"rendered":"On the Tyranny of Big Languages"},"content":{"rendered":"

Publishing Perspectives <\/a>has published a perspective on a panel in which three European writers–Bulgaria\u2019s Kalin Terziiski<\/a>, Romania\u2019s R\u0103zvan R\u0103dulescu<\/a>, and the Czech Republic\u2019s Tom\u00e1\u0161 Zme\u0161kal<\/a>–discussed the state of literature and literary publishing around the world. The whole piece is worth a read, but to me, the most interesting question is whether, for writers in lesser-spoken languages, translators are more important than literary agents. The point is put this way:<\/p>\n

Zme\u0161kal went on to say that unless a writer is translated into one of the big languages \u2013 English, French, German, Spanish \u2013 then it becomes very hard to get translated into the smaller languages because those publishers are waiting for the kind of validation that comes with being published in a big market.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s not hard to see why. Since so-called “smaller languages” are actually languages of fewer speakers, there’s both a higher pressure on speakers of those languages to master the “big languages,” especially English, as well as a lower likelihood that enough speakers of those languages will master other languages–such as Chinese, say–at the level required to produce good translations. This has resulted in some interesting outcomes: in Romanian, one translator<\/a> has been responsible for both contemporary fiction and medieval literary theory; the first translation of\u00a0Cien a\u00f1os de soledad<\/em> into Chinese was done from Russian and English, not Spanish; and then of course there’s Croatian poet Miroslav Kirin<\/a>‘s translations of my translations of Xi Chuan… But fundamentally this is a big problem: we know that translations only account for a measly 3% of books published in the US each year–and according to Chad Post<\/a>, “in terms of literary fiction and poetry, the number is actually closer to 0.7%.” This means that not only are Americans exposed to appallingly little from the rest of the world, but American ignorance ends up enforcing itself upon the rest of the world’s literary cultures, as well. Of course, this is a phenomenon not limited to the world of literary publishing.<\/p>\n

If literature from smaller languages needs the help of translation into English before it can be translated into other smaller languages, then I’m afraid that literature from smaller languages isn’t getting much help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Publishing Perspectives has published a perspective on a panel in which three European writers–Bulgaria\u2019s Kalin Terziiski, Romania\u2019s R\u0103zvan R\u0103dulescu, and the Czech Republic\u2019s Tom\u00e1\u0161 Zme\u0161kal–discussed the state of literature and literary publishing around the world. The whole piece is worth … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3,16,7],"tags":[119,585,582,289,583,584,1654],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-fW","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":338,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=338","url_meta":{"origin":988,"position":0},"title":"Chinese Week at Norway’s Litteraturhuset","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"November 15, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"As I mentioned yesterday, Xi Chuan flew from Hongkong to Norway, where he's participating in Chinese Literature week at the House of Literature along with Wang Hui \u6c6a\u6656, Murong Xuecun \u6155\u5bb9\u96ea\u6751, Ma Jian \u9a6c\u5efa, Leslie T. Chang, Rebecca Karl, Michael Dutton, Yiyun Li \u674e\u7fca\u96f2, Hong Ying \u8679\u5f71, Mian Mian \u68c9\u68c9,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Litteraturhuset-China-Week.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4833,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=4833","url_meta":{"origin":988,"position":1},"title":"Translation Encounters: A Dialogue Between Authors and Translators","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"July 20, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Translation Encounters: A Dialogue Between Authors and Translators \"Translation Encounters: A Dialogue Between Authors and Translators\" features translators Jeffrey Angles, Jennifer Feeley, and Lucas Klein, who will be joined by their writers Hiromi It\u014d \u4f0a\u85e4 \u6bd4\u5442\u7f8e, Eva Wong Yi \u9ec3\u6021, and Xi Chuan \u897f\u5ddd to talk about their various collaborations:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Readings"","block_context":{"text":"Readings","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Translation-Encounters.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Translation-Encounters.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Translation-Encounters.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Translation-Encounters.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Translation-Encounters.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Translation-Encounters.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":847,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=847","url_meta":{"origin":988,"position":2},"title":"Xi Chuan at the London Book Fair","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"April 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The London Book Fair opens today, with China as the Guest of Honor. My friend the translator Bruce Humes compiled a list of China-related events, but his blog is down, so I'm re-posting here: April 16 Modern Chinese Masters: The launch of two new books in translation by Annie Baobei\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Jade Ladder"","block_context":{"text":"Jade Ladder","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=342"},"img":{"alt_text":"Digital Conference catch up","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.londonbookfair.co.uk\/RXUK\/RXUK_LondonBookFair\/images\/hero_full_registration_now_open.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.londonbookfair.co.uk\/RXUK\/RXUK_LondonBookFair\/images\/hero_full_registration_now_open.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.londonbookfair.co.uk\/RXUK\/RXUK_LondonBookFair\/images\/hero_full_registration_now_open.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":597,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=597","url_meta":{"origin":988,"position":3},"title":"\u8bd7\u4e1c\u897f Poetry East West","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"January 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"A new double issue of the Beijing \/ LA-based literary journal Poetry East West \u8bd7\u4e1c\u897f is out, featuring poems by Xi Chuan in my translation and a grand host of other poets translated into & out of Chinese, from Diana Shi and George O'Connell's Yu Jian \u4e8e\u575a to Charles Laughlin's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":643,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=643","url_meta":{"origin":988,"position":4},"title":"Publication of Shi Zhi’s Winter Sun","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"January 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Also in other contemporary Chinese poetry news, Winter Sun, the selected poems of Shi Zhi \u98df\u6307, translated by Jonathan Stalling, is now available from Oklahoma University Press--the first book in the Chinese Literature Today Book Series. 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