My Dutch friends tell me that they read foreign (non-Dutch) novels that are translated into English rather than into Dutch.
Their English is very good, but their Dutch is clearly better. So, I ask, why read in English?
Their answer is simple: take a book originally in Swedish, like Stieg Larsson‘s wonderful Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. If somebody translates it into Dutch, the relatively small number of Dutch-speakers means that the market for the translation will be much smaller — and the royalties and profits smaller too — than the market for an English translation.
These smaller returns attract translators who are not as good as those attracted into translating a book into English; the supply curve of translators is upward-sloping.
My friends say they would rather read a good translation into a language they know well, but not perfectly, than a mediocre translation into their native language.
(Hat tip: G.P. and C.F.)
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This reminds me of the time I met a upper-level chemistry student from Sweden who said that many of her texts were in English because so few Swedes studied her (more-specific) subject.
English is the Microsoft of languages.
Also, since English is such a rich language due to its imense size, it allows for more accurate translations. That’s why I, as a swede, agree with your Dutch friends: If, for some reason, I can’t read the book in the original language (which is obviously always prefered), I’d rather go for the English translation.
The largest selling translation of the I Ching in China is the MIT (Bollingen) English version. It is well edited, complete and while most Chinese can’t read English, they can’t read the ancient languages from which the book is sourced either.
Here’s a couple more possible factors:
- English translations would typically be available earlier
- Problems in the translation might hurt Dutch eyes less when reading in English.
I wonder what this means for general language use and identity in the future.
I speak Dutch and English fluently and find that a big reason why i dont read foreign books translated to Dutch is that they are simply far more expensive than the English translation; you could end up paying twice as much for the same book which is why i will only read Dutch books written by Dutch authors and stick to English for the rest of them.
I am Portuguese and tend to read a lot of novels translated into English as well.
Besides what you mention, there’s another factor. Books in English are normally much cheaper than the same book in English. Probably due to the scale effect of book producing.
I also see a different story for the bad translation. While most people in the world speak English, there are only so many people that speak both good Portuguese and good Danish. So you probably have the the better translations to English.
For instance, books translated to Brazilian Portuguese are not much better than the European Portuguese versions, and they have a much bigger market.