This is something of a strange topic, and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it, but I recently received a PM from a ffn.net member asking whether it was cool if he could translate my fic into German.

This question then goes out other authors: how would you respond to something like this? While I'm extremely flattered, I would be a little concerned that a bad translation might misinterpret the overall message of the story. And then there's the issue of credit - obviously, the author of the translation would want to post it on his account, so how can you make sure credit for the actual content still remains with you?

I dunno - DLP has had many authors that have been way more successful than I have, and I can only assume that you've gotten similar requests before. What have you done, and what do you feel about this sort of thing?

 

Extremely valid topic that I'm surprised I haven't seen before though I'm sure it's been discussed at length in the bowels of some topic or another.

In my view it'd be a case of getting a few chapters as a sample and having them proof read by someone who actually speaks the language.

If they said it was cool I would give the all clear but that's just me. in my eyes, as long as I was given the credit due it wouldn't be too big of a deal but a lot of that could be down to the fact that the longest piece I've written is shy of 30k words.

How you feel about it is another matter and up to the author in question.

Just remember that while you've poured your heart and soul into this fic it's still a fanfic and meant to be written for the enjoyment of others, not for personal gain. If it's ok in another language make sure the credit's given and move on.

OF is worth more of your stress.

 

Yeah I've received such offers many times over the years.

I said go for it each time, mostly because of Seratin's reasoning. The story isn't technically 'mine'. I wrote it, sure, but it doesn't belong to me. There is an audience for translated works.

What happens (well, what always seems to happen) is that this guy of yours, Silens, will start translating. He'll get maybe a half dozen chapters in and posted and just stop. It's a lot of work, more so than most realise.

I think there's a French version of Wastelands out there somewhere, up to about Chapter 18, but no one has ever actually finished a translation of my stories.

 

There's a Polish forum where they attempt to translate some fanfics. I even thought about joining their effort, as I did some translations myself while studying (and I wasn't THAT bad at it).
The problem is that when it comes to Wastelands (it was one of fics translated), Harry's insanity just doesn't feel the same, unfortunately, some of it's meaning and awesomeness is lost in transition. Besides it's weird for me to read anything Harry Potter related in any other language besides English...

 

My experience matches Joe's. I always give permission when asked (just like I always give permission if anyone wants to continue with one of my stories), but have yet to see anything substantial come out of a request to translate.

As a writer, you get the best of both worlds: if the translation is good, it gets out of the way of the story and you reap the credit. If the translation sucks, readers will blame the translator and not the original author.

For what it's worth, Jeconais has had stories translated into different languages. It may be worth dropping him a note to ask about his experiences...

 

I've never been asked about a translation, but I got enough requests for 'permission' to do omakes or use an idea I came up with in another story that I just gave a blanket 'yes.'

Bottom line is, they're stories. I want them to reach the biggest audience they can.

Yeah, I'd like a credit, so if someone likes it, they know where to find more, but I can't do the translation myself, so if someone else wants to, I'm flattered.

 

Fuck yeah!

I got a request to translate my Azkaban story into German a while ago, and was like “Fuckin’ right I’ll allow that!”
Who the hell gives a shit what people do with my stories, all I care about is that people like them/find them moderately interesting.

It’s kind of disappointing to see people like Joe, Silens, Perspicacity, and Little Chicago, all seem to think these requests go nowhere…

I’d really like to see my stuff in other languages…

 

It's too fucking hard to translate a story and preserve it's excelence. It is not an issue from the action itself, it's because you change what the writer did in the first time to adapt it to other language.
I started to read The Lord of the Rings when I was a kid, it was the translated to Spanish novel, and I loved it. But when I read it in it's original language I discovered that a lot of little things where cut. Essentialy I wasn't reading Tolkien's work, I was reading a translation made by some guy about Tolkien's work. With the subjectivity of that guy, not Tolkien's. And no matter what good you are translating, you can't translate what the author was feeling or thinking while he was writing a particular scene.
I know it would mean a lot to some authors here, but brace yourselves to see a story that doesn't belong to you alone anymore, and was changed to fit. For example, Shezza's Denarian series are superb in English, but maybe in Spanish, or Italian, would be an above average read.

 

Don't feel that flattered, there's a Polish translation of Aunt's Love.

 

One of my stories, Darkly Dreaming Harry, was translated into french.

Now, I don't know french -- although as a Canadian I should probably get on that -- so I have no Idea how good the translation is, but it's quite flattering that someone liked my story enough to take the time to translate it.