Comments on: Books I Didn’t Know I Wrote

By: tommi

tommi — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 09:54:09 +0000

Just to add another novel: James Blish’s “Earthman, Come Home” was translated to “Stadt zwischen den Planeten” by the German publisher Goldmann.

Doctorow’s “Eastern Standard Tribe” became “Upload”.

And just to quote what is probably the longest title, where the translator might have mistaken himself for an author … “Pavane” by Keith Roberts translates to, and I will use the German title: “Die folgenschwere Eermordung ihrer Majestät Königin Elisabeth I.” Which is not so far from the content. As for title-conversions it’s quite surreal though.

As for covers: Publishers go with the trend and with common symbolism. Hardly any publisher worldwide is willing to risk something these days.

Dan Brown covers for example all look alike in Germany although especially his early stuff doesn’t fit with the “Da Vinci Code” (translated to “Sakrileg”, btw.) spleen. “Digital Fortress” was published in Germany as “Diabolus” well after “Da Vinci” and seven years after the original publication. Title and cover suggest: More of the same. And erm … in a way it is.

So you, Mr Scalzi, have opened a pandora’s box here …

By: Rupert

Rupert — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 20:28:58 +0000

There is a long, sad list of poor translation of titels. Especially in the 70ties the was completely horrible. For example: “Logans Run” was translatet in “Escape into the 23rd Century”. Hell, they must have been on drugs all day long. In the 70ties, they would name you first book “A Dirty Old Man on His Way to Hell.” So consider yourself lucky. Today it is a bit better, but still there are many times I completely disagree with the titel. In the end of course you get used to it. And everything, what Dirk wrote is true. The German SF market besides of Perry Rhodan who still interest an incredible amount of readers is very small. A book that sold more than 10000 copies is considered as a major genre bestseller nowerdays. They sell tons of Fantasy, but SF is different. But do not dare to start writing Fantasy novels.

By: Julia

Julia — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 04:16:50 +0000

As Markus has said, “Old Man’s war” in German would imply the adventures a space-faring hostel for senior citizens, which is not really what the novel is about. I'm going to write that novel now, though! On a similar topic, when Alfred Hitchcock adapted W. Somerset Maugham's novel Ashenden for the screen, he called it Secret Agent, because "Ashenden" didn't have that zing. But then when he adapted Conrad's novel The Secret Agent, he was kind of screwed. So he called that one Sabotage. Later, Peter Viertel (and others, including Dorothy Parker) wrote a script called Sabotage. Hitchcock wound up getting attached to the picture, so to avoid confusion, they named the thing Saboteur.

By: Dirk van den Boom

Dirk van den Boom — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 09:45:26 +0000

As one of those who occasionally translates SF and Fantasy into German, I feel obliged to add a short comment :)
First, yes, translations are paid badly and translators have to produce a lot of paper/day in order to make a decent living. Therefore, there is not much time for revisions, contemplation and stylistic detail, as the novel has to be finished, another one is waiting and bills have to be paid. That’s simply a fact of life and so much I’d like it to change, it is necessary to point out that German MMPs are already more expensive than US ones, increasing the translator’s bill would make them even more expensive which would lead to diminishing sales.
Secondly, some English titles which sound nice and interesting in English do not translate well into German. As Markus has said, “Old Man’s war” in German would imply the adventures a space-faring hostel for senior citizens, which is not really what the novel is about. I agree that some alternative German titles are as problematic, but many times a direct translation is not feasible.

By: JSW

JSW — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 18:33:29 +0000

One of the German title-translations I find very irritating: “Sinn und Sinnlichkeit” for the movie-adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility”. It roughly translates to “Sense and Sensuality”. Didn’t know she also wrote bodice-rippers…

By: Anna

Anna — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 09:54:24 +0000

The soup ads are common knowledge as they are in many SF of Fantasy books at least since the early 70ies (according to the book collection of my father) we had actually contests of finding the soup ad as fast as possible by flicking through the pages.
There isn´t that much danger of mistaking them for parts of the story as they are always on a extra page, have different font or blackened lines and often also a small depiction of the trademark.
On top of that the ad text is always a repitition of a scene directly previous to the ad only with eating soup (and sometimes really drinking tea… the ads were for Maggi soup or Teekanne tea) into the text.

By: Cora

Cora — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:44:31 +0000

@John F. Opie

Regarding the Niven novel, I wonder whether Heyne didn’t republish an East German translation without checking it first.

Or the translator had a political axe to grind and no one noticed.

By: Norm

Norm — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:35:49 +0000

(With a little more time on my hands I would do a photoshop version of the Heyne “Marley” cover with the lab firing lazer beams.)

By: Norm

Norm — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:32:51 +0000

I’m curious what the cover would be should you name a novel “laser beam-firing ships.” Possibly they would go with a photo of a puppy golden retriever.

PS Call me should your book tour ever cover Berlin or Vienna.

By: Another Andrew

Another Andrew — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:49:16 +0000

Mike@40; Your reference seems to confirm ATMachine's statement that the specific title (though not, of course, the need for a change) was Rowling's idea. I still think something more generic would have been better; the change to 'Sorcerer's Stone' meant that the name of the stone also had to be changed, thus losing a significant real-life reference. Apropos of other remarks above, I did see it proposed somewhere, before the actual title of the last book was announced, that Rowling should cause confusion by calling it Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. This would not in fact have been a totally inappropriate title, since 'Sorcerer's Stone' would be a suitable name for one of the artefacts which features in Deathly Hallows.