Publishing Translation Infographic

1
Publishing Sector Translation
The First Records of Publishing Translation
To this day there is still very little finite
data for the sector of publishing translation,
despite the invention of the Index
Translationum. One of the most comprehensive
search engines for literary translation, the
Index Translationum, was established in Geneva in
1931 by the League of Nations and is now under
the control of UNESCO. The Index Translationum
received worldwide popularity since it began in
1931 and has now become fully digitised.
Publishing Translation Business Highs
The Most Popular Translation Source Languages
German
English
Russian
French
Spanish
Swedish
Italian
Japanese
2
80
of the worlds translated material is published
in Europe, with literature translations
reportedly even higher.
In the early
there was a big increase in titles translated
from English.
1990s
there was a gap of almost 200 between
translations using English as a source language
and translations from the next most popular 25
languages.
In 1996
20,000
The annual number of literature titles translated
from English in Europe just before the year 2000.
10,000
The number of titles translated from the next
most popular 25 source languages in the same
period.
Why is English so popular as a source language
for translations, and yet translations with
English as the target language are not as popular?

• The global influence of American culture
• The use of American English as the international
  language of business
• Multi-culturalism in Britain already provides
  inhabitants with a sense of other cultures
  without resorting to foreign literature
• You can read literature about other cultures
  written by countrymen using the English language.
  Why distance yourself from an author through
  translation when you can get experience their
  authorship first hand in your own language?
• This may change as foreign language literature
  and more intense language training is introduced
  into the national education system.

Publishing Translation Business Highs
The Most Popular Translation Source Languages
German
English
Russian
Spanish
French
Italian
Japanese
Swedish
of the worlds translated material is published
in Europe, with literature translations
reportedly even higher.
80
In the early
there was a big increase in titles translated
from English.
1990s
there was a gap of almost double between
translations using English as a source language
and translations from the next most popular 25
languages.
In 1996
20,000
The annual number of literature titles translated
from English in Europe just before the year 2000.
10,000
The number of titles translated from the next
most popular 25 source languages In the same
period.
3
Literature Translation and Politics
40.000
The number of literature titles translated per
year globally, with this number already reached
in Europe a few years ago.
Over the years, political movements have played a
significant role in the statistics of literature
translations During the rise of the Fascist
regime, Italy was publishing more translated
literature than any other country in the world.
Political propaganda played a huge part in
raising these figures in the 1930s.
The Russian language saw a marked decline in
literary translations following the dissolution
of the Soviet Union, to a low of just 600
literary titles per year. In the last decade,
however, Russian regained some of its popularity,
and has since maintained figures about
600. After the fall of the Berlin wall, English
played a larger role in the publications of East
and West Germany, with figures beginning to spike
in 1990.
4
Literature Title Translations from 1990 2005
Literature titles translated from English rose
from 13,500 in 1990 to almost 25,000 in 2005
The number of literature titles translated from
the next most popular 25 languages went from
10,000 in 1990 to just under 14,000 in 2005.
All other languages continuously appeared around
the 1000 mark.
The Da Vinci Code Effect
11,500
1.8
24
Fiction books published in the UK every year.
of the fiction published in the UK had been
translated.
The output of translated published fiction in
Spain.
With the arrival of Dan Browns The Da Vinci
Code, Spanish translations of the title became
the best selling Spanish translation of fiction
ever recorded.
Usually, the US sells between 15,000 and 20,000
copies of fiction, which has been translated into
Spanish
El Codigo Da Vinci sold more than 300,000
copies in America alone, causing publishers to
start marketing English and Spanish titles at the
same time.
Literature titles translated from English rose
from 13,500 in 1990 to almost 25,000 in 2005
The number of literature titles translated from
the next most popular 25 languages went from
10,000 in 1990 to just under 14,000 in 2005.
The number of literature titles translated from
the next most popular 25 languages went from
10,000 in 1990 to just under 14,000 in 2005.
All other languages continuously appeared around
the 1000 mark.
All other languages continuously appeared around
the 1000 mark.
The Da Vinci Code Effect
11,500
1.8
24
Fiction books published in the UK every year.
of the fiction published in the UK had been
translated.
The output of translated published fiction in
Spain.
With the arrival of Dan Browns The Da Vinci
Code, Spanish translations of the title became
the best selling Spanish translation of fiction
ever recorded.
Usually, the US sells between 15,000 and 20,000
copies of fiction, which has been translated into
Spanish
El Codigo Da Vinci sold more than 300,000
copies in America alone, causing publishers to
start marketing English and Spanish titles at the
same time.
1.8
24
Fiction books published in the UK every year.
of the fiction published in the UK had been
translated.
The output of translated published fiction in
Spain.