"Only 3% of all books published in United States are works in translation..."
This cross-posting of a comment I received may be of interest...
At 10:36am on April 16, 2011, Bob Gregory (Research Co-op member) said
Peter - I ran across this item on "the scout report" and thought it might be of interest to you and possibly others:
http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/
Launched in the summer of 2007, the Three Percent website is designed to be a "destination for readers, editors, and translators interested in finding out about modern and contemporary international literature." The "three percent" in question refers to the fact that only 3% of all books published in the United States are works in translation. The site includes translations and reviews by students at the University of Rochester, and there are also a number of prominent guest reviewers and commentators. On their homepage, visitors can check out their "Recent Reviews" area, and then look over their "Upcoming Translations Events". Also, the site contains links to their RSS feeds and copies of their in-house newsletter. Visitors can also receive additional information and inspiration via the "Reading the World" podcast and their extensive lists of related weblogs, literary journals, and publishers.
My reply:
Thanks... The group approach is really a good way to get written works translated, and also to give people experience of translation.
In 1985, on my very first visit to Japan, while I was still a research student in Australia, I was taken to a room at Kyoto University where a group of students were slowly, page by page, week by week, translating the major work of my own PhD teacher in Australia. Each student in turn would take a section home, try to translate it, and then discuss the translation and the text the following week in their seminar class.
Having read the book myself ( The Sweet Potato in Oceania by D. E. Yen), I knew how densely written the English was, and felt great sympathy for the effort being made by those students!