Contemporary Translation: Publishers and New Technologies

Literary translation exists in a rapidly changing publishing world dominated by ever larger conglomerates which commission translations, print them and own the bookshops that sell them. Established firms in the UK like Jonathan Cape and Chatto and Windus were bought by Random House which was then taken over by the German firm Bertelsman which also owns the US book chain Barnes and Noble. Smaller firms like Serpents Tail and Harvill - which extricated itself from Harper Collins - survive and publish translations.

The work of the individual professional translator has changed with the benefits of word-processors and on-line dictionaries and research tools but the unique form of creativity remains as central as ever. Changes in structure do however impact on contracts and deadlines so that new outside constraints influence individual translators.

A transnational company often decides to launch the English original and its translation into several languages simultaneously. This means translators in France, Germany, Holland, Italy and Spain, may be translating a novel that is still in manuscript form - which the writer and his in-house editor - may still be working on. The translators will be working to a tight deadline imposed by the fact that the books have to be printed according to a schedule of a printer in the Far East or Eastern Europe. As they are finishing their translations, along come a fresh set of changes from the editor.