While the British press certainly reviews literary translations - when there are any to review - the alarming habit still prevails where a reviewer waxes lyrical about some book originally written in a foreign language - but forgets to mention the translator at all.
A translator of a novel, book of short-stories, or poetry collection should not be equated with a typist who simply copies. A translator needs to know the source and target languages and cultures like the back of his or her hand.
It is disappointing when the quick-read, quick-review merchants dash off some elegant little piece about a book they have half-read under the pressure of work, while the translator, under the pressure of doing the book credit, has to read and translate every single sentence in the whole book.
Translators don't need to stand in the Klieg lights of fame, a simple acknowledgement of the fact that they are go-betweens between author and reader would suffice.
A translator of a novel, book of short-stories, or poetry collection should not be equated with a typist who simply copies. A translator needs to know the source and target languages and cultures like the back of his or her hand.
It is disappointing when the quick-read, quick-review merchants dash off some elegant little piece about a book they have half-read under the pressure of work, while the translator, under the pressure of doing the book credit, has to read and translate every single sentence in the whole book.
Translators don't need to stand in the Klieg lights of fame, a simple acknowledgement of the fact that they are go-betweens between author and reader would suffice.