About the Italian version of your work

[Pino]

Hi Stephen,

No idea if you get to read this message, but it's worth a try.

I'm a 58 years old Italian that discovered how great and enjoyable your books are only when I became fluent in English. Before that I tried a few of the Italian translation and I decided you were a terrible writer... but really it's your translator that should be fired on the spot. The Italian text is written as an old school piece of literature, very stiff in language, not really flowing and not communicating any of your humor and witticism. Reading the Italian version is like reading an old essay for some exam.

As an eager reader I would have bought all your books, and I did so with the English version, but in Italian I did not go beyond 2 books as they really bored me beyond imagination. I'm positive that you are losing money on the Italian market because of a horrible translation. Do try to get that sorted because your work is exceptionally good but it's also butchered by your current translator.

Best regards,
Pino

 

[Moderator]

Welcome to the Board!

Stephen doesn't hire the translators, that is done by the publisher. We can pass along the message but your complaining to the publisher might have even more impact.

 

[mal]

Hi Pino, I read the Iliad, in English, 3 times by three different translators. The gist was the same in all three but two of them were worth reading and the third sucked the life out of the epic. I am assuming the publishers hired the cheapest, not the best. Welcome to the board!

 

[Pino]

Hi Ms. Mod,

Thanks for answering I'm aware that Stephen doesn't do that, but I was hoping his team does manages foreign publishing. Complaining with the Italian publisher is useless because in Italy everything works via the "friends of friends" system, thus there is no hope to solve this in Italy using a reader complaint mechanism... I'm sure that the translator is somehow a good friend of some friend of a publisher board member... it's always like that, it's one among many reasons why I now live in Ireland with my family

 

[Pino]

Hi Pino, I read the Iliad, in English, 3 times by three different translators. The gist was the same in all three but two of them were worth reading and the third sucked the life out of the epic. I am assuming the publishers hired the cheapest, not the best. Welcome to the board!

Hi Mal, thanks for the welcoming message I wish in Italy worked that way, just a money thing... that's not the case (see my other answer): one translator has all Stephen King's work assigned, it's the same person for all the books since the very first: I never came across a different translation so I think that SK assigned the rights to a specific publisher and that assigned one translator dedicated to the author.

 

[Moderator]

Hi Ms. Mod,

Thanks for answering I'm aware that Stephen doesn't do that, but I was hoping his team does manages foreign publishing. Complaining with the Italian publisher is useless because in Italy everything works via the "friends of friends" system, thus there is no hope to solve this in Italy using a reader complaint mechanism... I'm sure that the translator is somehow a good friend of some friend of a publisher board member... it's always like that, it's one among many reasons why I now live in Ireland with my family

I would pass along the message to Stephen's agent who negotiates the contract with foreign publishers but even he doesn't have much pull beyond that to demand better translations. They might do better knowing that Stephen has been made aware of an issue but hearing it from just one fan might not be enough to sway them.

 

[Spideyman]

Hi Stephen,

No idea if you get to read this message, but it's worth a try.

I'm a 58 years old Italian that discovered how great and enjoyable your books are only when I became fluent in English. Before that I tried a few of the Italian translation and I decided you were a terrible writer... but really it's your translator that should be fired on the spot. The Italian text is written as an old school piece of literature, very stiff in language, not really flowing and not communicating any of your humor and witticism. Reading the Italian version is like reading an old essay for some exam.

As an eager reader I would have bought all your books, and I did so with the English version, but in Italian I did not go beyond 2 books as they really bored me beyond imagination. I'm positive that you are losing money on the Italian market because of a horrible translation. Do try to get that sorted because your work is exceptionally good but it's also butchered by your current translator.

Best regards,
Pino

Hi and welcome. Have heard similar comments re translations. A foreign friend of mine, reading in their native language , read along with myself . We found much lost in translation. I hope you can resolve the issue with the Italian translations.

 

[Pino]

I would pass along the message to Stephen's agent who negotiates the contract with foreign publishers but even he doesn't have much pull beyond that to demand better translations. They might do better knowing that Stephen has been made aware of an issue but hearing it from just one fan might not be enough to sway them. View attachment 24469

Thing is that English is not really common in Italy, hence the average Italian reader won't complain, (s)he will just stop reading as I did myself back then. If it can Stephen's team I can post some text translating back in English from the Italian translation to give the gist of how it sounds: let me know if that might help.

Hi and welcome. Have heard similar comments re translations. A foreign friend of mine, reading in their native language , read along with myself . We found much lost in translation. I hope you can resolve the issue with the Italian translations.

Glad to hear that I'm not the only one being aware of this issue

 

[Moderator]

Thing is that English is not really common in Italy, hence the average Italian reader won't complain, (s)he will just stop reading as I did myself back then. If it can Stephen's team I can post some text translating back in English from the Italian translation to give the gist of how it sounds: let me know if that might help.


Glad to hear that I'm not the only one being aware of this issue

I'll certainly be sure to mention that you nearly gave up on Steve's writing because of the translation. Might help and certainly couldn't hurt. We've had complaints here and there about other languages that aren't done well so it's not unique to Italy but we wouldn't know unless fans tell us so appreciate that you took the time to do so. To be honest, I don't know if those other publishers ever did anything about hiring a new translator.

 

[GNTLGNT]