The Benefits of Book Translation

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his hearts”. (Nelson Mandela.) According to 2019 edition of Ethnologue by SIL International UK, Mandarin is the most spoken language in the world with 918 million native speakers and 11.922% of the total population, English is the third most spoken language with 379 million native speakers while Italian is spoken by 64.8 million people. The international market is a lucrative platform for businesses to flourish, however, the language barrier can pose a greater threat to any writer who intended to communicate to a global audience. As the world become more globalized, the demand for translated books is growing. With over 1000 spoken and written languages in the world, translation plays a great role in making the book available to non-speakers.

In a recent survey on available data about language use, it was observed that:

• English is not the most spoken language in the world. It sits in the shadows of Mandarin and Spanish in term of active native speakers.(Source: Ethnologue, 2019 and Word Atlas.com)
• Statistic shows that more than 70% of the world population do not speak English as of now. (Source: Central Intelligence Agency,2019)

Some of the benefits of translating books to other languages are:

• Boost Readers' Confidence in the Book

When readers read the book, they feel more familiar with the content. This results in a connection between you and the reader. Non-native speakers often prefer to read in their own language no matter the proficiency level. It was observed that 85% of all readers will simply not make a purchase, if information is not readily available in their native language.(Source:www.commonsenseadvisory.com)

• Wide Array of Audience

The number of your readers will increase in many folds and it will not be limited by geography. When the book was written in English initially, it would be available to a fewer percentage of the world population but when translated to other languages, such as Mandarin, Spanish and Italian, it increases the availability of the book to different people across the globe.

“Every language is a world, without translation, we would inhabit parishes bordering on silence”. (George Steiner)

• International Collaboration

It increases the opportunity to work on transnational issues. Translation would enable researchers to use the book, utilize it, then communicate with the writer. By doing that, the writer gets to learn and experience new culture, and also relates with a lot of people from other countries. It also improve the author’s standing among his colleagues.

Revenue Generation

Translation of the book offers a wide array of audience who acquire the book, which increases opportunities of the author to generate income, which could cover expenses and necessitate the writers chances of publishing this and other books. Translation results in availability of book in different languages, invariably this leads to increase in number of buyers and the more the number of buyers, the more money to be made.

Basically, the book The Scientist has a lot of messages for the global world. It was written first in English and was only available for the English readers, now with translations in Mandarin and Italian, this will promote multilingual communication and increases the number of readers of the book. Also the book is available in English audio book format, which enhances the interest of people who are not able to read and those who are visually challenged to have access to the book.

References

1. List of Languages by Total Number of Speakers, Ethnologue 2019
2. Paolillo, John C.; Das, Anupam(31 March 2006). Evaluating Language Statistics: The Ethnologue and Beyond (PDF). UNESCO Institute of Statistics. pp. 3-5.
3. World Population Clock: 7.7 Billion People (2019) - Worldometers www.worldometers.info.
4. Research in Translation Studies by Sugeng Hariyanto www.slideshare.net