I don’t know how common this is but I personally love doing literary translations. A delightful translation project for me is one that involves translating a book which is by one of my favorite authors or an area which am interested in. Then translation is not work but play for me. This inclination of mine probably arises from the fact that I just love reading and just about every nook and cranny of my house is stuffed with books. Moreover even though my work involves sitting alone and tapping away at my keyboard for several hours every day, I prefer to relax by curling down with a book.
Recently I was reading about Agatha Christie (an old favorite :-)) when I was reminded that she was among the most translated authors ever. I did know that earlier but coming to the piece of information again led me to Google around a bit and I found some interesting information.
According to the Guinness World Records, the founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard is the most translated author with his works of fiction and non-fiction being translated into as many as 65 languages. Earlier it was Sidney Sheldon whose books had been translated to over 50 languages. Furthermore, the mind-bogglingly bestselling Harry Potter series is supposed to have been translated in over 60 languages. This also makes J.K. Rowling a strong contender for the title of world’s most translated sometime in future. How I wish I could be one of those lucky translation providers working for one of these best seller producing factories.
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