In The Korea Herald Kim Hoo-ran looks at the spread of Korean literature abroad, in Lost in translation ? as:
I also worry about the fixation on translation-into-English which, despite apparent recent increased enthusiasm, still seems a bit of blind alley to me; I'm not quite as confident that:
Speaking at a meeting with the Korean press in London, author Hwang Sok-yong was quoted as citing the lack of skilled translators who can "properly translate Korean literary works into English" as the "biggest handicap in the globalization of Korean literature." Another literary heavyweight, Yi Mun-yol, agreed, saying that the biggest problem may be the problem of translation.Good to see Dalkey Archive publisher John O'Brien not repeat the ridiculous and unfounded '3%' figure; less good to see him offer his own (equally far-fetched) estimate:
According to John O'Brien, president of Dalkey Archive Press in the U.S., only 15 percent of the 350,000 new books published in the U.S. each year are works of literature or books about literature, and only 0.006 percent of the 350,000 volumes are literary works in translation.(I enjoy making up/(ab)using numbers and statistics as much as the next person, but come on folks, a bit more precision, from a definition of what you're counting as a 'new book' (if you're using Bowker numbers those include new editions, grossly inflating numbers) to what counts as a 'book' ('traditionally' published ? (while you're at it: define 'traditionally', please) including self-published ? (while you're at it: define 'self-published', please) ) to doing the math and realizing that "0.006 percent of [...] 350,000" is ... 21.)
[Helpful aside for journalists and industry 'professionals': A guaranteed safe rule of thumb is that if anyone tells you: "X percent of books published in English are translations", X is a number they (or, more likely: someone they have foolishly chosen to rely on, without questioning the basis of the claim) have pulled pretty much out of very thin air. And anyone who says 'three percent' ... don't even get me started.]
I also worry about the fixation on translation-into-English which, despite apparent recent increased enthusiasm, still seems a bit of blind alley to me; I'm not quite as confident that:
And it is important to gain foothold in the U.S. market as having a translation in English makes a book available to a wider readership beyond the U.S. "Countries are desperate to get into the U.S. because if the books are in English, they travel well," O'Brien said.