Dec 03
LaurentAsso and co
As I just joined the ATLF (after the AAE-ESIT, SFT, Sofia, Scam, briefly the CIoL and NETA and before joining the ATAA someday), let me relay the message from an other acronym organization, which is also making a great deal in advocating literary translators in Europe : the European Council of Literary Translators' Associations (CEATL). The Council indeed published an "Hexalogue", a code a good practice in six points for all literary translation actors (authors, translators, publishers, etc.). It is reproduced below, and you can also download it on their website. Oh and by the way, don't forget the Youth Book Fair this week-end in Paris.
Hexalogue
The Six Commandments of ‘fair-play’ in literary translation, adopted by CEATL’s General Assembly on 14 May, 2011.
1. Licensing of rights
The licensing of rights for the use of the translation shall be limited in time to a maximum of five years. It shall be subject to the restrictions and duration of the licensed rights of the original work. Each licensed right shall be mentioned in the contract.
2. Fees
The fee for the commissioned work shall be equitable, enabling the translator to make a decent living and to produce a translation of good literary quality.
3. Payment terms
On signature of the contract, the translator shall receive an advance payment of at least one third of the fee. The remainder shall be paid on delivery of the translation at the latest.
4. Obligation to publish
The publisher shall publish the translation within the period stipulated in the contract, and no later than two years after the delivery of the manuscript.
5. Share in profit
The translator shall receive a fair share of the profits from the exploitation of his/her work, in whatsoever form it may take, starting from the first copy.
6. Translator’s name
As author of the translation, the translator shall be named wherever the original author is named.
May 23
LaurentTout un métier
Reminder: this is only a recap of the French article. To read the full post, click on the French flag on the right.
As I was saying in a previous post, one of the main goals of these working vacations was to improve my professional network. So I managed to be in the right place at the right time: in Québec (city) on the 7th of May for a linguists afterwork organized by the ATAMESL and in Boston on the 22nd for the 14th Annual New England Translators Association Conference.
The ATAMESL is a French association from Quebec that intends to gather independent linguists to promote networking, training and information. This afterwork, in a micro-brewery in Quebec city, was organized by Valérie Bélanger (she writes a nice blog in French too) and represented a good opportunity to meet colleagues and discuss about our jobs across the world.
Other country, other atmosphere: NETA, the New England regional version of the ATA, allows its 150 members (and me) to be listed on their online directory and to have access to trainings and practical information. The NETA Annual Conference offered various sessions: Beginning as a translator, the literary translation of Joseph Perl, an introduction to localization (by a fellow French translator, Laurence Lollier), and the "Seven-figure translator" or how to translate 1,5 million words/year by Warren Smith. This Japanese to English semiconductor patent translator (no wonder he makes a good living) developed his own successful translation process:
- He first records his translation on a digital voice recorder
- He then has it automatically transcribed by a voice recognition software (Dragon NaturallySpeaking)
- Finally, he gets the cheap work (editing, reviewing) done by an intern... or his wife
Only drawback to all of this networking: only translators and interpreters attended these events, and very few potential clients (which is not the case at the ATA Annual Conference). I can just hope that the word of mouth will now spread!
