japanese to english translator needed!

[Julie Koo]

I wanted to second and follow up on Sunyoung's post with a little
background on the state of translations in the U.S. publishing market,
especially for those on the list who are not in the U.S.

While translations of American books make up a large portion of what gets
published in Europe and, increasingly, in Asia, translations are virtually
non-existent in U.S. commercial publishing. A system is simply not in place
in the U.S. to make translations of any sort (commercial or literary or
scholarly) a viable option for corporate publishers here -- they are not
willing to pay for translations on top of regular rights fees or do the
work on finding quality/commercial stuff to translate (most people in the
U.S. don't speak more than one language and that includes editors).
Translations simply do not make sense to a company whose only concern is
for the bottom line.

Therefore, the only publishers in the U.S. with a steady commitment to
translations are those whose mandates are not simply to make money:
university presses and independent (often not-for-profit) literary
publishers. Kaya is one of the latter. Unfortunately, indies are very
poorly capitalized -- I could go on and on about why this is the case, but
this is not the place. Suffice it to say, it is very hard for us to come up
with the upfront funds to cover costs on such a capital intensive endeavor
as translation. However, as Sunyoung says, if we did not do it, NO ONE
would be.

I wanted to say that our books are the result of the hard work, talent, and
charity of many people: designers and other freelancers who give us lower
rates, foundations and donors, writers who take low advances, as well as
our own donated editorial, marketing, production, and administrative labor.
No one here is out to make a profit, or even a living, from Kaya. However,
I'm proud to say that our books have consistently won prizes and critical
accolades, so though we are not paying standard wages, we are able to put
out quality books that would not have made it out there otherwise.

Americans are really clueless about what is going on outside of the U.S.,
which is a big reason why Kaya has a commitment to attempting translations
at all. I think that the problem here is with a system that does not value
ideas and culture from abroad. I'd say that if you really have a problem
with translators fees, take it up with commercial publishing interests who
have the money to pay standard fees but are unwilling to publish
translations at all.

Julie Koo

P.S. A side note on Dr. Fowler's misinterpretation of not-for-profit
corporations (at least in the United States): The Internal Revenue Service
has a separate category for NFP's because NFP's do not have a commercial
interest and therefore they do not get an unfair advantage over regular
businesses when they get privileges such as tax exemption. NFP corps do not
exist to make money, they exist to fulfill their missions, i.e. the mission
is the bottom line.

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