Q&A with an English-Spanish literary translator

A few months ago, we sent out a call on Twitter asking for a literary translator to talk to us about some of the specific details of the literary translation field. We were lucky enough to get Maia Figueroa Evans to heed our call and graciously offer to answer a few of our questions about working as a literary translator in the world today.

The content of our interview follows. Please note that none of her answers have been edited or amended. Please feel free to comment and join in the conversation, whether you’re a translator who specializes in literary texts or any other kind!

• How would you define or describe literary translation?

I think that, to an extent, literary translation is a different kind of technical translation, but with different needs.

• How did you first get into the field of literary translation? Is it something you always wanted to do?

When I was thirteen, the school gave us a test to see where we were heading towards, professionally speaking. It was personality test aimed at what jobs we were best suited for. In my case, the results said that I was going to work in the field of arts. I distinctly remember having an awkward feeling of hopelessness and thinking: “How am I going to make a living?”. I’m trained as a script writer, did an MA on literary writing and another on translation, and I am a keen reader; so, once I started translating, I guess it was a matter of time before I attempted “creative” translation.

In my case, I was extremely lucky, since one of my friends works in a publishing house. Without that kind of connection, I would have had trouble getting into the field, since my background was mainly in technical translation and I had no literary translation training. But she trusted me and gave me the chance to do my first, second and third books. After that, it’s all been up to my CV and some translation tests for publishing houses.

• How are literary translations different from other types of translation (e.g. general or technical translations)?

They are different in many, many aspects. To start with, you don’t generally have to compile any kind of glossary or do much research before you start translating a novel (unless it’s something really specific like, let’s say, a novel set in a 16th century pirate ship, where you’ll have to look up lots of maritime terms), but you do have to have read it with attention and understood not just the text in itself, but what the author intended to convey and why they’ve chosen the words and images they’ve used. You also need to learn to discern between what may be language conventions and the author’s style, because when you translate the text, you need to make it sound good in your language while respecting their style.

You also need to bear in mind that different languages work in different ways and, although certain things work in the original, they may not do so in your language. For example, in Spanish, we tend to avoid repetitions a lot more than in English. Another obvious difference is the length of the text, I think that in general you become more involved in the translation of a literary text simply because you spend a great deal of time working on each project. Also, whereas in technical translation content is generally more important than form, when you translate a book you need to make it sound as good as the original and try to respect any subtext that may be present.

• What’s the best thing about being a literary translator? And the worst?

The best thing about being a literary translator, apart from doing the job that you enjoy the most and not having to work all the time against deadlines, is that you actually see the end result. You can go to a library or bookshop and see the books you’ve translated (If you’re lucky you may see somebody buying them!).

The worst part is that (at least here, in Spain) you don’t get paid until you deliver the translation. So you may spend six, eight or twelve weeks working on a project, which you then deliver and invoice; after that, the publishing house may take an average of forty-five to ninety days to pay. One needs excellent cash flow skills to make ends meet! Also, many times the deadline is too tight and your work may suffer because of it.

• What special skills or qualities do literary translators need to have in order to be successful in this translation specialty?

You need to be a good reader, an even better writer, be suited for long projects (otherwise you may become extremely bored), be able to revise and maybe even rewrite long texts, and have good communication skills in order to make sure you know exactly what the publishers expect from the text you’re translating and be able to solve with them any problems that may arise during the translation. It goes without saying that you also need excellent command of grammar and spelling rules. Literary translations undergo a process of proofreading and editing, but if you give them a text which is correct to start with, the publishers may like you over other translators.

• Do you have any advice, tips or suggestions for other translators trying to break into the literary translation world?

Well, in my case I got my first chance thanks to a friend who works at a publishing house and without her help, I think it would have been extremely difficult for me to enter this world without prior experience. I can’t speak for other countries, but here a good CV, knowing who to send it to in each publishing house, good communication skills, and the right academic background can help a lot, although they are no guarantee that you’ll get any response from prospective clients. If and when you do, if they give you a test, this is going to be your proverbial “foot in the door”, so you must do your very best to impress them (and afterwards, when you’re translating the whole book, you must make sure that you maintain the standard).

About Maia Figueroa

My name is Maia Figueroa and I love translating. I am a qualified bilingual translator with several years’ experience in general, technical, literary and subtitle translation. I translate from English and Catalan into Spanish and from Spanish and Catalan into English.

My journey into the world of languages begun at a very early age. I was raised in a bilingual home and I soon started to make myself understood in English, although my native language was Spanish. My English grandmother always used to recall with pride that when I was four, during a visit in England, I run in from the garden and asked for “the thing to make look big”. I wanted a magnifying glass to look at ladybirds and garden bugs.