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Language matters The Malayalam translation of Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” is running into the eighth edition

How would it be to read Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk’s “My Name is Red” in Malayalam or Kannada, or celebrated Spanish author Gabriel Garcia Marquez in Marathi and Hindi?

A glance at most publishers’ recent releases suggests that Indians are increasingly reading bestsellers from South American and European literature in their mother tongue.

More and more, major foreign novels are finding their way into Malayalam, Hindi, Marathi and Bengali. Fast becoming a literary genre in its own right, these translations are now threatening even their originals. In the next five years it’s expected that more publishers would join the bandwagon of foreign translations.

The biggest example of this is DC Books. It has translated nearly 200 abridged and retold titles in Malayalam. In 2007, it has released Malayalam translations of more than 25 foreign novels — to name a few, Pamuk’s “Istanbul”, “Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, “Fima” by Amos Oz, “Sophie’s World” by J. Gaarder. The books which have become huge success stories are those of Marquez, Paulo Coelho and Dan Brown. Published in 2006, the Malayalam translation of the much acclaimed

“The Da Vinci Code” by Brown is running into the eighth edition, more than 20,000 copies have been sold. Similarly, the translation of “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, published in 1984, is into the 13th edition, selling over 25,000 copies, and Marquez’s “Love in the Time of Cholera”, published in 1997, is running into the sixth edition.

Explaining the success of these translations, Georgey Thomas, Editor, DC Books, says, “Keralites have a great fascination for South American Literature. That’s why there is an array of South American books written by Marquez and Mario Vargas Llosa.”

Known for translating works of Nobel Laureates, DC is also publishing self help books. “Paulo Coelho’s is our best selling author and his new book ‘The Zahir’ is running into its second edition. ” says Thomas.

Hinting at the process of selection, Thomas says, “A book which does well in English language will be read well in the regional languages too. For example, the translation of ‘Freedom at Midnight’ by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins, which came in 1976, is running into its 28th edition, selling more than 50,000 copies and the translation of APJ Abdul Kalam’s ‘Wings of Fire’ crossed the magical number of one lakh copies.”

Publishing House Wisdom Tree has published Paul Coelho’s “The Alchemist” in Hindi.

Translated flawlessly by the famous Hindi author Kamleshwar, “The Alchemist” has sold more than 10,000 copies in Hindi. This year, they are launching “The Zahir” and “Eleven Minutes” in Hindi.

The year 2008 will have publishers such as Yatra Books and Penguin India launching translations in Hindi, Marathi and Malayalam of Spanish and Italian literature. They plan to publish Spanish author Mercè Rodoreda’s best short stories in Hindi in association with Institut Ramon Llull. Written in Catalan, Rodoreda is one of the most important Catalan novelists of the post-war period. The book is being directly translated from Catalan by Samir Rawal who has studied Spanish from Jawaharlal Nehru University. He is now teaching Hindi at Asia House, Barcelona.

They will also be publishing the translation of the Italian book “Volevo i Pantaloni”, (I wanted to wear pants) in Hindi. Translation rights are awaited for Marquez’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude”. It would be published in Marathi. “There is a big demand for self help books. We would be taking out Thomas Friedman’s “The World is Flat” in Marathi and Hindi. We are also trying to publish French anthology, Contemporary India, edited by well-known sociologist Christophe Jaffrelot, in Hindi and English,” says Gupta.

AMRITA TALWAR

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