Literature. Translation: What?

by Jessica Stillman

If the world seems small and threatening lately, we could certainly build bombs, search subway passengers and rail against outsourcing. Instead, how about reading literature in translation?

In a world full of misunderstanding and distrust, wouldn’t it benefit Americans to get a visceral feel for the lifestyle and beliefs of the residents of the world by reading books, say, from other lands?

The world has plenty to say. Unfortunately, we aren’t listening:

• In 1999, the NEA found that out of 10,000 books published in the USA only 300 were works in translation.
• 50% of worldwide translations, according to UNESCO, are translated from English. Only 6% are translated into English.
• To compare, German has 120 million native speakers, English has about 354 million plus millions—if not billions—learning English as a second language. Almost 250,000 books have been translated into German. In English we have only about 106,000 works available in translation.

So tell us multilingual New Yorkers: What works have never been translated into English and should be? And what books in translation are not read enough?