![\"Hispanic](\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/Crazy4Fiction-page-header_800-1.png\")
\n\n\n\n![\"Christine](\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/IMG_1804-e1569941112191-1.jpg\")
Hispanic Heritage Month falls between September 15 and October 15 every year and celebrates Americans whose culture, history, and ancestry has roots in Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.<\/p>
To celebrate, Crazy4Fiction asked Christine, the Tyndale Espa\u00f1ol<\/a> editor for fiction, to give readers an inside look into what it takes to turn a Tyndale Fiction book into a Tyndale Espa\u00f1ol novel.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n How does the Spanish team pick which\nTyndale Fiction novels to translate into Spanish? What does the process for\nselecting a novel to translate look like?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For both fiction and nonfiction, the director of Tyndale Espa\u00f1ol chooses what he thinks will appeal to the Spanish market, and then he presents his proposals to a publication committee that looks at the costs of buying Spanish-language rights, paying for a translation, and production expenses compared to the sales projections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s actually harder than you might think to find novels that will translate to a different culture. Although the broad themes might be universal, many stories are dependent on problems and motivations that don\u2019t necessarily carry the same weight in a different context. The other issue we run into is that a fiction book can seem like a luxury in places where a lot of people struggle to make ends meet, like some countries in Latin America. So we have to choose carefully what books we think will be worth our readers\u2019 investment. Our readers definitely love Francine Rivers, and we\u2019ve seen good sales with movie tie-ins like War Room<\/a> <\/em>in Spanish. I\u2019m a firm believer in the power of a good fiction book to minister to people\u2019s spiritual needs, so I get excited when we find a novel that\u2019s a good match for our Spanish market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s the process like for taking an\nEnglish-language novel and translating it into a Spanish edition? How long is\nthat process? How many people are involved?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We have long-term relationships with quality translators in countries like Argentina and Guatemala, and when we send them an English manuscript we know it\u2019ll come back in good shape. Usually we give the translator about three months for an average-length book, but there have been times when we\u2019ve had to ask for a much shorter timeline, especially if a Spanish-language book needs to release on the heels of the English book\u2014for example, to accompany a movie release. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After the translator finishes his or her work, a Tyndale editor and two\ncopyeditors comb over the translation, comparing it phrase-by-phrase with the\nEnglish original to check for faithfulness and consistency. We\u2019ve found it can\nbe a good combination to have our in-house team working in an English-speaking\ncontext to catch things that might not make sense to a translator working\noutside the US. I love teamwork! Later, after the manuscript is laid out on the\npage, we also have proofreaders to catch spelling and other detailed errors and\nbe a last check that the translation stands on its own in Spanish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since there are many different Spanish\ndialects across the many Spanish-speaking countries, is there a standard\nversion of Spanish that\u2019s used when translating Tyndale Fiction?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is definitely tricky! We\u2019re trying to cater to readers who speak with as many differences as there are between Canadian and Jamaican English. We try to use terms that will be understandable in as many countries as possible, and we try to avoid words that might come across as offensive to some people. Sometimes there is no \u201cneutral\u201d term, and we have to decide which word will cause the least misunderstanding. We purposefully try to include people with different flavors of Spanish on our editorial team for situations such as this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To give an example, the translation for \u201chigh school\u201d that I grew up with\n(secundaria<\/em>) means \u201cmiddle school\u201d in\nMexico. But the terms used in Mexico (preparatoria\n<\/em>or bachillerato<\/em>) refer to prep\nschool or university education in other countries. That\u2019s where I as editor\nhave to make a choice: for this book, would I rather risk misunderstanding in terms\nof age or the socioeconomic level of the characters?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you have a certain translation theory\nacross the board (for example, trying to translate word for word or translating\nfor the intended meaning of the sentence), or does it vary project to project?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I believe a translation is most faithful when it\u2019s able to match the tone and nuances of the original text. This is why good translation is such an art: translating word for word, like machines do, often produces sentences that don\u2019t make sense. And it\u2019s not the same story if you lose a character\u2019s dry humor or a sudden shift in the dynamic of a relationship. We aim for a readable Spanish that will mirror the impact of the original English as closely as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What are some differences between how you\nmight translate a biblical fiction title, a contemporary fiction novel, or a\nmovie novelization? What are some of the unique challenges you might come\nacross while translating different types of stories?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Good question! Biblical fiction like the Lineage of Grace series<\/a> or Ben-Hur<\/a><\/em> <\/a>requires us to do a lot of research to make sure we a) understand what historical place or thing the author is referring to and b) use the accepted Spanish spelling for the Greek or Hebrew word. With contemporary fiction we feel more confident we know what technology is being referenced and which places are real versus made up, but those stories tend to be more tied to American culture. Have you ever changed any cultural aspects\nof a book so that it could be better understood by the Spanish-language\naudience?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Culture is so baked into the characters and plot of a fiction book, definitely more so than with nonfiction. . . We sometimes add a few words of explanation but don\u2019t try to change aspects that are intrinsic to the story. For example, we usually don\u2019t translate characters\u2019 names\u2014Grace in The Masterpiece<\/a> <\/em>is also called Grace in the Spanish version (rather than Gracia<\/em>), because the fact that she\u2019s an English-speaking American is important to her character. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s been your favorite Tyndale Fiction\ntranslation project you\u2019ve worked on so far?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I think my favorite so far has been La obra maestra<\/a> <\/em>(The Masterpiece<\/a><\/em>) because of the really fascinating characters and beautiful themes of forgiveness. For that book, we also had an interesting translation challenge deciding on when to switch from Spanish\u2019s formal you <\/em>to informal you <\/em>in the dialogue between Grace and Roman\u2014it was trickier than usual! The Masterpiece<\/a><\/em> is a book I would have enjoyed reading for fun even if I hadn\u2019t been paid to work on it, and I got to spend several weeks immersed in that story while on the clock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Image](\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/MEME-Cuarto-de-Guerra-Vencedor-1.jpg\")
With movie novelizations like War Room<\/a> <\/em>or Overcomer<\/a><\/em>, there\u2019s the extra challenge of wanting to match translation choices made for the Spanish version of the movie, so that people don\u2019t get confused if, for example, a school has a slightly different name in the Spanish-language movie and the Spanish-language book. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Image](\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/51738279_317091755616800_7864286925230781886_n-1.jpg\")
![\"A](\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/IMG_1828-1-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Hispanic](\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/09.2018-Hispanic-Heritage-Month-600x150-2.jpg\")
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