Turning your dissertation into a book in two different languages

[HappilyTenured]

If one wants to turn their dissertation into a book in two different languages, do they have to sign a contract with two university presses? Or is that something that the publishing house (the first one to have signed an agreement with the faculty member) is taking care of?

What's been your experiences regarding that?

[mamselle]

I'm guessing from editing for people who've published in more than one language that the publisher will want to see how it does in the original language before going to the expense of having it translated, edited, designed, and issued a (new, I think) ISBN first.

If you're truly a rock star in both cultures where the two languages are used, you might have some leverage to get both done at once, or if you have done work that some sponsoring institution in the 'other' (i.e., I'm assuming, but it needn't be, of course) non-English culture really wants to have see the light of day, then they might do all the extra work or cover the subventions, etc.

But short of that, a dissertation-turned-into-a-book doesn't always sell well in its own language, so you'd want to take it a step at a time.

Congrats on finishing, though!!

M.

[Hegemony]

Mamselle is wise, as usual.

[mamselle]

《blush...》

M.

[Parasaurolophus]

Is the translation one you'd perform yourself?

I have no experience with this, but I do know several academics who've published a book in their mother tongue first, then in English later. IIRC it's been different publishers, which makes sense since most of the majors in my field don't publish in languages other than English. I have no idea what they did about permissions, although I suspect there's a fair amount of don't ask, don't tell out there.

[HappilyTenured]

I would prefer to have a professional do the translation tbh. English is not my mothertongue, even if I'm fluent.

[jerseyjay]

I have several questions.

The first one is, why do you want to do this? I am not being facetious. Most people publish a version of their dissertation for either getting a job or getting a promotion. Are you looking for work in two different countries? If not, I would focus on the country you are looking for work. There might be some exceptions (looking for work in say, Canada, or Belgium, or Puerto Rico, where it is possible that academic work be published in more than one language) but these would be exceptional.

Is the topic related to the second language? For example, if your dissertation is a study of French poetry, I could see wanting to publish a version in French. As a sometimes historian of Latin America, I believe that too much scholarship in English on Latin America is never made available in Spanish or Portuguese, i.e., the languages of most people in Latin America. So if your dissertation is about a particular culture or place, I would understand wanting it to be published in that language. But I would still advise you to wait until you are employed/tenured before trying this. Alternatively, I have seen books in Latin America in Spanish or Portuguese that originated as English or French dissertations--but, again, I would advise you to publish in one language first, the language of the job you are looking for.

The third reason I could see is that you think that what you say in your dissertation might make an impact on the scholarly discourse in another country, even if it has nothing really to do with the country itself.

The second question is, are you planning to publish the exact same book in both languages (i.e., one a translation of the other) or are they different books based on your research. The three university press contracts I have signed expressly deal with translation rights. It is possible to negotiate this, perhaps even after the fact, but be aware of what the contract says. (And it is not always by language, sometimes it is by region--so the rights to publish something in Spain do not guarantee the rights to publish something in Mexico.) My experience is that few if any academic presses "take care" of having something published in another language--at the most, they would tolerate it.

The third question is, have you considered the time and money it takes to translate a book? As  you indicate, a professional translator is probably better. However, by definition, a professional translator is going to want to get paid. Are you planning to pay the translator?

My advice is to pick ONE language to publish in first. My view would be to chose the language of the job you want. Or, if you are happily tenured as your name states, publish it in whatever language you think it would be best in, if you do not need it for promotion. You might try to negotiate the rights to get it published in other languages in your contract. THEN try to publish it in the second language.

[mamselle]

I would prefer to have a professional do the translation tbh. English is not my mothertongue, even if I'm fluent.

Ah, OK, so (contrary to the Anglo-centric assumption I made, for which, apologies) the dissertation was not in English to begin with, but you are now teaching and tenured in an English-speaking country, so you want the diss. out in English, in addition to the language it was originally written in (i.e., English is the target language, not the original language).

Is that a clearer statement of the picture?

That raises a different question, are you in a book field (i.e., book required for tenure) and if so, does that mean another book, not one drawn from your dissertation, was submitted for your tenure bid?

So that the published dissertation would not be your first book--is that correct?

It doesn't completely change most of the advice, but it helps more clearly explain why you were considering a bilingual publication from the outset.

Are you going for full, and you're thinking the published dissertation in English would be your submission for that?

Or do you just want to see the diss. out, and now you're teaching in English, you'd like it to be available to English-speaking colleagues as well?

M.