Introduction

UNITED IN DIVERSITY... THANKS TO TRANSLATION

Multilingualism is one of the EU’s greatest strengths. Languages are more than a communication tool: they are an essential expression of identity and culture. As such, the linguistic diversity of Europe is crucial to its cultural richness, and acts as the cornerstone of the EU’s motto, ‘united in diversity’.

Translation plays a strategic role in Europe’s cultural development. It allows for the passage of ideas, knowledge and cultural expressions between different languages and cultures, and thus contributes to a stronger shared knowledge among European citizens of their history, their creations and their shared concerns. In doing this, translation also helps to preserve the specificity and functionality of languages, and to enhance their richness and complexity – if an author or creator has their work translated, they can continue to write in their mother tongue without feeling obliged to resort to another language in order to access a wider audience. Translation therefore not only contributes to the promotion of cultural diversity, but allows for equality of cultural exchange.

It is for these reasons that translation, which helps to keep languages ‘in use’, is one of the cornerstones of multilingualism policy, along with language learning. In addition, by allowing non-native speakers to engage with works from other countries and cultures, translation plays an important role in promoting social and cultural inclusion and European integration. Furthermore, engaging with translation as a craft is, in itself, a learning tool for languages, literature and culture.

From an economic point of view, the stakes are also high. Translation, dubbing and subtitling are the only ways for European cultural and creative works (books, films, theatre plays, etc.) to travel across linguistic barriers and take advantage of a much larger audience across Europe (with its 500 million+ inhabitants) and beyond.

THE NEED FOR EVOLUTION AND PUBLIC SUPPORT

Recent years have seen a decline in the range of languages offered for study at university level in many European countries, which has a negative effect on the number of qualified literary translators, particularly of lesser-used languages (1). Another key issue is the need for substantial improvement in the working conditions of translators

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across the creative industries, to ensure that they have good contractual relationships and receive fair remuneration for their work and that being a translator is an attractive job, economically.

The cost of translation is not necessarily proportional to the size of the targeted market. It is a niche market, particularly for lesser-used languages, and many publishers rely on public funding in order to take on the translation and promotion of European literature.

Public funding mechanisms need to develop and adapt in order to provide the most suitable reinforcement possible for the growth of the translation sector. The Covid crisis has considerably shaken the book sector, with less investment in new authors and in niche titles. The number of translations has decreased by a third on average in the European book sector. In some countries and book markets the cuts are much higher, while in others they are less dramatic.(2) This leads to significantly fewer books traveling outside their borders and a decrease to the flow of new, important voices, to the exchange of knowledge. The Covid crisis has also shown how essential culture is to personal wellbeing and social cohesion in a time of social distancing and isolation.

The crisis is still ongoing, and it is difficult to fully assess the scale of the impact it is yet to have on the sector. It is crucial that the crisis be seen as an opportunity for the sector to reflect on the status of the translation sector, and for public funding bodies to respond and develop the appropriate tools to overcome the barriers which inhibit the circulation of works across Europe.

The European cultural and creative sectors depend not only on public support for their development and competitiveness, but also on a translation sector that is efficient, agile, diverse, inclusive, and sustainable in the long term, and one which is able to cover the multiplicity of language combinations in Europe.

WORKING TOGETHER AT EUROPEAN LEVEL: THE OPEN METHOD OF COORDINATION

The new European agenda for culture, adopted by the European Commission in May 2018, together with the 2019–2022 Council work plan for culture, provides the framework for actions and cultural cooperation at EU level. The agenda has three strategic objectives with social, economic and external dimensions. One of the concrete actions is to support Member States in ensuring fair remuneration for artists and creators through general and sector-specific dialogues. The work plan has identified an ‘ecosystem supporting artists, cultural and creative professionals and European content’ as one of the five main priorities for European cooperation in cultural policymaking.

With this in mind, the Council provided for the creation of an Open Method of Coordination (OMC) group of Member States’ experts

focusing on multilingualism and translation. An OMC is a framework for cooperation between EU Member States at European level, in which a group of experts designated by the national governments of each Member State come together to exchange good practices on designing policies and funding schemes, with a particular focus on literature and the book market. This creates a common understanding of the key issues in a particular area and helps to build consensus on solutions and their practical implementation.

WORKING IN TEAMS … AND WITH TEAMS

© Erik Peters, 2021

The group was composed of experts designated primarily by 20 EU Member States, along with Iceland, Norway and Switzerland (for details, see Annex I). The group was then split into three subgroups according to the main themes of this report: subgroup 1 covered initial and continued training in the translation sector; subgroup 2 covered the working conditions for literary translators and investigated ways to improve them and make the profession more desirable in the job market; and subgroup 3 focused on the public funding and the international circulation of literature. These subgroups met regularly to exchange best practices and develop recommendations. Throughout the working period, the OMC group met with several external experts and key representatives from all levels of the book value chain and the whole group met for seven plenary sessions. Unfortunately, due to travel restrictions, the group never met physically.

In addition to exchange of information on the current situation and best practices in each country, the OMC group tried to gather statistics about each country’s market. It turned out to be a somewhat difficult task, as data collected by national libraries,

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literature funding institutions and national offices of statistics are not harmonised and do not provide the same level of detail. However, significant numbers of data about the proportion of translated books and the level of financing available have been accumulated by country representatives. Some key findings are included in the main body of the report to support the analysis and recommendations, while the full set of data is included in the annexes.

THE REPORT, AND ITS TARGET AUDIENCE AND STRUCTURE

The output of the OMC group on Multilingualism and Translation is this report, called “translators on the cover” as a metaphor of the main focus of the report. It contains best practices and recommendations concerning the key issues within the translation sector.

Many of the key recommendations in this report are aimed specifically at policymakers working at local, regional, national and EU levels, but, in order to have the greatest influence, the report should reach all stakeholders in the book value chain across Europe. Furthermore, many of the recommendations in the area of initial training and higher education are relevant to educational and academic institutions.

Translation is a cross-cutting discipline that is by no means limited to the translation of books. In addition to its relevance to the publishing sector, it is also found in the distribution of audiovisual works (i.e. through subtitling) and the production of theatrical or lyrical works (i.e. through surtitling). In accordance with the mandate provided by the Council, this report focuses mainly on the field of literary translation, with the OMC group mainly consisting of experts from publishers, literary translators, public funding agencies and national ministries of culture. However, recognising the great importance of translation in other creative sectors, the OMC group had several meetings with key stakeholders and representatives from the audiovisual and theatre sectors, whose examples of best practice and key recommendations have been included in this report.

The report is divided into two chapters. The first chapter concerns how to reinforce the translation sector, and discusses initial and continuous training in the field of translation; the status of translators; the specificities of audiovisual and theatre translation; the effects of practices such as machine and relay translation; and visibility and inclusion in the sector. The second chapter focuses on how public funding can help the circulation of translated work, not only by supporting translation publication and promotion, but also by reinforcing sales capacity and networking, adding a European dimension to reading promotion, and advocating for more regional and European cooperation.