LANGUAGE OF LITERATURE

CAREERS AS LITERARY TRANSLATORS ARE IN POPULAR IN THE ABROAD BUT THE DEMAND IN INDIA IS GROWING…
From pamphlets and instruction manuals of MNC's to prisoners in jails to students love letters to Hollywood and Bollywood movies - all employ and need translators. A literary translator's job is more than that of an interpreter's, and very close to new literary creation. While earlier there were international publishers looking for Indian writers writing in English, now national and international publishers are finding that good English translation of Indian literature, can find an international market. The publishers understand this business well and are thus looking at it.
NATURE OF WORK:    You have to do just about everything, and it's very much like being a woman! You need to have an extensive knowledge of the source of the source and target language. You have to understand the full cultural, historical, and preferably philosophical and personal context of that everything that you translate.
TYPE OF TRANSLATIONS:    Translation can be divided into scientific and non-scientific translation. "Literary translation falls under the latter and is a higher form of translation as a translation is as good as a new work. It gives one prominence parallel to primary production itself.
Translators can find jobs in three major fields. The most lucrative is the interpreter, translating when someone's speaking. There are jargon specific translators from fields like human rights, law, medicine, etc. who earn well too. Finally there is literary translation, a sphere coming together now.
MODE OF ENTRY:
There are two ways to enter this unorganized market in India:    Translate a prose or collection of poems of interest to you and approach publishers to publish them. Go to publishing houses which are ready to publish translated works and ask for work. One can also browse the web for work. Indicative list of publishing houses dealing with literary translations-Penguin Books India, Oxford University Press, Grassroots Publishing, Rupantar, Sahitya Academi, The Little Magazine, Macmillan Publishers India Ltd, Stree and Samya, D C Books, Rainbow Books, Mathrubhumi.
COURSES:    Courses on learning translation on-hands skills or technicalities are few. Most translators pursue the job based on knowledge of the language and following works of experienced writers. No degree in a translation or languages is needed to become a translator.
Some are - PG Diploma course at IGNOU, one-year certificate course from Centre for Translation of Indian Literature (CENTIL) - Jadavpur University, MPhil and PhD programs from Centre for Applied Linguistics and Translation Studies - University of Hyderabad.
PAY PACKAGE:    The Indian translation industry is unorganized without unanimity of pay or standards. There's more work than the number of people. A translator and trainee editor earns Rs 65 per page of translation, world's largest publisher pays meager 250/1000 words of prose translated. 85 pounds for 1000 words is the standard pay in England. While expert translators believe that currently the pay for literary translations is not enough to earn bread and better, they expect the market to improve soon as demand is increasing.
A good Chinese translator can earn Rs.700-800 per A4 size sheet of translation, while French or German fetches Rs300-400. Clients don't squabble over money if work is good.
WHICH LANGUAGE TO GO FOR?    It helps to have knowledge of an unusual source language if one is looking for earning. Any language with limited diffusion brings a good chance of making you a monopolist in your specialty! Hungarian, Romanian, Estonian for international market and knowledge of Chinese, Japanese, or anything from the wide plethora of Indian languages in India can get one rolling.