| Interview 1: Translating Karl May (2) | |
| How Durch die Wüste Became The Shadow of the Padishah |
> Interview 1: Intro | Part 1 | Part 2
PART 2 of an interview with translator Michael Michalak about his translation of the German author Karl May's 120-year-old “Oriental Odyssey” into modern English.
Have you seen the popular German film parody Der Schuh des Manitu?
No, I haven't seen the film, but I am interested in the reasons for its wide acceptance - which seems to indicate that Karl May still has an irresistible attraction for the German people.
I know you sought translation feedback and comments from various sources. How did that help or hinder your work?
Because our translation was the first ever unabridged version based on the original serialized text of the Deutscher Hausschatz publication, we were very eager to receive any feedback we could get. Our aim, after all, was to render a translation that was true to Karl May - so any criticism we received was most helpful. For the most part, we received feedback from Germans who had read Karl May as a child and claimed that in reading our translation they got the same feelings they remembered from their childhood. Other feedback we received highlighted minor errors, and we expected that those would exist even after our extensive review process. So this feedback was likewise helpful. And whilst we were appreciative of such feedback and incorporated much of it in our work before publishing, we expect that more feedback will come in the future. Of course there are always detractors, and we had our fair share of feedback from such people as well. Their comments were evaluated in the same manner, but of course we realized that we would not be able to please everyone all the time - and yes, this latter group proved to be hindrance rather than a help. But because of their input, we were also certain that what we had accomplished was an authentic translation.
Did your "multi-kulti" experience of growing up in Germany, then living in Australia and the U.S. affect your translation work?
Indeed it did. In Germany, I was taught the “Queen's English” as a foreign language. In Australia I was immersed in a colloquial “Queen's English.” In the United States I was exposed to yet a third form of the English language. All of these exposures assisted in the translation, as did the experience of multiculturalism in two countries worlds apart. Because of this exposure, we rendered our translation in the simplest of the English language forms, so that they could be read by any English reader without ambiguity. How successful we were in achieving this goal was confirmed when the Indonesian Karl May society asked us for permission to use our English translation for their own Indonesian language version.
I was sorry to learn of your wife Elaine's death last year. I know she helped with your work. How did the translation collaboration with her work?
My wife did not read or speak German at all. Her input into this translation was restricted to the editing process. However, she did far more than just edit the translated text. She checked for consistency, fluency, accuracy and was a great help when it came to comparing the German original with the English translation. She read the English text and I compared it with the German original. When something was not clear, I translated the sentence verbatim and we both then worked on resolving the problem. During all of this, Elaine was also battling cancer and the work provided her with an escape from the rigors of chemotherapy. She lost her battle with this disease in May 2001, yet she worked on the editing of the then translated manuscript until a month before her death. Yes, she was a great help in polishing the final manuscript and her input will be sorely missed. But the second volume is now complete and after editing it myself it will be published this year.
Did you make use of translation software for your project?
In an effort to streamline the work, I first tried several products that were available on the market, but I found them all lacking features that I considered important. Since I happen to be a systems engineer, I decided to build tools that were more suitable for our translation project myself. So I wrote a “translation manager” that incorporated a user-expandable bilingual dictionary. As the work progressed, I added other useful features to this application as the need arose. So I ended up with a very useful, home-grown application with which I can easily manage this complex translation project. But, although it speeds up the process, it still requires the skills of a human translator.
What about the rest of the “Orient Odyssey” series?
Before my wife passed away, she expressed her wish that I continue the work we had started together. And that is exactly what I am doing. The second volume - Part 2 of “The Shadow of the Padishah” - has now been translated and it is undergoing a number of reviews similar to the ones we did on the first book. I have established a publishing company that will publish these books exclusively in hardcover format. So there will be two volumes that make up the complete tale of “The Shadow of the Padishah” followed by “Travel Adventures in Kurdistan” and so on. Each of these volumes will be issued as numbered books under the main title “Oriental Odyssey” - so for the first time, there will be a complete Karl May series available to the English language reader. Of course, it will take some time, but it is progressing.
How did you end up self-publishing your book?
My choice of self-publishing was two-fold. First, we did not wish our work to be edited by a traditional publisher. Second, we wanted to have complete control of the final book. At first we had turned to a print-on-demand (POD) publisher. It was only after Elaine's death that I seriously considered taking on the role of publisher as well. So I ended up establishing my own publishing house, creating my own imprint and having all the tools necessary to truly self-publish the books I translate. I can thus be in complete control of the design of the book and the publishing process from beginning to end. The reason for taking on this additional work was due to my dissatisfaction with POD publishers. It became clear to me that they promise far more than they deliver and do a great disservice to self-published authors. In effect, they are no more than “vanity presses” that are more interested in making a profit for themselves at the expense of the author rather than giving the author the opportunity to have a work published and distributed successfully.
After some research into publishing practices, I discovered that the work I was paying for, I could easily do myself. I also discovered that I could produce books in hardcover format and sell them at a lower cost than the paperback books currently sold by the POD publishers. The thing to do then was to take on the publishing and distribution task and to cease my association with the POD publishers. I've been very happy with that decision so far.
Thank you for this interview.
Copyright © 2002-2004 Hyde Flippo
See the related links below:
BACK > Interview 1: Intro | Part 1 | Part 2
MORE > Interview 2: Intro | Part 1 | Part 2
Related Links
The Trials and Tribulations of Translating Karl May into English
An article by Michael Michalak on why he made the effort to translate Durch die Wüste.
Nemsi Books - Karl May by Michael Michalak
The translator's own publishing house and Web site.
Interview 2: Karl May Translators
An interview with David Koblick, the translator of Karl May's Western novel Winnetou I into English. What path did this American paleface follow in tracking down the original Winnetou?
Karl May Links
A collection of links from your Guide.
James Fenimore Cooper Society
The Society is devoted to "promoting the study of the life and works of James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851)... encouraging the enjoyment of his 32 novels, and appreciation of his ideas." Author of The Last of the Mohicans, The Deerslayer and The Pathfinder.
James Fenimore Cooper - The Last of the Mohicans
Analysis, commentary and photos of sample pages from the 1826 edition of Cooper's novel.
James Fenimore Cooper - Bio
A biographical overview from the Mohican Press.