India is a wonderful market for books and e-books. With a large population of educated and English-speaking book lovers, the potential for Western authors to carve a solid readership for their books is great. As most Indians are bi-lingual or even multilingual, the language barrier is negligible.
Actually, this multilingual audience can be a boon to authors, as they can make their books available in several languages and increase the chances of their books being read by people across the country. The regional languages in India are many, and they have unique and interesting forms. Many people choose to read books in their local language, or feel more comfortable enjoying books in their native tongue. In fact, many English book readers prefer to also read books in one or more regional languages to appreciate the different nuances and flavors of the story in another form.
Translation services are the best way for authors to provide their books to a large international audience, and gain a wider readership. Almost all of the leading authors work with publishers to provide their book in at least the most widely spoken international languages. Some of the most popular authors, such as Agatha Christie, sold more books to the global readers in other local languages than in English.
There are many translation services in India that offer both fiction and non-fiction book translation into the many regional languages, the most popular ones being Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil and Kannada. A good translation is marked by the effective transfer of not just the story, but also the author’s style, presentation, feelings, emotions and shades of meaning in the book. It is a lot harder to translate fiction and creative works than non-fiction books.
Authors should select translators with considerable care as the quality of the translation can make or break their book’s success. They should check the translation services’ track record, obtain testimonies from satisfied customers, and also request for a sample translation before finalizing the translation service. Depending on the nature of their book, authors can also contact local writers’ groups for first-hand information of which translators worked best for particular types of content.
Here are some book translation services in India to get you started.
1. Translation Panacea: This translation service based out of Pune offers to translate from English, German, French and other languages into Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil and Kannada. They also claim to help authors in acquiring distribution rights for their content.
2. Translation Services Experts: is a large firm that performs translations in both directions, from many foreign languages into as many as 12 different Indian regional languages. This company claims to translate a variety of technical and non-fiction work, as well as literary books.
3. Ulatus: is a global company that offers translation into several Indian languages. This firm specializes in technical and non-fiction book translation.
4. Winsome Translators: is a large translation service that offers translation services from foreign languages into many Indian languages, and also inter-regional language translations.
5. Language No Bar: is a New-Delhi based translation service that provides translation from any foreign language into most major regional languages. They also offer to provide complete book solutions from translation to printing.
Image credit: Jessica Spengler on flickr and reproduced under Creative Commons 2.0[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://writingtipsoasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/CS_Rajan.jpg [/author_image] [author_info]CS Rajan is a freelance writer who loves to write on various topics, and is currently working on her first novel. [/author_info] [/author]