# In need of a translation



## Mike (Feb 25, 2006)

There has always been something which has miffed me about the North American Publishing Industry: Publishers are willing to release less-than-stellar material in the fantasy genre in order to garner a profit, yet are unwilling to take on actual quality works from other countries to be translated and released in English. Thus, I wander the shelves to see yet another "Dragonlance" book or "Zorg the Barbarian" or some such trash, yet am unable to find anything from the outside world.

I specifically relate this to the "Wiedzmin" saga, which I have read in Polish and is major phenomonon in Eastern Europe, yet remains untranslated into English. Czech, German, Russian, Spanish, yes...but English, alas, no. Doubly disturbing is the fact that the Wiedzmin stories are the first fresh and original fantasy works to come out of the stale depths of the genre, far surpassing anything that best-selling authors such as Margaret Weis could even attempt on this continent.

It makes me wonder why...

I have recieved news that the first two short story collections by Andrzej Sapowski are coming out this year as English translations...however, it is to be a limited release. "Zorg the Barbarian" would probably get more distribution by a publisher than a translated work.

Again, I ask, why? How can something which has gained such a huge degree of popularity in one part of the world (inspiring a television series, a film, and RPG and a video game, among other things) remain outside of the western field of vision for so many years. This translation is much over-due.

So, if anyone would like to tell me about any translated works of fantasy they have picked up, discuss the topic in general, or tell of any other works of fantasy in another language they'd like to see translated, post it here.


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