Tell me you love me with a book in my language

April 23rd was Saint George’s Day, celebrated in several countries, each one with a different tradition. Being from Spain, I am rather familiar with Sant Jordi’s Day in Catalonia, a celebration similar to Valentine’s Day and the “Dia del Libro” (the Day of the Book), where friends, family and sweethearts give each other roses and books.

The “Day of the Book”, however, is not unique to this date nor area. It is common for cities in Spain to have book fairs or a specific day dedicated to the “reading culture” as well. When you have the opportunity to enjoy one of these fairs or events, it is rather easy to be indecisive about what books to purchase. Personally, I love novels, poetry, books about psychology, art, places around the world, ancient languages and modern cultures among others.

Taking a look at my own interests as a reader, I could make a wild guess that what most individuals read often times is based not just on their hobbies, but any information that might shed some light on current times, or that might help with their businesses.

I recently read an article on the news site “Global Times”, titled “Translation biggest obstacle impeding export of Chinese books: publisher”. The gist of it is that there is an increase of interest on books regarding Chinese culture, given the current socio-cultural context and economics in China that have an impact on how business is conducted and/or how markets work, not to mention the overall interest on the culture itself.

A book can be a great investment to export new ideas, a culture, a product, and one can agree that curiosity about one same topic can be found among speakers of different languages. However, how can you fulfill that international curiosity, if you are held back and forced into a monolingual market by a lack of interest in translation?