Dear Mr. Stroud,

I have a technical question for you, since I have a special interest in translation (I being a professional interpreter and translator... whom you might have a chance to see quite soon).

It is well known that your books have been translated into a wide range of languages. Reading the Italian versions, I noticed that some names (the "historical" ones, like Solomon) were obviously translated into Italian, others seem to just have been adapted phonetically (e.g. "Bartimaeus" became "Bartimeus"), others (most of them) remained the same.

Did you give any recommendations or specify and preferences concerning the translation into any languages? Do you happen to know how names were treated in the other translations?

Thank you in advance,

nick

Hello Nick!
Long time, no see. Thanks for all your help in Mantua - we made a great double-act! I can't remember whether I part-answered this question during the talks in Italy, but you're right that not all the names are treated the same. Bartimaeus in particular seems to alter (Bartimeo in Spain, Bartimaus with umlauts over the 'a' in Germany etc); I assume this is because it's a Biblical name, and follows accepted usage in each language? I don't get involved in this, or in most elements of the translation, except for answering questions when they occur. Certain translators (the Japanese and German, for instance) are quick to ask if there's a joke or meaning they aren't sure about; I'll try to clarify as far as I can. As I may well have said in Mantua, the German translators told me that they can't always translate all my jokes/puns etc, so they make a note: 'We owe Jonathan one joke', and insert a new one somewhere else. This raises the unnerving possibility that the German edition (and all other foreign ones) are in fact far funnier than the original...

Hope all's well, Nick. Hope you enjoy the new book too.

Jonathan