Ulatus Newsletter - Volume 5
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Ulatus Capsule
Ulatus Launches Book Translation Services to Attract Global Readership
Ulatus announced the launch of Book Translation and Book Production services for authors across the globe, allowing them an opportunity to increase their readership by more than five times in non-English countries. With over a decade of experience in high-quality translation management, Ulatus has the finest team of highly-skilled literary translators across multiple languages that empowers authors to confidently share their work with global audiences. As 72% of global readers prefer to consume content in their native language, Ulatus helps authors reach out to them in the language they understand.
Book Translation solutions by Ulatus are designed to help authors enhance the discoverability of their book by providing them a flawless translated version which perfectly replicates the essence of their work. Ulatus experts incorporate cultural nuances in translations to make the content relevant for local audiences while retaining the original meaning and style.
The solutions offered make's it easy for the authors by providing them an end-to-end solution from Translation to Template Designing, Typesetting, Graphic Illustrations, Book Indexing, Cover Designing, XML tagging and eBook generation. They also cater to all the parties involved in the book publishing space like authors, publishers, distributors, printing companies, ePublishing platforms, foreign rights agents, literary agents and University Presses.
“We are committed to working with authors and publishers to ensure that their literary work gets noticed worldwide to bring them the recognition that they truly deserve,” said Shilpa Mittal, CEO, Ulatus. “Our team of expert translators has the unique ability to ensure that content is relevant to local audiences, while keeping the book’s meaning and style intact. Book translation is a delicate balance between accurately reflecting an author’s work, while maintaining a high level of cultural sensitivity, and our team can achieve that balance. We believe that with our regional language expertise and technological capabilities, we will immensely assist authors in receiving the global exposure that they rightly deserve.”
Industry Update
Ulatus CEO honored at the 9th Annual Golden Bridge Awards Ceremony in San Francisco
Volume 4 of Ulatus Newsletter promised to tell you more on this, so here we are: Shilpa Mittal, CEO of Ulatus, won the prestigious “Best Woman Entrepreneur 2017” award by Golden Bridge in San Francisco. The esteemed business awards program honors achievements from major industries across the globe.
Organizations from all over the world are requested to submit nominations, including public and private, for-profit and non-profit, and large and small. The coveted annual Golden Bridge Awards program encompasses the world’s best in organizational performance, innovations, products and services, executives and management teams, women in business, product management, and other important fields from every major industry.
Known for its commitment to excellence, Ulatus is one of the world’s trusted translation and localization providers. The celebrated honor reflects the high standards that Shilpa and the entire company strive to meet to ensure they are always exceeding clients’ expectations. “I’d like to accept the Best Woman Entrepreneur award on behalf of the entire Ulatus team,” said Shilpa. “This is a recognition of the effort they put in every single day to give every client a WOW experience! Having served 200,000+ clients from 125+ countries, with almost no client complaints, speaks of the commitment we all have to give every client more than what they expect. The environment here fosters innovation, and we keep coming up with new solutions for our clients to help them communicate with their audiences in global markets in the language they understand.”
Academia Times
The Who’s Who of Book Translation: 7 Important Players You Should Know about
Translating a book into another language exposes it to an entirely new market. This is extremely valuable for both the publisher and author: both increases the book’s potential revenue and extends its reach to a global audience. Publishing a book in English makes it accessible to 360 million native speakers, plus the billion people who speak it as a second language; but publishing a translation to Mandarin, for example, exposes it to an additional potential audience of 955 million! In other words, translating a book is well worth the investment. Here are the important players in the industry.
1) Publishers
A publisher, of course, is a company that produces books from the editing through the printing stage. Traditional publishers sometimes acquire translation and foreign rights as part of a book contract; sometimes, those rights remain with the author. A publisher seeking to translate a title to which it owns translation rights may work with a foreign rights agent (see below) or sub-right the sales to a foreign publisher and split its profits with the author. Percentages vary by contract, of course, but the industry standard is 75% of net proceeds to the publisher and 25% to the author.
Authors who retain foreign rights may hire a translation service and try to market the book to a foreign market themselves; however, the book is very unlikely to find its audience without good contacts and marketing in the target country. A more viable option is to sell the rights to a foreign publisher who can market and distribute more effectively.
2) Readers & Scouts
Readers and/or scouts are hired by publishing companies to read foreign literature and recommend titles that the publisher may want to acquire and translate. Readers receive assignments, while scouts actively seek books for their publishers.
3) Literary Agents
Literary agents are the gateway to the major publishers, as most major publishing companies do not consider unsolicited or “unagented” submissions. Literary agents pitch manuscripts to editors and negotiate book contracts for their authors. They take a commission for their services, usually around 10-15% of the author’s royalties.
Many literary agents also represent a book to publishers overseas—sometimes working with a “co-agent” abroad or with a foreign rights agent (explained below). Agents generally take a higher commission for this service, usually around 15-20%.
4) Foreign Rights Agents
Agents who specialize in foreign rights representation are called foreign rights agents. They take a commission for their work (as above), but their expertise, contacts, and familiarity with the target markets put them in a unique position to effectively pitch and sell a book to a foreign publisher. This means they’re likely to help bring in greater revenue from foreign sales that more than make up for whatever the rights holder might lose on the commission.
5) Translators
Obviously, translators are responsible for translating the book into a new language. They may be hired independently or commissioned by a publisher that has acquired the rights to the book.
6) Distributors
Distributors are companies that sell the books to booksellers and libraries. Major publishing companies act as their own distributors, while smaller presses and self-published authors use distributors such as Ingram Content Group, Alibris, or Small Press Distribution in the USA; 66 Books or Bertrams in the UK; Diamond Comics or India Book House in India; Libri GmbH in Germany; Logista in Spain, etc.
7) eBook Platforms
eBooks are far more cost-effective and convenient than their dead-tree counterparts—especially considering there are virtually no production costs (beyond the initial formatting, editing, and design) or shipping costs. This makes them especially convenient for breaking into a new language market overseas. The most well-known eBook platform in the USA is Amazon Kindle, but other digital booksellers are popular as well, such as Kobo, Apple iBooks, and Google Play. Not all platforms support all languages, and some are more popular in some countries than others, so make sure to do your research before selecting one.
Language Refresher
An Introduction to Etymology: Word Stories
The etymology of a word refers to its origin and historical development: i.e., its earliest known use, transmission from one language to another, and changes in form and meaning. Etymology is also the term for the branch of linguistics that studies word histories.
What's the difference between a definition and an etymology?
A definition tells us what a word means and how it's used in our own time. An etymology tells us where a word came from (often, but not always, from another language) and what it used to mean.
For example, according to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, the definition of the word disaster is "an occurrence causing widespread destruction and distress; a catastrophe" or "a grave misfortune." But the etymology of the same word takes us back to a time when people commonly blamed great misfortunes on the influence of the stars. Disaster first appeared in English in the late 16th century, just in time for Shakespeare to use the word in the play King Lear. It arrived by way of the Old Italian word disastro, meaning "unfavorable to one's stars."
Is the etymology of a word its true definition?
Not at all, though people sometimes try to make this argument. The word etymology is derived from the Greek word etymon, meaning "the true sense of a word." But in fact the original meaning of a word is often different from its contemporary definition.
The meanings of many words have changed over time, and older senses of a word may grow uncommon or disappear entirely from everyday use. Disaster, for instance, no longer means the "evil influence of a star or planet," just as consider no longer means "to observe the stars." Language is insanely complex. Unraveling that complexity involves understanding why we use the words we do. Some uses include the following:
- Instinctively interpreting a word you have never heard before.
- Creating a new word to describe an original idea or concept that hasn't been given its own word yet.
- Communication across language barriers.
- Comprehending older documents.
- Translating between dialects and understanding the reason for different connotations in different cultures.
- Word games and puzzles for children and adults.
- Creating an artificial language for fun.
- Also, the more of the system you understand, the less you need to memorize things by brute force. It is easier to remember how things connect than remember each individual connection. Word origin and history is part of this.
Take Home Message: If a word's etymology is not the same as its definition, why should we care at all about word histories? Well, for one thing, understanding how words have developed can teach us a great deal about our cultural history. In addition, studying the histories of familiar words can help us deduce the meanings of unfamiliar words, thereby enriching our vocabularies. Finally, word stories are often both entertaining and thought-provoking.
Open Freelancer Positions
We are currently looking for freelance translators and checkers under Japanese<>English, Portuguese<>English, Chinese (Simplified/Traditional)<>English, Korean<>English, and Turkish<>English. High proficiency in English is a prerequisite.
If your colleagues and friends are interested, please have them send their resumes to [email protected] or they can also fill in their details at www.ulatus.com/translator-application-form.htm
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Copyright ? 2017 Ulatus (Crimson Interactive), All rights reserved. The Ulatus Newsletter is a bimonthly bulletin that serves as a platform for you to know us better as an organization, understand our working style, and be a part of our growth stories.
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Credit - Ulatus Editorial Team.