The dynamism of book translations all over Europe

Books in Translation is a data-driven study that systematically examines how literary works circulate across languages, markets and cultures in Europe. At a moment when cultural diversity and democratic resilience are increasingly dependent on cross-border exchange, the report offers insight into the role of translation as a load-bearing element of the European book ecosystem and as an instrument of cultural policy.

Drawing on quantitative data, qualitative market analysis and country-level case studies, the report illuminates how translations shape readerships, publishing strategies and cultural flows across Europe – and how these dynamics are shifting under the pressure of economic change, digitalisation and geopolitical disruption. It goes ten years back in history, thus exposing trends, some of which come as a surprise at first sight, e. g. the leading role of Japanese which just comes a close second behind English in recent years. Germany, which long boasted to be the most receptive market for literary translations, is now falling back with France being a near equal and the traditionally less active countries of Italy and Spain catching up.

The covered target languages comprise the languages of the most populous European countries as well as languages from the Nordics and the Balkans with smaller numbers of speakers.

The perspective is pan-European: the analysis spans translation flows between European languages as well as from non-European source languages, the dominance of English alongside regional and minority languages, structural differences between large and small book markets, the effect of funding instruments and institutional frameworks and the strategic significance of translations within publishers’ editorial programmes.

This is a novel feature, states Vienna-based media researcher and consultant Ruediger Wischenbart, one of the authors of Books in Translation. /1/ Publications like “Buch und Buchhandel in Zahlen”, the statistical almanac of the German Publishers’ and Booksellers’ Association, only cover translations from and to the national language. Drawing on industry and national library data, ThinkPub inspired and funded a far larger scope of the research.

Throughout, translation is treated not as a marginal phenomenon but as a structural component of the European book economy – with direct bearing on competitiveness, author discoverability and sustained cultural interconnection.

The report identifies several defining trends.

• First, translation volumes are growing increasingly concentrated, with a rising share attributed to English-language originals, driven by global market power and escalating rights costs.

• Second, economic pressure on publishers is intensifying: declining unit sales alongside rising production and translation costs are squeezing financial margins, particularly for smaller houses.

• Third, regional ecosystems play a decisive role – markets with well-developed support structures and established traditions of exchange show more diversified language portfolios than those with weaker institutional foundations.

• Fourth, a persistent data gap remains: comparable, harmonised translation statistics are frequently incomplete, hampering evidence-based decision-making.

More and more Europeans master English to a degree which allows them to read English originals. Traditionally, English literacy has been strong, e. g. in the Netherlands where the turnover of books in the vernacular no more than doubled the figures of the English language books. This now happens in other language communities, challenging the chances of translations of the books in question in their respective national markets.

One possible reaction is that publishers try to acquire the printing and distribution rights of English originals along with rights to translate and distribute in their respective vernaculars. Hanser, the renowned German publisher, did this with T. C. Boyle’s last novel and was heavily criticised for this move.

Global English exacerbates the problem in smaller language communities. In a country like Slovenia with its two million inhabitants, a circulation of 300 to 400 copies is already considered a commercial success, according to Wischenbart. (Compare this to the German-speaking area with its 100 million native speakers.) The cost of a human-made translation is more or less equal in both countries, which raises the question of AI-powered translation.

With this, we are right in the middle of a hot debate about the damage or merit of AI in books. While some plead for a complete ban, others argue in favour of an open declaration of the contribution AI made to an individual book.

Wischenbart doubts, though, that interdictions will be a way of controlling the market and he argues for licensing models instead. National collecting societies provide similar services already for comparable collective usages of copyrighted works.

A central finding is that translation must be understood as both a market activity and a public good. Commercial logic alone is insufficient to sustain linguistic diversity, particularly for works from smaller languages or less commercially dominant regions. Support mechanisms – including translation grants, publisher subsidies and international cooperation programmes – prove decisive in maintaining diversity and ensuring the long-term cultural circulation of texts.

The report further stresses that translations represent investments in cultural infrastructure. They connect readerships, allow authors to reach beyond national boundaries and contribute to Europe’s shared cultural space.

For publishers, editors and literary agents, the findings offer strategic orientation on how translation decisions interact with market size, rights costs and catalogue development. For policymakers and cultural institutions, the report provides an evidence base for evaluating existing support schemes and designing future measures.

In an environment where cultural exchange faces economic, political and technological strain, Books in Translation delivers a political message: supporting translation means safeguarding the plurality of voices in the European book landscape – and Europe’s capacity to speak to itself, and to the world, in many languages.

Through an innovative education and training programme, ThinkPub offers a set of advanced digital tools within an online “Library of Digital Learning Objects”. According to Wischenbart, ThinkPub’s track record, at the project’s midway point, is as expected. Financing has been secured until the projected end. But there will be sufficient resources to keep the content up to date, Wischenbart assures, thus making ThinkPub a comprehensive resource of information for European publishers, fostering diversity and adaptation to market changes.

/1/ The other authors are Miha Kovač, Professor of Publishing Studies at the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), cultural manager and researcher Yana Genova (Bulgaria) and Anja Kamenarič, PhD researcher at the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia)