Safehold series in Chinese?

I would like to gift a copy of the safefhold series to some friends, but it would be best if I could gift a Chinese language version. However, it is very difficult to get information on the available translations.

Have the books been translated to Chinese, and if so, where are they available? I know they have been translated to German, but the titles have been changed...

Hildum wrote:I would like to gift a copy of the safefhold series to some friends, but it would be best if I could gift a Chinese language version. However, it is very difficult to get information on the available translations.

Have the books been translated to Chinese, and if so, where are they available? I know they have been translated to German, but the titles have been changed...

First you need to decide which variant of Chinese you want. Chinese is a language family like Romance, not a language in and of itself. Mandarin and Cantonese (Yue) are written differently, as are Wu, Hakka, Jin etc.

Translations usually happen when a foreign publisher buys the rights. Haven't heard that that's happened for anything other than the German editions, so a Chinese edition in any dialect is probably not available.

David

Hildum wrote:I would like to gift a copy of the safefhold series to some friends, but it would be best if I could gift a Chinese language version. However, it is very difficult to get information on the available translations.

Have the books been translated to Chinese, and if so, where are they available? I know they have been translated to German, but the titles have been changed...

doug941 wrote:

Hildum wrote:I would like to gift a copy of the safefhold series to some friends, but it would be best if I could gift a Chinese language version. However, it is very difficult to get information on the available translations.

Have the books been translated to Chinese, and if so, where are they available? I know they have been translated to German, but the titles have been changed...

First you need to decide which variant of Chinese you want. Chinese is a language family like Romance, not a language in and of itself. Mandarin and Cantonese (Yue) are written differently, as are Wu, Hakka, Jin etc.

Well, true to a point. Remember that written Chinese is largely the same between dialects, and most native Chinese can handle the differences just fine. I have even seen Chinese reading Edo period Japanese documents directly without problems - modern Japanese readers cannot do that.

In my case, either Mandarin or Cantonese would be fine.

dvdscar wrote:Translations usually happen when a foreign publisher buys the rights. Haven't heard that that's happened for anything other than the German editions, so a Chinese edition in any dialect is probably not available.

David

Hildum wrote:I would like to gift a copy of the safefhold series to some friends, but it would be best if I could gift a Chinese language version. However, it is very difficult to get information on the available translations.

Have the books been translated to Chinese, and if so, where are they available? I know they have been translated to German, but the titles have been changed...

Too bad. With some of the science fiction movies from China recently, I would have thought there would be a market for translations. Perhaps there are enough native writers that there is no interest.

Hildum wrote:

dvdscar wrote:Translations usually happen when a foreign publisher buys the rights. Haven't heard that that's happened for anything other than the German editions, so a Chinese edition in any dialect is probably not available.

David

Too bad. With some of the science fiction movies from China recently, I would have thought there would be a market for translations. Perhaps there are enough native writers that there is no interest.

Two hindrances that I see: First, the publisher has to believe they can make a buck, which isn't necessarily a slam-dunk, despite the series' immense popularity in the English-speaking world.

Second, there may be some resistance to presenting a series in which Christian/pseudo-Christian doctrine and imagery plays so prominent a role. China has loosened the ties of religious freedom quite a bit, but the government might still have some concerns.

David

I doubt that the nature of the Party would bother them.

It's the image of entire nations throwing over the traces of Party Discipline that would bring the scissors out. From what I can see - very little, I will admit - the people running the country now have far more in common with the folk in the Forbidden City in 1890 than they do with the Great Helmsman.

dvdscar wrote:

Hildum wrote:
Too bad. With some of the science fiction movies from China recently, I would have thought there would be a market for translations. Perhaps there are enough native writers that there is no interest.

Two hindrances that I see: First, the publisher has to believe they can make a buck, which isn't necessarily a slam-dunk, despite the series' immense popularity in the English-speaking world.

Second, there may be some resistance to presenting a series in which Christian/pseudo-Christian doctrine and imagery plays so prominent a role. China has loosened the ties of religious freedom quite a bit, but the government might still have some concerns.

David