Welcome to Talking Translation, where we go behind the scenes and between the lines to learn more about the process of translating Australian children’s books. Today we meet Tanya Orlyk, the Ukrainian editor and translator of over 70 children’s books created by Australian nonprofit publisher Library For All for sharing as part of the Ukrainian conflict response. 

Why talk about translation?

Children’s and YA books make up over 54% of the international rights sales of Australian literature. They are vibrant agents of cross-cultural exchange and exciting contributors to the arts economy. And Aussies love an international success story! So, by all means, praise the authors! Praise the illustrators! But do remember that none of this success happens without exceptional translators, who deftly manipulate words to ensure new audiences can enjoy the same reading experience as the book’s first readers. In the age of AI it’s never been more important to celebrate these gifted creators who do SO much more than swap one word for another. Let’s make our translators visible!  

Talking Translation with Ukrainian translator Tanya Orlyk

Tanya Orlyk is an experienced, multilingual translator with a passion for reading advocacy and a string of accolades including Cosmopolitan magazine’s Fun Fearless Female of the year! She currently works as a Library For All Program Coordinator for the complex delivery of children’s books across Ukraine, keeping kids learning during the conflict. 

Q: How many Australian picture books have you translated in your career?

A: While I haven’t kept an exact count, I think that I participated in the translation of 70+ Australian books for the Library For All collection. Perhaps more!

Q: Do you notice similarities across the Australian books you’ve worked on that pose challenges to translation?

A: I haven’t lived in Australia, so I live in a constant state of suspicion that I might be missing some connotations, popular culture references, or humor (and we don’t ever want to miss humor!).

For example, if the main character is an animal, I am curious to find out if this animal invokes any connotations. Does it usually embody bravery, laziness, or overwhelming cuteness in Australian stories? Is that why it was chosen by the author?

These questions fuel curiosity. Also, sometimes we just “don’t know what we don’t know” when it comes to a different culture. It’s important to just keep learning and deepen your general knowledge so that you can provide the readers with minimum necessary localization and convey the imagery.

Q: For your work on the Library For All books, specifically, can you identify some of the challenges you faced? Are there particular pages or lines of text that were hard to render into Ukrainian?

A: At Library For All, we try to keep a balanced mix of “mirrors” and “windows” in our book collection. “Mirrors” reflect the daily life of the child, while “windows” encourage imagination and invite children to explore the diversity of the world.

“Mirror” books from Australian authors often serve as “windows” for Ukrainian children. This is because schools, hospitals, cities, homes, “typical” animals, and typical food look different in different countries.

I usually translate the original text quite literally without over-localizing it. For example, I wouldn’t substitute the name of the meal with a more common Ukrainian dish. It’s a good opportunity for children to learn new words and ask parents about life in other countries.

I can recall several conundrums. We have a story about a girl frying marshmallows, and Ukrainian marshmallows can’t be heated. We transliterated “marshmallow” so that it was clear that it was a specific type.

Also, when translating books about vehicles or nature, I could lack words in Ukrainian.

Q: What are some of the challenges involved in translating picture books, in general? For example, how do the illustrations impact the way you translate the words? How do you adjust rhyming texts?

A: It’s a very interesting question because a book illustrator would probably tell us more about the art of “translating” the very illustrations to adapt them to different countries.

For me, it’s easier to work with picture books. Illustrations serve as hints and help me with the translation.

When translating, I try to catch the melody and speed of the story and write in the same manner. Sometimes it’s even possible to use the same repeating sounds.

And when it comes to rhymed texts, I do my best to rhyme in the translation, too.

Q: Finally, please tell us a bit about your career as a translator (background, education, experience, languages).

A: I had my Master’s in translation from the Institute of International Relations (part of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv). I studied English and Spanish, and our curriculum included a lot of diplomatic translation and memorizing entire official documents from the United Nations in several languages. I don’t see much value in learning those documents by heart, but they stuck with me forever. If I can’t think of something to say in Spanish, I would probably start chanting the United Nations Charter to keep up the conversation 🙂

When I worked at a translation agency, I did a lot of quite monotonous work like translating people’s birth certificates.

Later, my experience became more diverse: I started translating novels, was a translator for a Spanish real estate agency, and served as a translator for tourists who came to Kyiv.

Quality translation is a skilled blend of art and science. I hope this interview series helps elevate our respect for the creative efforts of translators, as well as the sophisticated (misunderstood!) work of children’s writers and illustrators.