Case study I: Cook this Book

The cookbook localisation and translation process involved:

• considering word limits so the translation would fit the original layout page-by-page.

• the transcreation, in as much as possible, of the author’s very original style, including copious American slang and the interpretation of her characteristic, and numerous, abbreviations! Parmy anyone?

• the creative translation of recipe introductions that, in my opinion, read like the descriptions of dishes a professional restaurant critic would have written

• the transcription and subsequent translation of the educational videos accompanying the book

• the technical translation of the recipe’s method, including:
  • extremely detailed instructions and measurements
  • the adaptation of oven temperatures
  • the adaptation of imperial measurements
  • the adaptation of various ingredients, suggesting substitutes to the author
  • the contextualisation of foreign references and ingredients for the benefit of Spanish readers

The cookbook localisation project thus required:

• a creative translator
• an above average knowledge of the English language (and research of American terms where needed)
• a specialist gastronomy translator, conversant not only with American food terminology, but also American oven temperatures and the American imperial system, able to convert every single measure reliably (except those in the few sweet recipes, which the author had done), and able to research and suggest possible substitutions.
• painstaking attention to detail to not miss anything (couple that with the fact that the pdf to Word conversion had messed up many numbers and moved ingredients around, so I had to revise the original text word-by-word before starting the translation…)
• an awareness of what constitutes clear language, particularly as this was a book aimed at increasing the confidence of beginner home cooks

Case study II: La Tartine Gourmande

La Tartine Gourmande stared at me from its stand in the Waterstones bookshop located at the West Quay shopping centre in Southampton, UK. Peltre’s charming voice, her sweet tone, photography and similarities between our personal stories (married to an Irish fellow, lived or travelled in New Zealand), were irresistible at a time when I was thinking of going gluten free having had difficulties to get pregnant, which goes to show the variety of reasons influencing the sale of a cookbook. The author’s voice and story is just as important as the content.

Indeed, La Tartine Gourmande was written for an American public —the author lives in Boston, US—, with a marked French vibe, and, when it came to decide on a topic for my translation dissertation (ever been there!?), I thought it was a real shame that my adored book was not translated into other languages. And was there ever a more interesting topic to translate and research than food!

The onus of my dissertation was whether it would be better to adopt a foreignising or a localising translation approach. Together with the author’s prominent voice, I discussed how to deal with culture-specific items and differing genre conventions between Spanish and American cookbooks. Having thoroughly enjoyed all the reading, soon followed specialised courses in gastronomy, pâtisserie and wine translation, as well as shorter ones on cookbook photography, tea, chocolate, cheese, olive oil…

You might also like

• Read my article on cookbook translation for Dianne Jacob’s blog for cookbook authors.