English and Italian to French translation

Thousands of books are published every day globally. English and Italian to French translation allows for the sharing of literature all around the world. We may not all speak the same language but we may have read the same books. Thanks to literary translators, books can be shared to all corners of the globe. Cyril Laumonier has been doing this job for ten years. He completed a European master’s degree in specialized translation at ISIT in Paris. ISIT is a French intercultural school that offers various pathways of study including literary translation. During the last year of his master’s degree, he accepted to translate two children’s books from English and Italian to French. This is his daily experience as a literary translator from English and Italian to French.

English and Italian to French translation on a daily basis

According to Laumonier, you cannot learn this job simply through university studies. You have to train your entire life. You need to read and to be curious, and to always want to learn more. Push the limits of your knowledge and your universe. So, a typical day for him starts at home since he works from home. It allows him to manage his own work day. Depending on the deadlines, he tries to work between 6 and 8 hours a day. Always with dictionaries next to him. However, the high level of attention the job requires to perform well can be tiring. Indeed, compared to audiovisual translators, he does not use new technologies like automatic translation. Nearly everything occurs between him, the text, and his dictionaries.

Good to know about literary translation from English and Italian to French

Laumonier likes to discover new worlds with every book he works on. As he translates the writing of an author, he learns about their experience, personality, etc. This understanding helps him to find the perfect words in French to match the English or Italian version of the original. This is why each work is a new adventure for him. He immerses himself into a new world, with a new style and a new score. For sure, being a literary translator is not an easy career path to choose. So how can you find work? His answer is pretty simple: “It is a world difficult to infiltrate but once the door is open, you will have many projects. So, in 10 years of activity, I’ve never really had to look hard for work.”

The cons of a literary translation job

Not every project Laumonier has had to work on has been of interest to him. Sometimes, translators have to work with poorly written books. Translating from English and Italian to French can then become tiring. The profession requires a personal discipline that not everyone has because it can be repetitive. Once he completes a translation, he moves on to the proofreading stage. He writes all his corrections on a hard copy, and then he integrates them back into the electronic copy. This last step is often ‘debilitating’ according to him. Moreover, the delivery of texts to be translated is very irregular and, according to a 2013 French translators’ association survey, a literary translator in France earns an average of only 22,000 euros per year.

A job full of passion – literary translation

Despite all of this, he still wants to continue. For him, it’s all about the love of languages, the joy of reading, and the challenge of writing. He has never wanted to stop. Being a literary translator is very busy and rewarding at the same time. You can learn more about this job on the balance careers website. With LingoStar, you will find the best translation experts for your projects around the world. Don’t forget to check the LingoStar website.