As we all know, translators all too often remain in the shadows. For example, although a huge number of people will have delighted in English translations of works by the famous Japanese author Natsume Soseki, very few of those people will be able to recall the name/s of the translator/s who actually wrote the words on the pages they read. The same is, of course, true of books that have been translated into any language: from any language. It’s also true of course that translators who translate novels generally get their name printed somewhere in the book (all be it usually in relatively small print), however, we think that’s just not enough: we think that every truly outstanding translator deserves his or her own Wikipedia page! You may think that your favourite translators already have their own Wikipedia pages but, in many cases, you’d be wrong. Furthermore, as translators ourselves, we think that translators are perfectly positioned to plug this gap in Wikipedia’s knowledge. After all, if WE don’t have the passion, the knowledge and the interest to fill this hole in the world’s knowledge then who does?!

Leading by example

Now… …we know what you’re thinking: oh-so-often is this kind of let’s-do-it-type of idea just a bunch of empty words that leads to nothing… well, not this time! This time we mean to lead by example; this time we’ve picked one of our favourite translators, a Mr. Graeme Wilson (who, together with Ai Ito, wrote a truly outstanding translation of I Am a Cat by the aforementioned Natsume Soseki), done a bunch of research and written everything we could find out about him: HERE – thereby filling at least one of these Wikipedia holes and, hopefully, getting the ball rolling.

The rest are up to you!

So grab a great translation off one of your bookshelves, see who translated it (shame on you if you don’t already know), head on over to Wikipedia and do a quick search to see if they’ve already got their own Wikipedia page or not – and, if not, write one!

P.S. Feel free to edit or add to our Wikipedia page (or translate it into another language?!) on Graeme Wilson if you can find out more than we’ve managed to.