So far, my books have been published in 13 different languages!
Woo hoo!
You can read me in Italian, Portuguese, Afrikaans, Spanish, German, Turkish, Dutch, Chinese, Swedish, Indonesian, French, Greek, Arabic. And of course, ENGLISH – although some would say I’m mostly unreadable in English. (I don’t talk to those people.)
But… not every book has been done in each of those languages.
What’s the best way to get the point across and not muddy up the message???
Here’s the book and what language it’s in, just to give examples (and yeah, to brag a little):
Savvy Stories
Italian, Portuguese, Afrikaans,
The Terrible Twos
Spanish
The Long Cutie
German, Turkish, Portuguese
Night Of The Colonoscopy
Portuguese, Spanish, Italian
The Short Years
Turkish, Portuguese
Santa Maybe
Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
A Quick Trip To BuyMart
Spanish,
CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Laguna The Lonely Mermaid
Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, Chinese, French, Swedish, Afrikaans, Indonesian, German (10)
The Princess And The Dolphin
Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, Chinese, French, Afrikaans, Greek, Arabic, Indonesian, German, Dutch (12)
The Adventures of Pinchy Crab And Ramon D’Escargot
Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, German, Afrikaans (7)
COOKBOOKS
35 Great Recipes You Wish Your Mother Made
Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese
35 MORE Amazing Recipes Your Mother Would Be Proud Of
Spanish
All American Favorites
Portuguese, Italian
Okay, so now that I’ve had a chance to gloat… how do you say your books are in 13 different languages (14 if you count English) and not give the impression each book is in each language? Or do you just let people figure that out?
SOME of my books appear in 13 languages? That sounds lame…
I’ve been published in 13 different foreign languages? Sounds like maybe all my books have been. They haven’t.
I have published X titles in 13 foreign languages (X because technically each book counts as a separate title for each language it appears in. Confusing, right?)
I have 17 books published in more than a dozen languages – ambiguous. Could mean each book is in every language again. (But it sounds impressive as hell.)
Okay by now I’ve confused myself. That’s why I asked.
Ideas?
25 replies on “What’s the Best Way To Say This?”
Excellent bragging rights, Dan – very impressive indeed! It’s a tricky one, isn’t it? I think the last one is perfectly reasonable. It is ambiguous but not confusing. The other versions are perhaps more confusing than they need to be. So many books, so many languages… maybe just put – ‘My name is Dan and I am full to the brim of global awesomeness’. There, you can use that 😉
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Done deal.
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Hmmm…. that IS challenging. How about something technical like: “Na! Na! Na! Poo! Poo! You only publish in English!” Thoughts?
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Ha! I may have to try that.
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By the way…how many hours are in a Florida day? Must be more than here in New Brunswick ‘cus I don’t have time to do all you do. Yea…that’s it. The days are shorter here. Now I feel better about myself… haha
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Your last attempt was pretty close. “I’ve published 17 books in more than a dozen languages.” It’s simple, straightforward, casual. And it doesn’t imply, to me anyway, that every book is in every language.
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Thanks. It starts to get confusing after a while!
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I have 13 books published in 13 languages other than English, including one book published in 12 different languages. The remaining 12 books were published in 1-10 different languages.
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Good god.
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How about something like, “in as many as”? Dan Alatorre, author of 17 books, published in as many as 13 languages, blah, blah, blah… I agree with Tahenryauthoress. Her wording is perfect, I think.
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The first time I read what she wrote, I agreed. The second time I looked at it, I realize that somebody who didn’t know what I meant could easily think the wrong thing still. It’s ridiculous! I can’t find the easy way to say it!
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Then say “in as many as.” It makes sense to me. “I have written 17 books, published in as many as 13 languages.” That doesn’t necessarily mean that all books were published in 13 languages.
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Aha. I knew we’d get there. I think that’s the winner!
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Ooh, I won! Yay! 😉
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Bravo Dan. So you paid to have all those languages translated for your books?
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Nope. Free through Babelcube.
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Wow, thanks Dan. I will investigate. I’d been reading on a few sites about translating and it had always involved a cost. 🙂
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It’s simple. I may have covered it in one of my marketing books. I will check.
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Thanks, I found it! 🙂
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Free? Wow! Thanks for the info. 🙂
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Hmm. Thought I posted about it, too.
Free is a relative term. You do revenue-sharing with the translator. That may not be a good financial decision for you. But there’s no upfront cost.
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Awesome achievement.
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Thanks! I’m very fortunate.
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Impressive! And congratulations!
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Thanks! And thanks!
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