We have a few new additions to the family that have come in over the last couple months, so I thought I’d share them here.
This one is really new, and just showed up a couple weeks ago. It’s the Taiwanese translation of The Name of the Wind.
As always, it’s more than a little baffling for me to see the book in an absolutely foreign character set. I can’t even pretend to sound it out. Even harder for me is the fact that I don’t know how to type in those characters into babelfish so I can find out what that 79 on the cover refers to.
The Taiwanese translation is in complex Chinese. The simplified Chinese translation will be coming out in China pretty soon. I saw the cover art a about a month ago and it was pretty cool.
Next we have the Serbian translation:
This one’s pretty. I love it when the publisher goes out of its way to do a new cover for the book. I don’t know what to make of the different spelling of my name, though.
The next one is Hungarian:
I dig the cover. It’s subtle. And I couldn’t for the life of me tell you why, but it looks a little magical. I think it might be because the vines behind the title have a cleverly implied pentacle in their shape.
Either way, I like it.
Lastly, I can’t remember if I posted up the Brazilian version of the book before.
Just in case, here it is:
This one is an odd hybrid for me. The cover is the same as the French version, and the language is the Brazilian dialect of Portuguese.
I think this brings the translation total up to…
<pat goes to look at his vanity shelf>
Wow. 21 translations of the book. 22 if you count the UK version. I wouldn’t have guessed that many, if you’d have asked me.
I know we’ve sold the translation rights for The Name of the Wind to about 30 countries, but when you do that, it doesn’t mean 30 foreign copies of your book show up at your house in a week. Even after you make a deal with a foreign publisher, it takes a long time for the book to come out.
First there’s the paperwork, then they have to translate it, proof it, lay it out, pick a cover…. They have to fit it into their publishing schedules and market it just like we do here in the US. All of that takes a long time, and sometimes it takes me a month or two to get my author copies after the book comes out in these other countries.
As a result, the translations have sort of trickled in one every couple months over the last couple years. So yeah. 22. It’s weird if I think about it too much.
That’s all for now.
pat
72 Comments
They’re beautiful!
They’re so cute! Have you given them names yet?
Your little family is growing by leaps and bounds!
Is there any interest in the foreign rights to The Wise Man’s Fear yet?
I love the Serbian cover. As Pat put it, It’s pretty! :)
Holy cow, Pat. I’m incredibly impressed with these, particularly the Hungarian cover.
Why would they change the spelling of your name for the Serbian translation, though? Is it more similar phonetically or something?
In Serbian we write the same way we talk so that’s way it’s written differently.
So, I’m not a Serbian expert, but I transliterate it at work (I’m a sort of library cataloging minion). I am actually quite fond of it – it’s the most sensible set of alphabets I’ve seen. I say “set” because they actually use both Cyrillic and Latin alphabets, and for almost all of the letters, there’s a one-to-one correlation between the Cyrillic and its equivalent. Somebody worked hard on making that language easy to write in either alphabet.
So they’re probably spelling your name in the Latin alphabet exactly how they’d spell it in Cyrillic – which only has a “k” to denote the “k” sound, and does not have a “th”. I’m not sure about the disappearance of the second “s”, but I would guess it’s because you’re not actually saying a second “s” sound, like you would in Mis-si-sippi, so they figure one is enough?
Super interesting – thanks :D
As a person who is married to a Serb, I can confirm that:
– they don’t do double letters
– they don’t have a “th”
– they don’t do silent letters, every one is pronounced
– vowels aren’t necessarily required
My favorite example of this is the word for “death”: SMRT
One last note –
During trips to Serbia, I’ve wandered into bookstores that sell translations of western books like Pat’s. I was shocked to learn that they’re considerably more expensive, both on an absolute and [especially] on a relative scale.
While vowels (as in a, e, i, o, u stuff) aren’t needed, r can easily function as a syllabic consonant. It’s not that uncommon in english either, although “n” and “l” are more common then r, and I think they often occur word-finally. Eg. “button”, “able”
As a Croatian,
Serbian spelling is nearly 100% phonetic (ie. spelling bees would make absolutely no sense). “Patrik Rotfus” is how a serbian/croatian/bosnian person would pronounce Patrick’s name, as, indeed, there are no dental fricatives (voiced or voiceless) in the language (and the r is rolled). The voiced one (ð, th in “that”) is generally replaced by a “d” in pronunciation, while, while the unvoiced one (θ, th in “thin” of “Rothfuss”) is replaced by a t (the voiceless version of “d”)
While in Croatia, we generally preserve the original spelling of author’s (and characters’!) names, in Serbia they are often changed to reflect their true pronunciation, which kind of makes sense as that allows a Serbian person to approximate the correct pronunciation of a word, instead of struggling through what is, for example, english spelling (eg. pronouncing t and h as is they were two distinct sounds, or for those who can do IPA, pronouncing “Patrick Rothfus” as [patrit͡sk rothfus] while they could say [patrik rotfus], which is much closer to the actual pronunciation [pætɹɪk ɹɔθfəs ] – I think. I hope I’m pronouncing your name well. The reason why the Serbian version of the name still spells “Patrik” instead of more true-to-the-sound “Petrik” is probably due to the fact that “Patrik” does exist as a serbian equivalent of “Patrick”).
I now wonder how the names of the characters are being spelled. If anyone’s interested (couldn’t really find more online):
Kvothe = Kvout
Ambrose = Ambrouz
The Chinese title is feng(1) zhi(1) ming(2). If you go to http://dict.baidu.com and copy the words individually (风 之 名) you can hear how it’s pronounced.
Well, according to my Kanji dictionary, the character after 79 means break, be folded, bend; turn, yield, compromise; or occasion, opportunity. But, while Japanese uses the same characters, I don’t think the meaning always stays the same. So I guess you’re just stuck having to ask an actual Chinese person.
The 79 is an indicator of a discount, which is actually 21% off because in Chinese culture, you indicate how much you still have to pay.
Wow. I never would have guessed that. I never would have guessed that.
It explains why it’s on a detachable sleeve though….
It’s interesting how snifflykitty’s explanation ties in with selah84’s “literal” translation. Selah84 said that character means “break, be folded, bend; turn, yield, compromise; or occasion, opportunity” in her dictionary, which I can easily see as meaning “discount” in actual usage per sniffly’s explanation.
Love the Serbian and Hungarian versions; the artwork for both are lovely.
i love the cover to the Serbian copy the artwork is beautiful and mystical. but you’re right Hungarian cover does seem magical.
also your name change in the Serbian copy makes me giggle. “Patrik Rotfus”. ^^
I notice they also spelled Tad Williams’ name “Vilijems” on the Serbian cover. It must be just a phonetic thing, but I wonder if any other names/words in the actual text have been altered?
I’d be interested in Kvothe’s name in the Serbian. I would guess it went to either “Kvot” or “Kvote” – and “Kvote” would mean they’re pronouncing the “e”.
About the spelling on the Serbian cover. They have this thing where each letter corresponds to one phoneme. It goes back to the guy that devised the Serbian alphabet (Cyrillic letters) and collected and published a lot of folk songs and stories. Before him all Serbian writing was religious or state administrative stuff and written in latin or greek or turkish.
So they spell all words (foreign names included) based on his “write as you speak and read as it spells” one letter-one phoneme philosophy.
That’s not entirely accurate. Cyrillic letters were, of course, devised by Byzantine missionaries Cyril and Methodius in 9th century. Vuk Karadzic reformed it for the Serbs in 19th. He’s also guilty of the ‘write as you speak’ that makes Serbs write everything phonetically.
I remember a guy telling me he borrowed a Serbian book in a library by someone called Mopaso. He thought it was an African author, but it turned out it was Maupassant.
I would definitely buy a Scottish Gaelic version to go with my English Hardcover. There needs to be more love for the Celtic languages!
The Hungarian copy looks like a guilder to me.
Like snifflykitty said, “79折” means the book is 21% off.
That’s not as weird as it sounds – it’s like marking something $7.99 in the US instead of $8.
My wife and I found your book ALL OVER Spain when we were there last month! I’m guessing you’re pretty huge over there.
My friends in Brazil will be pleased to get a link with the cover of your book from there. I had gushed over your first book when they combed my library last year, then made the faux pas of showing them the trailer for it in Spanish… :)
Oh, I really like the Serbian cover-art.
Any chance we might be able to find a way to buy prints of these or any other covers from the artists or publishers? I’d love to have something like that framed on my wall.
well mr rothfuss. i’ve read every single blog since i first read NOTW two years ago. you, sir, are awesome. and i, sir, am drunker than i’ve ever been in two years lol. i’m really looking forward to the next book. but seriously, your blog, i think, has had an even bigger impact on your fan’s lives than your awesome books. :) hopefully i’ll have the courage to say this sober one day LOL
Heh, now you’ll have to be Pious Drunk ?
Loved the Servian one. But for really, I prefer the one I have: the brazillian! I bought it just because I liked the cover, didn’t know nothing about the book til’ I read it!
The covers for the French/Brazilian and Serbian version of the book are breathtaking. You, Pat, have had unbelievable luck with the covers for your books. All the covers have been very fitting, except for the Italian cover. Anyways, I hope The Wise Man’s Fear will receive the same treatment.
Where can I order the Serbian one? I love the way it looks (and because you’re such a fantastic author, I will buy it just for that reason!).
So, is there a Greek translation? I’m wondering.. I haven’t managed to find anything yet.
;-)
I love the Hungarian one. May just have to pick one of those up…
I recently moved to Australia from the U.S and have noticed that the covers for both books are different here. Also, TWMF came out in paperback immediatley. Ofcourse, it is the largest paperback know to mankind. Not exactly a different translation, but maybe worth an honorable mention.
Of course UK English counts as a translation! Spellings like honor jar my brain :) not such a bad thing, but enough to notice and be a little sad
Love the french/brazillian and Serbian covers! I would definitely buy prints as people have suggested. A2 or A1 sized would be nice :)
I am 13 and my sister introduced me to your books.
You are now my favourite author.
I like the Serbian and the Brazilian covers.
First, to answer some questions about Serbian translation.
Its true that each letter corresponds to one phoneme and that we have write as you speak and read as it spells rule. Pat’s name has been transcribed and that is why there is only one S in the name.
Kvothe is spelled Kvout in the novel.
Lastly, thank you for the kind words on cover. I hope you enjoyed seeing it as much as I enjoyed reading The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear. I started working on it after I read the book (which was Friday evening) and finished it somewhere around Sunday noon. Haven’t slept in between. Hopefully I’ll remember to pack up the original sketches for both covers when we send The Wise Man’s Fear.
@Widow of Sirius
It’s a transcription thing. In Croatia they’d just leave the name as it is, but in Serbia (here in Bosnia they are selling the Serbian edition) they transcribe it.
@Lechcelious
Here you go:
http://www.laguna.rs/index.php?m=naslov&id=1533
And for anyone who’s interested they transcribed Kvothe’s name as “Kvout”. As for the other names they they are all transcribed as well:
Trep, Ambrouz, Deoh, Ori etc…
They translated Arcanist as “Esotericar” (Esoterist).
Glad you like the cover Pat! The Serbian edition looks great next to my English one. ;)
In the spanish version, instead of Ambrose Jakis is Ambrose Anso
and Edena Ruh instead of Edema Ruh
n_n
Maybe too late to answer, but they changed the surname because “Anso” looks like “asno” (jackass). Yeah, the “Edena Ruh” thing is weird. I guess they changed it because when people hear “edema” think of an oedema, or edema (a condition characterized by an excess of watery fluid collecting in the cavities or tissues of the body). Well, I don’t know.
I own several international versions of Dresden Files novels, including “Storm Front” in Hebrew and “Fool Moon” in Chinese and Polish. The Chinese edition cracks me up, because 99.99% of the book is in a different character set, but that remaining .01% is still in English, so I’ll get stretches of [Chinese] [Chinese] [Chinese] “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” or [Chinese] [Chinese] [Chinese] “you bitch!” I haven’t yet figured out why “you bitch!” needed to remain untranslated.
You can’t count the UK edition as a translation, unless you can get them to change the line in Wise man’s fear so that the the kid with the golden screw in the belly button has his arse fall off, not his ass.
Then it would be a translation :0
Personally, my favourites are these three :
The Finnish one “Tuulen Nimi” because the whole watercolor effect thing looks really beautiful and you can practically feel the wind.
The English one where a dark cloaked figure, whose about half the length of the cover, stands in a white opening, and is surrounded by dark, dark green forest and the title and author is written in a dark copper colour. (no bright green anywhere). It gives of a very mystery and fantasy feeling.
And the Japanese one ”風の名前” (if you google it Patrick Rothfuss is written: パトリック ロスファス), because it’s vivid, it shows his glorious red hair and looks very fierce.
eu quero o livro portugues para me ajudar aprender falar e entender melhor! i don’t have any novels in portuguese yet and hot damn, this would be a great start to a collection. bonus for brazilian portuguese. love.
I’m from Hungary, and I’m keen of this book. :D Not just because the cover, but it had a big role by the buying. It was amazing, Pat, and I would like to thank you the story. :) It’s the first book I’ve twice read. And soon it will be the thrid reading. :D
But the Serb cover… ahhww.! I love those books, their covers show a bit from the story. Or just a picture. In our case, the cover is really magical and mysticall and etc. but… :) When I bought it, I thoght of a dark book with much killing or I don’t know.
It was a bland disappointment!!
Thank you, once more! :))
I want my book to have the Serbian cover!
So… how do you know whether a translation maintains the integrity of message? How would you know if an unfree country censored sections they found inappropriate or if they altered the text to conform to their own culture? Would you know whether Comrade Kvothe were smiting the capitalist pigs? Or would you ever find out if the fathers of the sex ninjas were committing honor killings in the name of Allah? (I’m intentionally giving ridiculous examples, but you know what I mean)
“Would you know whether Comrade Kvothe were smiting the capitalist pigs?”
To be fair kvothe, like the edema ruh, is an anarchist at heart. The adem their nationalistic cousins. All it takes is awareness of the politics behind the cultures.
And hey, he’s got *true red* hair for a reason comrade :p
hey pat,
have you any idea when the translations of the wise men’s fear are going to be published? i love your first book and would love to read the second one, but there is a problem with getting the book to my location and it would help if the (dutch) translation would come out. so I am curious when it would come out exactly. thanks for sharing your talent with the rest of the world.
It comes out on the 15th of july (google: Angst van de Wijze) but the coverart sucks as I haven’t got a clue which part of the book it is supposed to resemble. Besides, it’s too greenish..
Pat, although mostly unrelated, please define Nault to me. Pretty please, with a ludo rock calling like face.
It was explained in the first novel – it’s referencing Emperor Naulto, who was a terrible leader (though the specifics elude me, and I can’t flip through my novel fast enough).
http://www.tedsepic.org/Ludo/Ludo.png
Is there any particular reason that the file for the Taiwanese version is called “Korean book.jpg”? ;)
As others have pointed out, the Chinese name of the book is 風之名 —
弒君者三部曲:首日 (fēng zhī míng — shì jūn zhě sān bù qū/qǔ : shǒu rì), your name has been rendered as 派崔克 羅斯弗斯 (simplified 派崔克 罗斯弗斯), pài cuī kè luó sī fú sī.
What really delights me, though, is that the character 弒 shì used in “Kingkiller Chronicles” (or “Kingkiller Trilogy”, here) explicitly means “to murder someone of superior status”, “to murder someone to whom you’re honour-bound”.
LOVE that I can give it to Chinese friends soon now!
Finnish publisher of The Name of the Wind, Kirjava (All shades of Red), said this about the book:
“Patrick Rothfuss ‘The Name of the Wind’ starts where ‘What Is to Be Done?’ ended. The novel tells a tragic tale of what it is to grow up in 21st century west. Our story follows the protaginist, working class Andrei Ivanov’s, struggle in oppressive capitalist society after his family is slaughtered for singing protest songs about the political elite. …”
The book itself follows Adrei grow up and learn political theory from various animals in the woods, then move to university where his good wits and superior arguments earn him much trouble and resentment.
While i loved the translated version (and cover!), i feel you should move away from babelfish when approving these books.
???
This is what Kirjava says about Tuulen Nimi ( The Name of the Wind):
Yhdysvaltalaisen Patrick Rothfussin trilogian avaava Tuulen nimi noudattaa seikkailufantasian konventioita tyylikkäästi ja kiehtovasti. Teos jatkaa kustantamonsa aikuiselle lukijakunnalle suunnattujen mainioiden lukufantasioiden linjaa.
Kehyskertomuksessa tapaamme majatalonpitäjä Koten, jonka luo saapuu utelias Kronikoitsija. Tämä on saanut selville, että Kote ei ole kukaan muu kuin Kvothe, kiistelty velho, bardi ja sankari. Romaani koostuu Kvothen elämäntarinasta, jonka tämä kertoo majatalonsa pöydässä.
Kvothe syntyy kiertävään teatteriseurueeseen, jonka mukana kulkevalta velholta hän sai ensi oppinsa magiassa. Hän menettää sukunsa väkivaltaisesti myyttisten Chandrian-olentojen käsissä. Koston ja kostoon tarvittavan tiedon jano saa Kvothen pyrkimään yliopistoon oppimaan taikuutta.
Rothfussin romaani nojaa päähenkilöönsä, joka on mielenkiintoinen sekoitus sankaria, konnaa ja ainakin tässä osassa, nuorta ääliötä. Kirjailija on luonut myös teoksensa maailman huolella. Magialla on oma monimutkainen järjestelmänsä, joka vivahtaa hieman Le Guinin Maameren tarinoiden sanamagiaan.
Musiikki on teoksessa tärkeässä osassa. Kirjailija tutustuttaa lukijan fantasiamaailmansa musiikkiperinteeseen niin että tämä alkaa jo kuulla monimuotoisen “Tunari tinuri” -juoppoballadin korvissaan. Trilogian seuraavan osan The Wise Man’s Fearin suomennosta voidaan joutua odottamaan tovi, sillä se ilmestyy Yhdysvalloissakin vasta ensi vuonna.
And I’m assuming I won’t have to translate this for you, because if you don’t know any Finnish, what’s with post?
Alright, I almost want to learn Hungarian just so I can have and read that version of the book, the cover looks awesome. The subtle ones are always the best, IMHO.
Aaaaaand I’m going to have to go back and read this now.
The Serbian copy is just… breathtaking, really. The American version is awesome, but the cover of the Serbian translation is just absolutely fantastic. Why couldn’t we have thought of that one first?
I absolutely love the Serbian cover. I demand poster prints to be made so I can admire it on my wall.
If the Brazilian cover was just as bright (less red), I would probably love that one just as much as the Serbian cover. The brightness/cool colors of that Serbian color just screams fantasy/dream type worlds, and it’s amazing.
Exactly! It seems to me that the Serbian cover really captures the spirit of the book.
Greetings from Hungary! I’m glad you have our version of the book. Not only the cover is magical, but it was translated by one of the best hungarian translators (who also did The Dark Tower series by Stephen King). I’ve read it in english, but I had the chance to peek into the hungarian one as well. And it’s a very good translation.
the nicest thing about this cover, i think, is that it seems to say that the artist actually read the book. :)
Why are the foreign covers so very much better than the American covers?
:(
Just read the Dutch version of your book and loved it! We from the Netherlands love you!!!!!!
well im from Serbia, and yes, that is how we say your name :D. Serbians rarely leave author name on English or on their own languages(if they are German, or other) but are usually written on first or second page.
I love our cover, somehow made my friends buy it for me as a present. But the only thing i complain is that his hair is brown and not red as it should be. Other covers are nice too :D
Also, if you wanna know what writes on the cover:
“this novel has everything that readers of high fantasy love: magic, secrets and ancient evil, but it is also fun, scary and really persuasive book.
-Tad Williams
And bellow is
Winner of Quill award for best novel of high fantasy.
Am I the only one who likes Terry Goodkind?
No mention of the Darkover novels anywhere in blog or comments. Sad me. One of my favorites. I like darkover much better than mists of avalon – great worldbuilding, a fantasy series with a scifi origin, some of the most incredible characters I’ve ever read. Marion Zimmer Bradley rules.
Stupid wordpress password reset. Wrong blog.
風之名: Fēng zhī míng (pinyin). “Fung(sustained high tone) jur(sustained high tone) ming(mid-low to high rising tone, like before a ?)”
And thanks for this…now I can share it with my Taiwanese friends! And believe me, it’s a gift that demands sharing.
شات
بشات بنات فقط
شات بنات
دردشة مصرية
شات مصرى
شات مصر
مصرى
شات مصري
دردشه
دردشه مصريه
دردشة بنات
دردشة مصر
مصري
بحبك
الشات مصر
الشات المصري
الشات المصرى
الشات مصرية
الشات مصريه
دردشة كتابية
دردشه كتابيه
شات بنات مصر
شات بنت مصر
دردشه بنات
شات مصر
شات كتابي
شات بنات
دردشة
دردشه
شات مصرىة
ahj
ahj lwvn
ahj lwv
]v]am lwvdm
ahj fkhj
]v]am
ahj lwvd
hgahj lwv
hgahj hglwvd
دردشة مصريه
دردشه مصر
دردشه مصرية
شات مصرىه
سعودى اكس بي
شات صوتى
شات صوتي
دردشة صوتية
شات الكويتى
دردشة الكويتى
الكويتى الصوتى
شات الكويتي
مركز رفع
مكتبة الكتب
مقالات
العاب
دليل
العاب فلاش
منتديات
منتدى
توبيكات
بث مباشر
القران الكريم
يوتيوب
الطب البديل
الثقافة الجنسية
ترجمة نصوص
شات اسوان
شات حلوان
شات الاسكندرية
شات القاهرة
العاب اكشن
العاب الغاز وذكاء
العاب تصويب
العاب رياضة
العاب اطفال
شات بنت مصريه
شات مصاروة
شات مصريه
القسم العام
النقاش الجاد
القسم الاسلامي
دردشة عراقية
شات عراقي
جات عراقي
Dialect of portuguese?.. Dialect?.. D=
https://blog.patrickrothfuss.com/2013/03/upcoming-appearances-2013/#comment-38181
Anyway, can’t pardon you, as I just can’t blame you! How could I blame the author of such an undescribable masterpiece?!!?