{"id":20816,"date":"2013-06-07T06:30:47","date_gmt":"2013-06-06T18:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=20816"},"modified":"2013-06-05T22:16:19","modified_gmt":"2013-06-05T10:16:19","slug":"to-hell-and-back-translating-dan-browns-inferno-part-2-by-dutch-translator-marion-drolsbach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2013\/06\/07\/to-hell-and-back-translating-dan-browns-inferno-part-2-by-dutch-translator-marion-drolsbach\/","title":{"rendered":"“To Hell And Back”: Translating Dan Brown’s “Inferno”—Part 2, by Dutch Translator, Marion Drolsbach"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Introduction:<\/h3>\n

Yesterday, I posted the first part of Dutch translator, Marion Drolsbach’s inside story on translating Dan Brown\u2019s Inferno<\/em><\/strong>—and today Marion completes her account with how she got swept up into The Netherlands launch, as part of the world-wide release on May 14.<\/p>\n

Again—enjoy!<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

To Hell And Back: Translating Dan Brown’s Inferno <\/em>— Part 2, The Netherlands Launch
\n<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

by Marion Drolsbach<\/em><\/strong> (one of the three Dutch translators working on the project.)<\/span><\/p>\n

D-Day<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Weeks went by, and Erica, Yolande and I soon got back into our normal routine of working in splendid isolation, with all the distractions of being at home, once again communicating only by e-mail. Finally, D-Day was nearly upon us, 14 May 2013, when Inferno<\/em> would be published in English along with twelve other languages. The occasion would be marked with special events worldwide. In the Netherlands our publisher had decided to send each of us to a different bookshop to attend a Dan Brown breakfast, while the editorial team would be holding a breakfast launch party at Amsterdam\u2019s Central Station for journalists and invited guests.<\/span><\/p>\n

I had been chosen to go to a bookstore at the crack of dawn in a town called Sassenheim. There I was to be interviewed by the bookstore owner before mingling amongst the guests to answer any questions. And to sign copies of the book. Quite nerve-racking, I can tell you. Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking, as the saying goes, except in my case it happens to be true. I\u2019m alright behind the safety of my computer screen, but it\u2019s something else entirely when faced with real life people…<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh no!<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

To calm my nerves, I went shopping in the afternoon before the big day. I had been warned not to walk around with my mobile in plain sight in that part of Amsterdam, so I\u2019d put it away in my handbag. When I surreptitiously checked to see if I\u2019d had any text messages, there was a whole string of missed calls, Facebook chat balloons and texts. Various editors from our publisher had frantically tried to get hold of me, because we had been invited onto a very popular chat show on TV. For that very evening…<\/span><\/p>\n

Erica and Yolande were already on their way to Amsterdam, as they both live out of town. The PR lady from Luitingh urged me to say \u2018something interesting\u2019 to the chap from the chat show who would be calling me on my mobile. He had to pick the guests for the evening show based on how they came across during the selection chat. I was still in the shopping precinct surrounded by shoppers when he rang, but I desperately tried to come up with \u2018interesting\u2019 anecdotes from the London translation bunker. All I could think of was that our taciturn Norwegian colleague turned out to have been a famous rock star back in the day, who had adopted his stage name after the singer of the almost equally famous punk band, The Clash, couldn\u2019t pronounce his real name and decided to just call him Freddi Fjord.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, we passed muster: I was told we would definitely be on the programme. I rushed back to get changed and tell my husband and my sister I\u2019d be on television that evening. Mercifully, there was little time to panic before the producers sent a taxi for me, and off I went. It was a relief to see Erica and Yolande, who were already in the studio being pampered. We were given a slap-up meal, were skilfully spruced up for the camera by friendly make-up artists, the chat show host (a celebrity in the Netherlands) came up to us to say hello, and then we had to go on.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Marion,'Inferno' translator & TV star!<\/p><\/div>\n

Fame<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

A colleague who happened to be watching quickly alerted a discussion group for translators, and by the time our “Hollywood” debut was over, the group had been inundated with congratulatory messages. In the Netherlands translators are seldom seen, heard or indeed acknowledged in public, especially translators of books that are perceived as non-highbrow. So our colleagues were pleasantly surprised by the attention our noble profession received, even though we were invited onto the programme because of the hype surrounding the exceptional conditions under which we had to work in London and Milan. If anybody is curious, the item with us in the guise of three intrepid Dutch translators can be seen here: http:\/\/dewerelddraaitdoor.vara.nl\/media\/235878<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

After that, my breakfast appearance at the bookshop in Sassenheim the following morning was a doddle. Several people recognised me from our TV appearance the evening before, so for two hours I almost felt like a real celebrity. The interview and Q&A session went well, and everyone was interested to hear my story about our London adventure and what it all entailed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/span><\/h3>\n

So, in the name of duty we\u2019ve not only been to London, Amsterdam, and Sassenheim, but also to Hell and back, and lived to tell the tale. But after all the excitement our working life is now back to normal again, which is just as well. There\u2019s only so many thrills and panics a translator can take.<\/span><\/p>\n

And finally, we are convinced Dan Brown\u2019s next thriller is going to be about translating his books, because that has been shown to be just as adventurous and full of surprises as his previous plots.<\/span><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Thank you, Marion!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction: Yesterday, I posted the first part of Dutch translator, Marion Drolsbach’s inside story on translating Dan Brown\u2019s Inferno—and today Marion completes her account with how she got swept up into The Netherlands launch, as part of the world-wide release on May 14. Again—enjoy! — To Hell And Back: Translating Dan Brown’s Inferno — Part […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,10,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-funstuff","category-general","category-guest-blog-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20816"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20848,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20816\/revisions\/20848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}