Publishing Translation Services

Publishing, literary and book translation services for Singapore

Sing Lit, as it’s often called, is undergoing something of a renaissance. If you’re a local author or publisher trying to reach a wider audience, you can use our publishing, literary and book translation services to reach any audience in Singapore or around the world.

Our services are designed for Singapore companies, writers and institutions of all sizes. Because, perhaps more so than almost any other body of literature, Sing Lit is diverse. Even linguistically, some authors write in Tamil, some in Mandarin, some in Malay and many in English.

But Sing Lit is also local and – despite its diversity – somehow uniquely Singaporean. That’s why all of our highly skilled book and literary translators have linguistic expertise as well as a deep understanding of both Singapore and your target culture. Exactly what’s required to let you take what defines you as an author or publisher with you as you cross language barriers.

Of course, it’s not just literary translation that we provide. We also have experts in translating and transcreating everything from the latest news and journalism to blog posts, poetry, journals, non-fiction and academic works.

Simply let us know what your next project entails. We’ll give you a free, no-obligation quote.

Singapore’s experts in publishing, book and literary translation

We have a global talent pool consisting of experts in every field of publishing and literature.

From poetry to news stories, blog posts to non-fiction to novels, we will always match you with a specialist with qualifications and/or experience in your specific field.

The experts who deliver our book, literary and publishing translation services in Singapore and around the world are often called upon to translate:

• Film scripts and screenplays
• Guide books
• Non-fiction
• Poetry
• Religious texts
• Textbooks

Literary translation and cultural reference points

Properly translating or transcreating your literary text from one language to another requires more than finding the direct translation of the words you’ve used.

That’s because different cultures have different reference points, touchstones and historical experiences.

Your carefully chosen literary translator will use all of their creativity and flexibility to ensure your translated text retains its:

• Time, place and setting
• Historical and cultural context
• Implied or explicit statements about the above
• Aesthetic sense

Perfecting your book translation

One of the greatest difficulties in book translation is to convey the message of a text or the “feel” of a character in a way which is equivalent to the original.

For example, we’ll need to pay particular attention to things like:

• Accent and dialect – characters with known or established accents which are represented in particular ways will often need to have equivalents found or created.
• Idioms – something important is lost when a flavourful idiom is translated into direct speech. Your translation team will always look for a truer equivalent.
• Tone, manner and relationships – different languages have different ways of expressing the relationships between people and may have grammatical genders or other aspects. These make it necessary to carefully adapt what is being said in order to retain the overall message.

Book and publishing translation made simple

If you’re looking for an all-in-one solution to translate your book, journal, article or any other literary work into another language, we’ve got just the team of in-house experts you need.

In addition to the highly experienced literary translators we source for your project in Singapore, we also have DTP experts to handle the text expansion and contraction which happens during translation, specialists to translate your marketing and much more:

• Multilingual typesetting and DTP for any project
• Website translation and web localisation
• Editing and proofreading services in over 121 languages
• Simultaneous, consecutive and remote interpreters for meetings with publishers, authors and agents

How your book or text will be translated

1. Get in touch with us – and we’ll provide you with a free, no-obligation quote.
2. Team selection – your team of highly experienced native translators will be carefully chosen from our worldwide pool of talent.
3. We build glossaries of terms – using Translation Memory tools and other technologies to establish important reference points for your project.
4. Confirm your deadlines – with our global network working on your project, we can meet even short-notice deadlines.
5. Ready to print – your translated book or text will pass through three layers of Quality Assurance, including editing, proofreading and final review by your original translator. It will then be ready to print.

Frequently Asked Questions