Translation Programme
The Goethe-Institut’s grant programme “Translations of German Books into Other Languages” supports non-German publishers in publishing German-language literature, with the aim of making accessible to non-German speaking readers current works of contemporary literature, literature for children and young people, important academic titles and non-fiction works.
The programme serves cultural policy goals and is an important guiding instrument for cultural and educational foreign policy.
In the nearly 40 years of its existence, the programme has provided financial support for the publication of approximately 6000 books in 45 languages.
The translations to be funded are selected by a six-member panel consisting of two literary critics, one publishing house employee from the Rights & Licensing Department who changes annually, and three employees from the Literature and Translation Funding Department of the Goethe-Institut.
The committee meets four times a year on the following dates:
- Beginning of February: application deadline: 1 December
- End of April: application deadline: 1 March
- End of July: application deadline: 1 June
- Beginning of November: application deadline: 15 September
- Publishing houses: Only foreign publishers are eligible to apply.
- Published works: Funding is available for translations of works by German authors that have been published in printed form by a publisher in the German speaking world.
- Translation from the original: The translation must be made from the original German text.
- Publication date of the translation: The project must not be in the printing stage yet at the time that the funding agreement is concluded so that the Goethe-Institut can be named as a sponsor in the book edition of the translation and the Goethe-Institut logo can be printed.
- Subsidy towards translation costs: In the case of a grant, the Goethe-Institut will reimburse the foreign publisher for part of the translation costs after publication of the foreign language editon. Full payement of translation costs and the fnancing of licensing, printing or editorial costs are not envisaged.
- Mention of the Goethe-Institut and printing ofthe logo: The foreign publisher is required to name the Goethe-Institut as sponsor in the imprint and to print the Goethe-Institut logo. Should the publisher fail to do so, the funding will not be made available.
- Translation fee: In the case of funding, only those fees that the translators receive at the latest when the translation is published can be used to determine the funding amount.
- Translations as e-book in Onleihe: The Goethe-Institut would like to make translations that are also published as an E-book (electronic book) available for borowing in its Onleihe for registered users. The foregn publisher undertakes to make the translation available to the Goethe-Institut in epub format.
We are delighted to announce the launch of the Digital Translation Academy, a project by the Goethe-Institut South Asia. This initiative aims to promote literary translation in the South Asian region, strengthen the professional connections between literary translators, and support their work.
We are inviting applications from upcoming literary translators who wish to hone their translation skills within the framework of this project, which will commence online in May 2023. The source language of translation is German, and works will be translated into Bangla, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, and Sinhalese.
The deadline for submission is March 25, 2023
website of the programme.
All files should be submitted in pdf format, and each file must be marked with the last name of the translator and the type of document. For instance, "Sayali_Resume.pdf," "Sayali_Marathi.pdf," or "Sayali_Motivation letter.pdf." Please make sure to mention the target language in the email subject.
The deadline for submission is March 25, 2023. An independent jury will review the translation samples and select three candidates per language to participate in the Academy by 25 April 2023.
Selected translators are required to attend all sessions, lectures, and presentations of the Translation Workshop.
There will be four online workshops with mentors and experts - texts to be translated will be shared in advance for preparation for the workshops. The experts will provide a reading list for discussions in the forum. These activities will take place during May -December 2023. In addition, there will be 6 lectures by translation experts from Germany and South Asia.
More details will be shared with the selected candidates.
The virtual literary translation academy will cover the entire spectrum of literary translation. It includes a lecture series with established literary translators from South Asia and Germany, genre-oriented intensive workshops with mentors, and a general networking and exchange platform for specialist information on the subject of translation.
We encourage you to participate in this exciting project and look forward to receiving your application.
In case of further queries, please write to: dta.2023@goethe.de