I’ve been translated into half a dozen languages now. Shame I can’t read any of them.
I just received an email from Rasmus Ardhal from Danish Website MyMusic.dk. The interview he did with me has been translated for a Danish audience. This is what I look like in a Scandinavian language.
I also received a draft copy of my 20 Things e-book in Chinese, which I’m quite excited about. It’s being distributed (for free, of course) by Chinese website Music 2.0 (pictured above). If I can distribute tens of thousands of copies in English, imagine how many can be replicated and passed around in China.
And you can add to this list Dutch, Portuguese, French and German. I’ll give you links to these — and the proofed and finished Chinese language version — as they come online. I’m hoping even more will come on board soon. But it really is quite humbling that people are prepared to go to the effort of translating my words for their fellow speakers of other languages.
The only real shame of it is that I’m going to start a serialised ‘How-To’ podcast for independent artists, and I only speak one language with any real fluency. I’m going to be reliant on other people to translate and narrate other language versions of those if it’s going to have anything like the same impact as the 20 Things book. Or, I guess, I could improve my own skills at other languages. That would be far more polite and forward-thinking of me…
I can already ask for coffee in Finnish, introduce myself in Spanish, enquire as to the location of the bank in French, indicate my appreciation in Dutch, declare that I am a monster in Japanese (don’t ask) and announce in German that the blue cat is on the table. Other than that, I’m a bit of a linguistic moron.
And it’s a shame, but I guess I’m not alone in that. But here’s what it got me thinking: what markets are you currently locked out of for reasons of translation or other barriers? Is there a way to overcome that? Are there people who will volunteer to turn your words into another language, or adapt your music to speak to fans of another genre?
To whom have you never imagined presenting your music to? Are they really THAT unattainable?
It’s worth a thought — because your potential impact multiplies enormously once you get over these little barriers. Doesn’t matter where you go — people tend to like music.