Literary Translation Services

Book, Script and Poetry Translation That Keeps the Author’s Voice

AsiaLocalize provides literary translation services for authors, publishers and literary agents. Native literary translators translate novels, non-fiction, scripts, poetry and articles in 120+ languages, with particular depth in Asian languages, keeping the author’s voice, style and cultural meaning so your work reads naturally for new readers.

ISO 18587:2017 certified badge
ISO 17100:2015 certified badge
ISO 27001:2022 certified badge

Get a Free Quote for Your Business

Order a free quote by filling the form below

Quick definition

What Is Literary Translation?

Literary translation is the translation of creative writing, such as novels, short stories, poetry, scripts and essays, so it reads naturally in another language while keeping the author’s voice, style, rhythm and cultural meaning. It goes beyond accuracy: the translator recreates the reading experience for a new audience.

Literary translation at a glance

See also: transcreation, desktop publishing and publishing translation.

Published: · Last reviewed:

Reader flying on an open red book, representing literary translation that carries stories to new audiences

Book translation

Who Do We Translate Books For?

Book translation is the core of our literary work. Each project starts with the manuscript, the target market and the format you plan to publish in, print, ebook or both.

Independent Authors

Preparing an international edition of your book.

Publishers

Translating titles after acquiring foreign-language rights.

Literary Agents

Sample chapters to pitch a title to overseas publishers.

We work in both directions: Asian literature into English and other languages, and English-language books into Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Malay and other Asian languages.

Hands typing on a laptop with book and magazine labels, representing book and magazine translation

What we translate

What Types of Literary Works Do We Translate?

Books and Ebooks

Novels, short-story collections, memoirs, children’s books and non-fiction titles.

Scripts and Screenplays

Film, television, theatre and audio drama, with dialogue that works when spoken aloud.

Poetry and Song Lyrics

Translated for meaning, rhythm and form, with notes wherever one gives way to another.

Magazines and Articles

Features, essays and long-form journalism for international editions.

Our process

How Does Our Literary Translation Process Work?

A translate, edit and proofread workflow that follows the same ISO 17100 certified process we use for all professional translation.

01

Brief and Style Sheet

We agree voice, register, spelling and how names, places and invented terms are handled.

02

Literary Translation

A native specialist in the genre translates the full text, keeping the author’s voice.

03

Editing

A second linguist compares the translation with the original for accuracy, omissions and tone.

04

Proofreading

Grammar, typography and consistency are checked against the style sheet.

05

Layout Check

Once typeset, we check the final files; our DTP team can prepare print and ebook layouts in the target script.

Translator sitting on a stack of books with a 100% quality badge, representing accurate literary translation

Why Use Human Literary Translators Instead of Machine Translation?

Machine translation can draft plain text, but it cannot keep an author’s voice, rhythm or humour consistent across a book. Technology supports our translators in the background; the translation itself is human work.

Machine translation vs. human literary translation
Machine translationHuman literary translation
Author’s voiceFlattened or inconsistentKept throughout the book
Rhythm and humourOften lostRecreated for the new language
Wordplay and cultural referencesTranslated literallyAdapted, explained or kept by choice
Poetry and song formMeaning onlyMeaning, rhythm and form balanced
Names and recurring termsCan drift across chaptersFixed in a style sheet
Publication readinessRough draft at bestEdited and proofread for print or ebook

Asian literature

Why Is Translating Literature Between Asian Languages and English So Hard?

Literary translation between Asian languages and English raises problems a general translator rarely meets.

Politeness Levels

Japanese and Korean mark politeness that English must carry through word choice and tone.

Name Order

Chinese, Japanese and Korean put the family name first, so a book must choose one convention and keep it.

Wordplay and Culture

Idioms and references often have no equivalent, so the translator adapts, explains or keeps them.

Form and Script

Haiku patterns, rhyme and meter rarely survive literally, and Thai, Khmer, Burmese or vertical Japanese change typesetting.

For book titles, back-cover copy and marketing blurbs, where the aim is to sell the book, we use transcreation.

Frequently Asked Questions About Literary Translation

Literary translation is the translation of creative writing, such as novels, poetry, scripts and essays, so it reads naturally in another language while keeping the author’s voice, style and cultural meaning.

It depends on the length of the manuscript, the language pair, the genre and how many editing rounds you need. After we review the manuscript, we give you a schedule for translation, editing and proofreading before the project starts.

We translate in 120+ languages, with particular depth in Asian languages: from English into Asian languages, and from Asian languages into English and other languages.

Yes. Many projects start with a sample chapter or extract, translated and edited to the same standard as a full book, so a publisher or agent can assess the title.

Yes. Our desktop publishing team can typeset the translated text for print and ebook formats in the target script, including non-Latin scripts.

No. Our literary translations are written by human translators. Technology supports them in the background, keeping names and recurring terms consistent and catching errors, but the translation itself is human work.

We agree the voice, register, spelling conventions and handling of names and invented terms in a style sheet at the start, then a second linguist edits the translation against the original for accuracy and tone.

Our Achievements

10 Million Words

8,000 Projects

500 Happy Clients

120 Languages

Why Choose Us?

AI-Driven Localization, Human Expertise

Always-On Global Support, Locally Tuned Services

Industry-Specific Expertise Across Key Verticals

ISO-Certified Quality and Data Security

Turnkey Solutions That Save Money and Time

Customer-First Project Management, Every Step

Trusted by the world’s leading companies

Amazon logo - AsiaLocalize client
BMW logo - AsiaLocalize client
Booking.com logo - AsiaLocalize client
Bosch logo - AsiaLocalize client
Google logo - AsiaLocalize client
Hilti logo - AsiaLocalize client
HP logo - AsiaLocalize client
Kaiser Permanente logo - AsiaLocalize client
Microsoft logo - AsiaLocalize client
Volvo logo - AsiaLocalize client
Samsung logo - AsiaLocalize client
Three professionals shaking hands, representing a reliable literary translation partner

Ready to Take Your Book to New Readers?

Send us your manuscript details, target languages and publishing format. We will review the text and propose a schedule for translation, editing and proofreading.