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Index Translationum

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Index Translationum is UNESCO's database of book translations. Books have been translated for thousands of years, with no central record of the fact. The League of Nations established a record of translations in 1932. In 1946, the United Nations superseded the League and UNESCO was assigned the Index. In 1979, the records were computerised.

Since the Index counts translations of individual books, authors with many books with few translations can rank higher than authors with a few books with more translations. So, for example, while the Bible is the single most translated book in the world, it does not rank in the top ten of the index. The Index counts the Walt Disney Company, employing many writers, as a single writer. Authors with similar names are sometimes included as one entry, for example, the ranking for "Hergé" applies not only to the author of The Adventures of Tintin (Hergé), but also to B.R. Hergehahn, Elisabeth Herget, and Douglas Hergert. Hence, the top authors, as the Index presents them, are from a database query whose results require interpretation.

According to the Index, Agatha Christie remains the most-translated individual author.[1]

Statistics

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Source: UNESCO[2]

Top 10 Author

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No. Author Number of translations
1 Agatha Christie 7,236
2 Jules Verne 4,751
3 William Shakespeare 4,296
4 Enid Blyton 3,924
5 Barbara Cartland 3,652
6 Danielle Steel 3,628
7 Vladimir Lenin 3,593
8 Hans Christian Andersen 3,520
9 Stephen King 3,357
10 Jacob Grimm 2,977

Top 10 Country

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No. Country Number of translations
1 Germany 269,724
2 Spain 232,853
3 France 198,574
4 Japan 130,496
5 USSR (to 1991) 92,734
6 Netherlands 90,560
7 Poland 77,716
8 Sweden 73,230
9 Denmark 70,607
10 China 67,304

Top 10 Target Language

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No. Language Number of translations
1 German 301,935
2 French 240,045
3 Spanish 228,559
4 English 164,509
5 Japanese 130,649
6 Dutch 111,270
7 Russian 100,806
8 Portuguese 78,904
9 Polish 76,706
10 Swedish 71,209

Top 10 Original language

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No. Language Number of translations
1 English 1,266,110
2 French 226,123
3 German 208,240
4 Russian 103,624
5 Italian 69,555
6 Spanish 54,588
7 Swedish 39,984
8 Japanese 29,246
9 Danish 21,252
10 Latin 19,972

See also

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References

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  1. ^ UNESCO Statistics. "Index Translationum - "TOP 50" Author". Official website of UNESCO. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  2. ^ "Statistics on data published until now by the Index". UNESCO.
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