Translation Studies
Subject Librarian:
Kristen Totleben
Location:
Rush Rhees Library
Phone:
585-275-9304
Office Hours:
By Appointment
A guide to resources supporting research and teaching for the University of Rochester's Literary Translation Studies Department.
Finding literary works in translation
Finding books about translation
Finding articles about translation
Searching for translations on the web
Finding literary works in translation
To locate translations of specific works, search the WorldCat database for the author and/or the original title of the work and limit the search to the desired language using the drop-down box below. The list of results will indicate which items can be found in the UR Libraries. To locate those books, click on the title link and then again on "Search the catalog at University of Rochester Libraries". If we don't have a particular book in our collections, you can request it through interlibrary loan. The link to the request form can be found in each WorldCat record as well as here.
Another place to look is UNESCO's Index Translationum, but it only includes translations published since 1979.
Translation Database on Three Percent records new translations of fiction and poetry published or distributed in the U.S. since January 1st, 2008. The data is presented in annual cumulations.
Finding books about translation
To find books on translation studies, search the Voyager Catalog for "Translating and Interpreting" as a subject. You can browse the list of subjects here.
To find books about translating particular languages search for the subject "X language translating", e.g. French language translating.
To find books about translations of works of specific authors, use a Boolean search for author's last name and "translations", e.g. Shakespeare and translations.
Finding articles about translation
Use the following databases to find articles and book chapters about translation. The TIPS suggest an efficient way to search them.
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6850MLA International Bibliography – Via ProQuest – Varies
TIPS: Use 'translation theory' as a subject to find general articles about translation. To find articles about translation of specific works or authors, use the author's name and/or the original title of the work and 'translation' as subjects.
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6641Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts - LLBA – Via CSA – 1973 - current
TIPS: The term 'translation' is used very broadly in this database. To find articles about translation of literary works, use 'literary translation' as a descriptor in combination with any relevant keywords.
Foreign Language Online Dictionaries
Lexilogos: contains online dictionaries for several languages.
Finding translations of Russian literature
Japanese Literature in Translation Search: covers Japanese literary works translated into other languages, mostly after World War II. Searches can be made either in Japanese characters or Roman letters.
Poetry Translation Centre: presents poems in three stages: in the original language, in a literal English translation, and the finished English version.
American Translation and Interpreting Studies Association (ATISA)
American Literary Translators Association (ALTA)
British Centre for Literary Translation
Canadian Association for Translation Studies (CATS)
Language Realm: free translation resources in English, Spanish, French, German, Latin, Chinese, and Japanese.
TL Hub: free collaborative translation tool. To sign up, you must request an invitation.
Searching for translations on the web
There are many sites devoted to individual authors that contain translated texts. You can find them searching for e.g. "German literature translation", "Tolstoy translation", etc. However, be cautious and look for signs that the translation has some kind of authority behind it. Who is sponsoring the site? If the text has been scanned, has it been done accurately? In a word, be critical. If in doubt, turn for help to your professor, subject librarian or to a native speaker.
