Interviewing a translator is one of the quiet pleasures of literary work: you pull back the curtain on decisions most readers never see, and you learn how meaning migrates between languages. Over the years I’ve interviewed translators for Storyscoutes Co and for other projects, and I’ve come to rely on a small set of questions that reliably open up the craft. These are not technical traps or curiosity for curiosity’s sake — they are invitations to talk about problems solved, risks taken, and the particular aesthetics that shape a text’s afterlife in another language.
Why ask the translator about their brief?
Begin by asking: what was your brief for this translation? In some cases a publisher gives a tight brief: stay literal, retain rhythm, prioritise marketability, or mimic a previous translator’s tone. In others the brief is intentionally loose. Knowing the constraints or freedoms the translator had explains a great deal about the choices you’ll notice in the book.
Follow-ups that matter:
Practical angle: when a translator tells you they were asked to “localise” jokes or simplify cultural references, that signals compromises made for readership. If they were given carte blanche, you’ll want to listen for bolder, more idiosyncratic decisions.
How did you approach the book’s voice?
Voice is the hardest thing to translate and the easiest to misrepresent in praise. Ask: what were your reference points for tone, syntax and rhythm? A translator might quote other writers, sing-song cadences, or even music that influenced their ear for the text. I love when translators name unexpected models — a jazz musician’s phrasing, a childhood storyteller, or a particular poet in the target language.
Helpful prompts:
Example: a translator may choose to render a rustic narrator with clipped, staccato sentences in English, even if the original uses long, flowing clauses — because the effect on an English reader will recreate the same sense of character.
What did you change — and why?
This is where the interview turns forensic. Ask for concrete examples of passages that were altered and why. A good translator will happily take you through a couple of short before-and-after examples, explaining the trade-offs. These anecdotes are gold for readers who want to understand translation as decision-making.
Questions to raise:
Tip for interviewers: ask the translator to read aloud both the original (or read it for them if you don’t know the language) and the translation. Rhythm becomes audible in a way prose notes can’t capture.
How did you handle untranslatable elements?
Every language has words, structures, or humour that resist tidy equivalents. Ask: what counts as “untranslatable” in this text, and how did you respond? You’ll get to the heart of the translator’s philosophy. Some refuse to domesticate and keep terms in the original with glosses; others recreate the effect with inventive alternatives. Neither is inherently superior — what matters is knowing why they chose one route over another.
Areas to probe:
Illustrative example: a family term like “abuelo” may carry warmth and history far beyond “grandfather.” Some translators keep the original term and let it accrue meaning in context; others substitute the closest term in the target language and risk flattening emotional nuance.
What input did the author or editor have?
Translation is rarely solitary. Ask about collaboration: did the author, editor or sensitivity reader influence your choices? Author involvement can be liberating when they clarify intent, and fraught when they expect literal reproductions of idioms. Editorial pressures — for length, market positioning or readability — also shape the final text.
Useful specifics:
Knowing who had the final say helps readers understand why a translation might feel conservative or adventurous. If a translator mentions the publisher wanted a “bestseller voice,” that’s a sign the translation was steered toward a wider, possibly flatter, readability.
Practical tips for interviewers
I close every translator interview with a few practical habits that make the conversation richer:
Interviewing translators invites readers into the architecture of a book’s second life. The five questions above are a scaffold: they help you move from vague admiration to detailed understanding. They also honor translators as creative, interpretive artists — practitioners who balance fidelity and invention, loyalties to the source text and obligations to new readers. When a translator explains a choice — why a joke was rewritten, why a proper name was left untranslated, why a slang term was smoothed — you get a sense not just of how the book was made, but why it now feels the way it does in your hands.