Once upon a translation… make that three… c’est si bon!

March 11, 2026 by marianne h donley in category Jina’s Book Chat, translation, Writing tagged as #Boldwood Books, books, Paris, Translation, writing with 0 and 0

Home > Columns > Jina’s Book Chat > Once upon a translation… make that three… c’est si bon!

The Resistance Girl in Dutch

The Lost Girl in Paris in Spanish

Words… words… words.

They drive us authors crazy, the right words, the passionate words… the words that make your characters do stupid things and wonderful things, too.

Even more surprising to an author is when your words are translated into thousands of words in another language. Will the reader ‘get’ what you’re trying to say? Will they feel the love, the pain?

You bet they will.

The art of being a translator is one I can attest to personally when I was a tour guide at Universal Studios. I gave the tour in German and also learned it in French as a backup for our French guides.

My Universal Studios ‘stuff’ — name tag, parking sticker, studio ID (love the hair!), photo of me in Paris, and my Universal Studios Tour Guide Manual in English — I had to translate it into German.

I had to do the translation myself, which had its moments on the tram when I was trying to explain Bruce the shark in ‘Jaws’, or the early days with Boris Karloff as ‘The Monster’ wearing a paper bag over his head when he went to lunch between takes so no one would see his makeup job. I’d stumble and fall over words, but as one visitor from Munich told me, ‘You have such heart for what you do. Even if you don’t know the right word, we understand.’

I never forgot that.

I also acted as a ‘translator’ for my sensei, teacher, in class when American tourists came into the kimono shop after hours when we having a kimono and dance class on the small stage. However, here I was translating from Japanese to English.

So you can imagine I have the deepest respect for these fabulous professionals who put their hearts and souls into translating my books into other languages. It’s not unusual for a translator to contact me by email, asking me for clarification on something because they want to get it ‘right’. Merci, Bedankt, and Gracias.

For the first part of this year, I’m thrilled to have 3 of my Boldwood Books coming out in Spanish, Dutch, and French. La chica perdida en Paris (The Lost Girl in Paris) came out in the worldwide Spanish market in February; Her meisje in het verzet (The Resistance Girl) came out in Dutch on March 8. Les enfants volés de la guerre (The Stolen Children of War) comes out in French on April 1st. (no cover yet! I’ll update when we do.)

So for now, mes amis, I shall say, Au revoir — until we meet again and we shall. For words are like stars in the sky. I never tire of them.

Author Details

Jina Bacarr

Once Upon A Story

Author Details

I discovered early on that I inherited the gift of the gab from my large Irish family when I penned a story about a princess who ran away to Paris with her pet turtle Lulu. I was twelve. I grew up listening to their wild, outlandish tales and it was those early years of storytelling that led to my love of history and traveling. I enjoy writing to classical music with a hot cup of java by my side. I adore dark chocolate truffles, vintage anything, the smell of bread baking and rainy days in museums. I’ve always loved walking through history—from Pompeii to Verdun to Old Paris. The voices of the past speak to me through carriages with cracked leather seats, stiff ivory-colored crinolines, and worn satin slippers. I’ve always wondered what it was like to walk in those slippers when they were new.

http://jinabacarr.wordpress.com

Jina Bacarr

Once Upon A Story

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