环球•译事 | 你嫌翻译稿酬低？来看看美国

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文学翻译稿酬普遍较低，一直是备受关注的问题。那么在国外情况如何？本期“环球•译事”第四期，为您介绍美国文学翻译人员的薪资、译作版权等现状。

A new report just released by the Authors Guild on working conditions for translators in the U.S. reports that 65% of literary translators earned less than $20,000 in gross income in 2016 with only about 8% earning between $60,000-$100,000.

美国作家协会最新发布的一份关于美国翻译人员工作状况的报告称，2016年65%的文学翻译人员总收入不足2万美元，仅8%人的收入在6万-10万美元之间。

In another indication of the tough financial conditions translators face, the survey noted that “on the whole,” income for literary translators has “not changed significantly over the past five years.” Only 17% reported earning more than half of their income strictly from translation work—although 39% reported spending more than half of their working time on translation projects.

另外，就翻译人员面临的严峻经济问题而言，调查还指出，“总的来说”，文学翻译人员的收入“在过去5年中没有发生很大变化”。虽然有39%的翻译人员表示他们的大部分工作时间都倾注在翻译项目上，但只有17%人称自己的大部分收入来源于翻译工作。

The report found that only 7% (14 respondents) of the respondents to the survey were able to derive 100% of their income from literary translations.

报告还发现，只有7%的调查对象（14人）能够将文学翻译作为纯收入来源。

▲图片来源：Alan Kotok

Conducted by the Authors Guild in collaboration with the American Literary Translators Association, The American Translators Association’s Literary Division, and the PEN America Translation Committee, the survey collected data from 205 translators on working conditions, including payment, copyright, royalties, education, and more.

这项调查由美国作家协会、美国文学翻译家协会和美国翻译协会文学部门联合发起，对205名翻译人员进行了工作状况相关的数据收集，包括报酬、版权、版税、教育等。

Noting that many Guild members “are both authors and translators,” Authors Guild executive director Mary Rasenberger said the Guild legal staff was at work on a model contract for literary translation. Designed to address the earning and work issues revealed in the survey, the contract will be unveiled in early 2018 as part of the Guild’s ongoing Fair Contract Intitiative.

美国作家协会执行董事玛丽•拉森伯格指出，许多作协成员既是作家，也是译者。她表示，作协的法务人员正在制定文学翻译标准合同，以解决调查中展现的收入和工作问题。合同将作为协会正在实行的“公平合同计划”的一部分，于2018年初公布。

The Guild described the report as the “first-ever survey of its kind conducted in the U.S.” It focused on translators in the U.S. and the Guild said that it will be used as a baseline study for future surveys of translator working conditions, to be conducted at 5-year intervals.

美国作协称该报告为“首次在美国进行的此类调查”，调查主要针对美国的翻译人员展开。作协表示，该报告将成为未来对译员工作状况进行调查的研究基线，每5年统计一次。

In another of the report’s findings, contrary to the popular notion that translation royalties are rare, over half of the respondents reported “always or usually” negotiating royalties in their contracts. And despite their low earnings, over half the respondents also reported receiving royalty payments. Those whose contracts did not have a royalty clause, said that it was because the publisher refused to offer one.

报告还发现，与大多数人认为的翻译人员很少得到版税的情况相反，过半调查对象表示“一直或经常”会在合同中协商版税。尽管译员收入很低，但过半调查对象表示收到了版税。也有人表示，出版商拒绝在合同中写入版税条款。

In addition, 66% of literary translators report that they “always or usually” retain copyright on their translations—although once again, when translators do not retain their copyright, it is generally because the publisher has refused to allow it. (Translators own the copyright of a translation they have created, although they may sign away their rights.)

此外，66%的文学译员称“一直或经常”保留其译作版权。译员未保留版权的情况通常是因为出版商的不同意。（译员享有其译作版权，但可以签订版权转让协议。）

The report noted, with dismay, that “publishers mistakenly continue to believe that [the translation] copyright needs to be theirs in order for them to make money. We will continue to educate publishers to correct this erroneous belief.”

报告结果让人失望，指出“出版商依然错误地认为译作版权应该归他们所有，以获得利润。我们将继续对他们进行教导，纠正这种错误观念”。

The survey also reported that of the 205 respondents, 44% are aged 51-70, 34% are aged 31-50 and only 4% are under the age of 30. On gender, 59% identify as female, 37% identify as male (the rest declined to specify).

调查还指出205名调查对象中，年龄在51-70岁的占比为44%，31-50岁的有34%，30岁以下的仅占4%。调查对象中59%为女性，37%为男性（其余调查对象并未表明性别）。

“Advocacy for literary translators is increasingly important to us,” Rasenberger said. “With the number of books in translation growing each year, many of which are very high-profile titles, it is important for us to understand the landscape.”

拉森伯格说：“为文学译员争取权益对我们来说愈发重要。译著的数量在逐年增长，其中不乏知名度颇高的作品，重要的是我们应该对这种情形加以了解。”

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