encouraging reading (was Bible Translations....)

[MJ Hardman]

Translations?  The ministry I've had so much trouble with declared that they
only had to write one book for elementary schools and then translate same
into every language in the nation.  Such books were roundly rejected and
last I saw were all piled up quite useless.  And translation itself be such
an art!

MJ

On 9/26/08 10:44 PM, "William J Poser" <wjposer at LDC.UPENN.EDU> wrote:

> Suppose that we wanted to encourage reading in minority languages. Is
> there a single text that would be attractive everywhere, or is reading
> appeal too culture-specific?
> 
> According to my mother, who was in the publishing industry a long
> time ago, the industry wisdom was that the most popular topics were
> Lincoln, doctors, and dogs, so the perfect book would be about
> Lincoln's doctor's dog. Non-Americans may not have the same interest
> in Lincoln, or dogs, for that matter.
> 
> Bill
>