Top 10 Translated Books

War and Peace might be one. The Koran must be another.
Something by Dr Zuess if your thinking about a Christmas present.

Thank you Algis. I agree that the Koran must be another one. But why War & Peace?

And no, it is not for a Christmas gift, it is for my personal knowledge because I am curious. By the way, I have read all the books by Dr. Zeuss, they are cute.

Mao's little red book was translated to a lot of languages.

Don't know about the Koran, the vast majority are in Arabic or English.

The Bhagavad Gita is supposed to be number 3 or thereabouts.

Don Quixote and The Iliad come to mind as chances.

Very interesting responses, I did not think about them. Good potentials for the list, Mao's book and The Iliad. Not sure about Don Quixote.

What is the Bhagavad Gita about? And who wrote it?

Bhagavad Gita.

The Seventh Day Adventists seem to think that Steps To Christ would be on the list too.

The BV is the holy book of India.Much like the bible it's stories and tales of their creators.

I'm guessing the Harry Potter books are up there somewhere.

Adrian, what a link. Thanks! I have to spend some time going through it. Look at all those languages, that's impressive. When I saw the title, I thought it was related to Budhism.

"Steps to Christ", is it a book you are quoting? Who are those Seventh Day Adventists?

I don't think Harry Potter would be on the list. Even though it is popular, in some cultures, it may not have the impact it has in the US or UK.

I think we may end up finding that the top 10 translated books might be 10 of the "100 most influential books" (or at least the big majority of the 10 would be in that 100). That would not surprise me.

But this brainstorming is fascinating. So let us continue.

I think Harry Potter is not so improbable (as it has surpassed the Bible in terms of the sellings). It really had a great succes, and not only in the US or in the UK as you said. It's very popular in Europe and it has been translated into rare (or dead) languages (I don't know why ) as Latin for example...
Lord of the Rings might be in the list too...

I think Shakespeare might be on that list. Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, possibly Othello...these are all worldwide known books.

You know, Radical Edward, you are right! I checked that out, at this site:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_in_translation

60 languages, 200 countries.

I must be the only one left on the planet who did not read it.

Yes it's a book. The SDA are a branch of Christianity. Steps to Christ is one of their, non bible, texts. THEY claim it is one of the most translated books around. I'm not sure that is true but it is what they claim.

I can't believe that there is anyone anally retentive enough to translate the Harry Potter series into latin. That is beyond foolish and well into the land of bloody demented.

I enjoyed the Buddhacaritta.

Bram--if it makes you feel any better, I have never read a
Harry Potter book either. I figure there is too much good adult reading to be done to waste time with HP. Plus, I have
so many books on my shelves that I haven't gotten around to yet...

No, Larry, I don't even have time to feel bad, with all the good books that the members (thanks!) are proposing here.

I certainly have to take a look at the Buddhacaritta. I have recently been reading up on the teachings of Buddha, and I find them just great, although I don't practice them!

The responses from some members sure made me rethink about the type of books that would be more often translated. They would not be the "classic", "essential" books as I had thought, but might be more in the "popular" kind, such as Agatha Christie, etc. Don't you guys agree?

Crap is crap, in no matter what language.

Larry

I guess each person has his/her own preferences in books. What is fascinating for one may be very boring to another.

What I find is, nowadays, we are overloaded by books/magazines, movies, Internet, etc., that we have to spend a lot of time to sort out what we really want to read or see. Sometimes, it is helpful to get the feedback of someone who has read a "good" book, especially if many have read it and agree that they like it.

Of course, I would not read Harry Potter, just because millions have read and acclaimed it, for the simple reason, as you said, that it is for children ... and I am eons from that period of my life.

I found this reference:

Le petit prince (The Little Prince) by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. 160 translations.

This is a very nice book that is often recommended to people learning French. It is easy to read, is beautifully written and is short, and can be for children and adults alike. It is about the story of a little boy who fell to Earth from another planet and learned to make about friendship with a fox.

It is truly a very good story, and they have made a movie of it (I have not seen it), and there are also sound recordings. I would recommend it strongly to everyone.