work days in my life as a literary translator 📓 productive habits & how i started

[@Laurapoet33]

This was such a lovely video! It was fascinating to hear about the publishing side of a translation - I had no idea translators had to submit pitches to publishers. As a writer, I really resonated with your thoughts on all of your work being long-term projects. I regularly find myself daunted by all the work that goes into novel writing, so I try to deliberately celebrate every small milestone, so the progress doesn't feel so slow. Also both of those books sound so interesting! I hope you get a chance to fully translate the horror/aquarium book because I definitely want to read it someday!

[@KateLee3]

@@Laurapoet33 it’s truly a learning curve for long-term creative work i think!! but you’re so right-gotta learn to celebrate the small milestones :)) and thank you sm i will keep you all updated!! 🫶🏼

[@jojoinwonderland1602]

Love this and so happy I found your channel! I did a translation certificate with my fiction MFA, and I enjoyed it so much and am still in awe of all my professors’ excellent work. Wishing you the best on your journey! 💕

[@haireisthai]

Just discovered your channel on my fyp i love the vibes omg how are you not more popular 😭 your channel is a gold mine

[@KateLee3]

@@haireisthai 🥹 ty for the nicest comment !! i’m so glad you made it here 👍👍

[@kdove2259]

This video was so amazing! Im currently in the writerly life myself, trying to write short stories and put them out for submission. I’ve always admired translators so much and am so curious about the process and day-to-day, so thanks for making this! I’d be so very interested if you did another video on your translating process! Also….Anton Hur!! I read his translation of Shin Kyung-Sook’s Violets this year and it destroyyedd me!

[@catsarecool4471]

ohh this is so fascinating!! wishing you all the best on your journey

[@saintmiffy]

love your videos so much! this was especially insightful and i really like the way you articulate things

[@KateLee3]

@@saintmiffy thank you sm 🥹🥹 that means so much!! i’ll try and come back w some more good content soon :)

[@zanirra]

Really enjoyed these videos and hearing your thoughts. Thank you for sharing the resources - I’m also very interested in translating!

[@litwithkat]

i loved hearing more about how you got into translating and a bit of the process as well. i've really enjoyed reading translated work the last year or so, and this was so fun to get a lil insight into that world. thanks for bringing us along with you!

[@KateLee3]

@@litwithkat it makes me so happy to see translated lit get more attention because there are truly some wild & amazing books there haha 😊 thank you as alwaysss!!

[@michaelm7823]

That was fascinating! I had no idea about any of the ins and outs of the translation side of things. Great video, what a journey!

[@nathansnook]

here for the Faye Wong love!!! such a look and so cool you pulled it off in your own way! loved your notes on translation and writing and the relationship between the two. they're both such different acts. creatively, yet speak to each other inherently. always hungry for your thoughts on this, and as well as your thoughts on the Hur! i think you'll love it

[@KateLee3]

@@nathansnook AHHHH thank you nathan!!! 😊 i’m so excited for Toward Eternity and hype to chat ab it :DD and yes they actually are so interconnected and im so glad more and more people are seeing translation as a creative process :))))

[@serahisui]

omgg!! thank you so much for this video. i'm in my last year of uni majoring in writing (under a communication arts program), and i'm really interested in literary translation, especially poetry. i super agree with how it translating literature feels like working on a puzzle! this video was very helpful to me :) all the best to you, kate! 💖

[@KateLee3]

@@serahisui omg i’m so happy to see another translator & writing student!! thank you so much for watching & i can’t wait to see your translated poetry some day 😊

[@queenofcupsz]

Yayyy, I always wanted to find other translators on YT!! 💗Literary translation works differently in Brazil. You have to send your CV to book publishing companies and hope that they will send you a translation test. If they do and you perform well, they will contact you when they have work available. So, from the start, it's the company who decides what books they want to aquire, translate and publish. The painful part is that they are a very closed group, usually having those professionals they always go to, so... many many times they just thank you for your interest and say they aren't hiring at the moment , without even sending you a test💀

[@KateLee3]

@@queenofcupsz omg the TEST that sounds so tough!!! i didn’t realize it was like a selected pool of people-i’m sending you all my support 😊😊 translators across the world are truly doing amazing work & it’s very interesting to hear about the different systems that exist

[@sadcowgirl___]

I just discovered your channel! I don’t know how to say it but I really like your vibe haha ❤ loved the Faye Wong outfit inspiration!

[@qwertydeluxe]

what a sweet vlog and very interesting peek into the life of a literary translator! that's a path i considered in college but never pursued afterward. i still love reading books in translation. your work is so important!

[@KateLee3]

@@qwertydeluxe ahh thank you for watching!!! i also think translated books are some of the best out there 😊😊 so glad you enjoyed 🫶🏼

[@keyagroovy2826]

This video is so cozy and it is just so interesting to listen to you!

[@elizaandshania]

this was so interesting!!! loved this!

[@KateLee3]

@@elizaandshania thank you so much!! 🥰🥰

[@jellybeans4119]

loved this vlog! so fascinating to learn about translation (and love the cafes

[@KateLee3]

@@jellybeans4119 thank you so much!!! i’m so glad you enjoyed 🥹🥹

[@kevinyeohck]

Loveeee this video. Great mentions of Anton and Jinwoo who is so much fun to watch on TikTok and love hearing both of their bookish thoughts on Bluesky! ❤

[@KateLee3]

@@kevinyeohck they’re doing such great work 🤩🤩 i need to find those vids about bluesky!!

[@julia3983able]

Hi, a new subscriber here. First of all, your videos are quite enjoyable! And thanks for sharing your work as a literary translator. Honestly, I have so much respect for the profession. It requires the kind of fluency in both languages that is beyond just being able to speak them well. You have to be well-read, good at writing, and creative too. I know this from a little bit of literary translation experience in school. Boy, did it take me hours to translate one short chapter 😵Anywho, kudos to you for working in such a challenging field :) IMO, I think you can definitely call yourself a translator even if you're not published yet! Plus, as a Korean myself, I really appreciate it when people share the beauty of our language and literature with the world through translation. So, thank you ❤I don't know if you're considering tranlsation as a long-term career, but I'll be rooting for you!!

[@KateLee3]

@@julia3983able omg thank you so much for your kind comment & encouragement 🥹 i also underestimated how difficult literary translation would be until i started LOL but i think it gets easier the more you do it!! it’s so cool that you also did some translation 😊 hopefully there’s more & more translated korean literature that gets out there!!

[@lightlife9800]

I love your video after hard work and study to 12 hours i will take break with your video ❤

[@KateLee3]

@@lightlife9800 im so honored 🥹🥹 thank you sm for watching & you got this with your studies !!

[@OlenskasBibliotek]

Just discovered your channel today - love it!

[@KateLee3]

@@OlenskasBibliotek 🥹🥹 tysm!!

[@alicetranslates]

Great to see a fellow translator here! Loved this video. Good luck with the "emerging translator valley of death" 😅 I get what you mean about small vs big tasks, and you're right, you've got to celebrate the small victories. Hang in there!

[@KateLee3]

@@alicetranslates ahhh yes it’s always so nice to see any of us out in the world!! 😊😊 trying to get better about recognizing the small wins hehe rooting for you too!!

[@alicetranslates]

@@KateLee3 Thanks ❣

[@lllllllll5315]

Loved this!

[@KateLee3]

@@lllllllll5315 🥰🥰

[@soniawu5134]

Chinese new fan here, I’ve been a fan of faye wong since when I was a child!!

[@KateLee3]

@@soniawu5134 i loved her in chungking express and have just discovered her old style pics that are AMAZING, she’s so effortlessly cool 😍

[@antonhur887]

Thanks for getting Toward Eternity~~!!!

[@KateLee3]

@@antonhur887 AHH thank you for writing it!!!! i’m so excited :)))

[@lp5881]

I let out so many longing sighs watching this video - you're living my dream! If it's not prying to ask, I was wondering what your visa status is. Are you a Korean citizen, or were you able to get a visa for translation work? Or are you working another job to meet work visa requirements? Just trying to figure out how I might make the logistics work on my end! Thank you in any case for putting out a video like this, it's really helpful and interesting to get a glimpse of the day-to-day of a literary translator. Best of luck with all your projects! I'm a new subscriber, so I'll be rooting for you as you keep us updated :)

[@sarahspages]

it was so fun to learn about this process and I love the creativity you put into your vlogs :) I was wondering would you ever translate from English to Korean?

[@KateLee3]

@@sarahspages thank u!! 😊😍 i would definitely be interested but the general rule of thumb is for people to translate from the language they’re less “fluent” in to the one they’re more comfortable in! & i definitely read more english books/feel most comfortable speaking english so maybe … in the future? :))

[@rina9210]

thank you so much for this video! i have a question about the contest for emerging translators that you won (congratulations, by the way!!!!): did you translate a chapter of a book that you particularly loved, or did you translate the entire thing? (it seems like an insane requirement)

[@KateLee3]

thank you for watching!! and omg it was a 20ish page excerpt that LTIK chose! (there was a contemporary lit, classic lit, and even graphic novel option) i don't think i could've done it if it was the whole book HAHA

[@rina9210]

@KateLee3 ahhh thank you!! i guess i saw info about a different contest since they had mentioned a translation of a book you have acquired the rights to, and i got really confused>

[@hyunahkim5059]

First time watching ur videos and I enjoyed it so much! Such soothing voice and adorable face🤍 Do you have any tips for expanding your vocabulary??

[@KateLee3]

@@hyunahkim5059 thank you so much!!! 🥰🥰 i think in general just reading a lot helps!! when it comes to korean for me i keep a notebook when i read where i’ll write down words i don’t know and then their definitions- i think physically writing them helps a lot !!

[@h31918]

너모 대단하세여! 전 약 30년전에 미국서 잠깐 초등학교 다녔었는데 (나이 계산은 쉿!😂) 자연스럽게 영어를 터득한 후 좀 더 체계적으로 배우지 못한게 나이가 드니 후회가 되여^^ 일상생활말은 별탈없이 하고 유학와서도 수업들을때 그때 좀 더 늘긴했는데 rachel cusk소설이나 사실 sally ronney 소설도 the graveyard book (이건 아동용 도서라 사실 쉬운거긴 하지만요^^) 처럼 단번에 네이티브처럼 술술 읽긴 힘들더라구요ㅠㅠ 그런 소설도 좀 술술 읽고싶은데 ㅠㅠ 읽다보면 늘까요? ㅠㅠ 아! 장류진 작가님 책 달까지 가자 읽어보셨나요? 다른 장류진 작가님 책은 저 개인적으로는 막 빠져들진 읺았는데 ”달까지가자“는 요즘 시대적으로 딱 맞물린 이야기라 술술 읽혔던것 같아요^^ 혹시 안읽어보셨다면 재미로 읽기 좋을듯해요^^

[@user-nw1zp6mg6j]

한국어 자막은 없겠쥬...?😭