After a press release issued by the French Literary Translators Association (ATLF) and the collective En Chair et en Os (In the Flesh) alleged that Harlequin’s French division was severing its contracts with translators and outsourcing translation to Bordeaux-based communications agency Fluent Planet, HarperCollins France confirmed, in a statement to PW, that it is “conducting tests” with Fluent Planet, which the publisher said “uses experienced translators who utilize artificial intelligence tools for part of their work.”
HarperCollins France noted that “no Harlequin collection has been translated solely using machine translation generated by artificial intelligence.”
According to the release from ATLF and In the Flesh, Fluent Planet’s translation process involves putting texts through “automatic translation” software and recruiting freelancers to post-edit the machine output in French. “The stated objective is to increase profitability by cutting down on working time,” states the release.
HarperCollins France pointed to declining sales in its statement on its partnership with Fluent Planet. “Sales of our Harlequin collections have been declining in the French market in recent years,” the publisher said. “We want to continue offering readers as many publications as possible at the current very low retail price, which is €4.99 for the Azur series, for example.”
The move follows similar announcements made by several publishers, including the U.K.-based Taylor & Francis. The trend has also been capitalized upon by such start-ups as GlobeScribe and Ailaysa, both of whom target backlist, “low-resource” languages.
ATLF and In the Flesh strongly condemned the move in their joint release. “Book workers, publishing directors, readers: we must not accept ‘automatic translation’ getting its foot in the door of publishers,” the organizations said. “We must reaffirm our unconditional attachment to human texts created by humans under dignified working conditions.”
