Translations

As English language speakers, we’re blessed to have access to an abundance of good information, even if we sometimes can’t find it because of the sea of bullshit. This is not the case for many people in non-English speaking countries.

The majority of scientific research is published in English. This language barrier isn’t easy to solve — translation is hard, it takes a lot of time, skill, and domain expertise to do right, and the financial incentives aren’t high. So there is always an information gap, and unfortunately, it’s often exploited by charlatans.

What follows is a list of the translations of my own work. Below that you’ll see is a detailed section for those interested in translating something else. — If you would like to make the fitness industry in your language better, translating already existing information can be a great place to start.

Translations of RippedBody Articles and Books

SPANISH 🇪🇸

• 📘📕The Muscle and Strength Pyramid books — Spanish Editions (Digital and physical print copies available.)
• 📖The RippedBody Nutrition Setup Guide — Spanish Edition (Free ebook)

ITALIAN 🇮🇹

• 📘📕The Muscle and Strength Pyramid books — Italian Editions (Physical print copies only.)

CHINESE (Simplified) 🇨🇳

• 📘📕The Muscle and Strength Pyramid books — Mainland Chinese Editions (Physical print copy only.) The training and nutrition books have been combined into one volume to get around the limitation on the number of foreign books that can be translated and sold in China each year.)

CHINESE (Traditional) 🇹🇼🇭🇰

• 📘📕The Muscle and Strength Pyramid books — Traditional Chinese Editions (Digital only.) Released May 2021

JAPANESE 🇯🇵

• AthleteBody.jp is my Japanese site.
• 📕The Muscle and Strength Pyramid: Nutrition (Physical print hardcopy only.)
• 📘The Muscle and Strength Pyramid: Training (Physical print hardcopy only.)
• A shortened version (~25 pages) of The Muscle and Strength Training Pyramid is available for free, here.

PORTUGUESE 🇵🇹

• 📕The Muscle and Strength Pyramid: Nutrition (Summary)
• 📘The Muscle and Strength Pyramid: Training (Summary).

GERMAN 🇩🇪

• 📖The RippedBody Nutrition Setup Guide: Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. (A brief translation of my original 2015 guide. Past)
• Articles: Aesirsports.de (by Damian Minichowski), Yourpal.de (by Alessandro Palermo).

CROATIAN 🇭🇷

• Articles: Nevencuk.com by Neven Ćuk.

INFORMATION FOR THOSE WHO WOULD LIKE TO TRANSLATE

My journey building out our Japanese site, AthleteBody.jp, started by translating articles of those I respected in the English language fitness industry.

I wanted to help my Japanese friends in the gym but had no audience nor translation skillset to do so. Fortunately, determination and persistence can get you far.

I started by approaching respected western fitness professionals and asking if I could translate their free articles available online. I paid a professional to get them translated into Japanese and put them out on a blog. I refused to advertise on the site or sell products because I knew this would bring into question the credibility of it, and so I lost money every year. (I funded this using the coaching profits from RippedBody.com.)

Eventually, I built a loyal audience. It was only in our seventh year that we finally put out our first paid product, the Japanese translation of the popular barbell lifting tutorial book, Starting Strength.

So it can be done, even without experience (at first), but the first step is to try translating the one free article and see how it is received. — Consider this is the litmus test for yourself; you’ll quickly find out whether it is something you wish to continue.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO TRANSLATE SOMETHING CURRENTLY AVAILABLE ONLINE FOR FREE…

1. Let me know what it is you specifically wish to translate before doing so.

Someone may already be in the process of translating it. I may already have a deal with someone else. I may be contractually bound not to have any book content, even sample chapters, published in that language.

2. Free content of mine must be published in your language for free also. It doesn’t feel right any other way.

3. Do a good job. This means the language and the presentation.

If your standard of writing would not pass for a major publication, improve it. Google translate is not even close to being good enough. I get translated work checked. If you do a poor job, I will ask that you delete it.

4. Keep all links, link back to my site, and credit the work with my name. This may seem obvious, but different places have different cultures around this, which is why I am stating it explicitly.

5. Let me know when it is done so I can check and link to it here.

If this interests you, please send me an email. My address is my [first name] @ [the site name].

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO TRANSLATE ONE OF MY PAID PRODUCTS…

Note: This concerns three books:

1. 📙The Diet Adjustments Manual, 3rd Edition.
2. 📕📘The Muscle and Strength Pyramid: Nutrition & Training, 2nd Editions.

I am one of the three authors on the Muscle and Strength Pyramid books, but I am the one on the team who is responsible for selecting translation partners.

Translating a book is a very serious endeavor. They cannot be put out for free because that would stop us from selling them in that market in the future. Partners need to be chosen very carefully because it is a multi-year relationship and requires a LOT of work. Of the five languages my books have been translated into, the average time taken is 18-24 months.

There are three key areas you need to consider:

1. Are you able to translate to a high enough standard?
2. Are you able to sell?
3. Are you the kind of person who gets shit done?

1. ARE YOU ABLE TO TRANSLATE TO A HIGH ENOUGH STANDARD?

Speaking a language and knowing about fitness does not qualify you to translate a book. Translation is a profession, a skill for which people go to school. You need to know the culture, the local slang, the training and nutrition terminology.

If you are a translator who can pitch this to a publishing house (for physical versions), the following two sections may not apply but are worth reading.

2. DO YOU HAVE THE ABILITY TO SELL?

If you go to the trouble of translating it (or finding someone who can), do you have the ability to sell it? Potential buyers won’t speak English, so while we can email our list to tell people about the translation, this will not lead to many direct sales.

1) You need to have an established audience, 2) have a history of selling digital products, and 3) be an evidence-based professional.

Selling is hard. Thinking you can do it is not enough; we’re looking to partner with people who have done it successfully before.

We do not want to be affiliated with people who promote bro-science, even if they can sell.

3. ARE YOU THE KIND OF PERSON WHO ‘GETS SHIT DONE’?

You need to be the kind of person who can figure things out. You’ll need to put together a contract, create a sales page, use software to deliver the books (or find a publishing partner or printer). You’ll need to be willing to handle any technical support issues.

“You need to know how to put it together with Adobe software, design the website, and spend hours googling what you don’t know how to do. There’s marketing, social media, emails, and word of mouth. Then once it’s published, you need to handle the email support, and there are always questions people expect you to be able to answer.” – Rachel Li, translator of our Muscle and Strength Pyramid books into Traditional Chinese.

I’m not saying this to put you off, but to be clear about what is needed.

If you feel you are a good fit for a language we don’t already have covered (listed in the top section), I’m very interested in speaking to you. Please send me an email clearly explaining your proposal. My email address is my [first name] @ [the site name].

Thank you for reading.

– Andy.