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. If you would like to make the fitness industry in your language better, translation is a good path to do that.

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, charlatans often exploit it.

Below you’ll see a list of translations of my own work. Under that, you’ll see a detailed section for those interested in translating something else.

Translations of RippedBody Articles and Books

SPANISH 🇪🇸

ITALIAN 🇮🇹

CHINESE (Simplified) 🇨🇳

CHINESE (Traditional) 🇹🇼🇭🇰

JAPANESE 🇯🇵

PORTUGUESE 🇵🇹

GERMAN 🇩🇪

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 or translation skill set 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 online articles. I paid a professional to translate them into Japanese and put them on a blog. I refused to advertise on the site or sell products because I knew that would call its credibility into question, 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 released 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 translate one free article and see how it is received. Consider this 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 ON OUR SITE

  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.
  3. Do a good job. This means the language and the presentation. If your writing wouldn’t pass for a major publication, improve it. Online translation tools are not good enough. 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 you’re interested, please email: andy @ [the site name].

Note: This concerns three books:

  1. 📙The Diet Adjustments Manual, 3rd edition.
  2. 📕📘The Muscle and Strength Pyramid: Nutrition & Training, 3rd editions. (We currently have contracts for the French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Traditional Chinese languages for the third editions.)

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

Book translation is a serious business. Partners need to be chosen carefully because it is a multi-year relationship and requires a LOT of work. Of the six languages our books have been translated into, the average time taken is 12 months.

We are only looking to partner with people who have a successful track record of doing this.

Our paid products cannot be offered for free because that would stop us from selling them in that market in the future.

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. 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?

Before you go to the trouble of translating a book, it’s important to consider whether 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, that won’t lead to many direct sales. There are two paths to this:

  1. Sell to your own audience.
  2. Team up with influencers.

We are open to digital or physical options: self-publishing, print-on-demand, printing and selling via Amazon or your own warehouse, or working with a publisher. As the local professional, it is up to you to recommend to us what is best.

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 a contract for (listed at the start of this section), I’m interested in speaking to you. Please email me a clear explanation of your proposal, addressing my points above, and include past experience (including sales numbers). My email address is andy @ [the site name].

Thank you for reading.

– Andy.

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