Translating My Novel Into French as a Bilingual Author
When I first published The Techno Mage, I never imagined I’d one day be translating it—word by word, emotion by emotion. But nearly five years later, here I am, translating my novel into French—and rediscovering the world of The Techno Mage through a brand-new lens.
Rewriting My Own Words… in Another Language
Translating a novel isn’t easy. Sure, I already know the characters, the plot, the tone, and the twists. But translating isn’t just about swapping one word for another—it’s about recapturing a voice in a completely different rhythm.
French has its own flow. Its own mood. Its own idioms. And sometimes, the perfect sentence in English becomes a clunky mess in French if you’re not careful. So every paragraph becomes a puzzle: how do I stay faithful to the meaning, the emotion, and the vibe of the original? It’s especially difficult when I haven’t had much practice with the language in over 20 years.
Cute Words and Chaos
One of my favorite moments? Rediscovering the word acajou—which means mahogany. It’s just so adorable. I find myself smiling every time I see it. Acajou. Tell me it doesn’t sound cute.
But the challenges? Oh, they’re real.
Idioms don’t behave. We group things by the dozens, but the French group things by tens. “A dozen feet in the air” translates to “Ten or so.” And don’t even get me started on the Imperial vs. the Metric system.
Other challenges include dialogue punctuation, action tag finesse, and the steampunk tech terms that barely make sense in English, let alone French. It’s slow work, but it’s surprisingly rewarding.
Why I’m Doing This
So why am I translating it myself instead of hiring out?
Because good human translators cost a lot of money. And because most translating apps, like Google Translate, are mostly meant to directly translate word-for-word, which works better with nonfiction.
But also because I can. Because I’m French Canadian. And because I want to make sure The Techno Mage doesn’t just read like it was translated—I want it to feel like it was born bilingual. Translating my novel into French myself lets me control the voice and make sure every line still feels like me.
Coming Soon…
I’m beyond excited to re-release The Techno Mage in French later this year in celebration of its 5-year anniversary. Having translations in as many languages as possible is part of my author empire dream, and French is the first stepping stone into that manifestation.
Until then, I’ll be over here, muttering acajou and chasing down rogue idioms and weird punctuation rules with the French grammar books my mum gave me.
Are you bilingual too? Tell me in the comments. I’d love to hear your stories, challenges, or even your favorite words. (Bonus points if you’ve got a favorite steampunk term in another language.)