mdouch

I'd be interested to know why you feel an almond is not equivalent in importance to, say, a strip steak. A tender almond is just as important in a dish calling for almond flavour as a strip steak is in a grilled strip steak dish, isn't it? Martin

Ufff! It was such a long time ago, I can't remember! Seriously though, if by challenging you mean difficult, then it's probably not quite the right word. Fascinating and absorbing, yes. 1994-1997 was a highly creative period in the life of elBulli, a period when much of its philosophy was being developed. This factor alone made the translation of the book great fun, although I think the book I had most fun translating was the one that came out after this one - elBulli 1983-1993 - which traces the history of the establishment from its early days as a beach kiosk in 1961 under the Schillings to the time Ferrà and Juli Soler took it over in 1990 and the building of the new kitchen in 1993. Also completed is the English translation of elBulli 2003-2004. Best wishes, Martin

I've just checked on the translation I did of this book (back in October-November 2004) and don't worry: there is plenty of technology and science there!! Martin Douch (English translator of the El Bulli books)

saulbass' comment seems to indicate that you completed the 2003-2004 translation. Could you let us know when the books are published? Thanks! ←

Sorry - coming back late to this (very late!) This year I have translated the 94-97 and 83-93 volumes into English, and am currently working on the 2003-2004 volume, which I hope to have finished by the end of October. Will try and keep you posted. Best wishes Martin

For anyone interested, I've been commissioned to translate 1994-1997 into English and I started this weekend. The translation is scheduled to be finished during the first week of November, although of course it's anyone's guess as to when it will be published... I'll keep the forum posted as to progress. Martin

Thankyou for your welcome. As to how the job landed in my lap, I had been doing jobs for this particular translation agency for two or three years. One of the specialties of this agency is food and drink, and so I had been translating tasting notes and magazine articles as well as books by Martín Berasategui, Andrés Madrigal and Koldo Royo. Yes, of course, you're right - I meant to say US measures for the US edition We're hoping to be given the go-ahead to start on the 2nd volume of the 'magnum opus' later on in the year. As for 'Los Postres', I have no idea what, if any, plans there are. Best wishes, Martin

This was because the translators (two of them - one who translated the recipes and the other the rest of the CD-ROM and the book) were instructed to use metric for the BE version and imperial for the US version. These instructions were issued by the translation agency that coordinated the various foreign language versions (French, German, Italian and Japanese). I know this because I was the translator of the book and the rest of the CD-ROM. And I have to say, it was one of the most absorbing pieces of translation I have ever done...