Goodreads asked Simon Hugh Wheeler:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Simon Hugh Wheeler The idea for Loosely Translated came from my background as a translator living in Spain. You have a responsibility to translate as closely as possible, if not the words directly, at least the same meaning.

I had to translate a client's appallingly written letter and there came a point when I had to decide whether to make some changes. There were also some cultural things that sound ok in Spanish, but not in English. So the idea came to me, what would happen if you made significant changes? Coupled with the common complaint among writers when they read a bad book, they wonder how the author got published and believe that they could easily write a better one.

Hence, when my main character, Maria, is asked to translate a terrible detective mystery, she VERY loosely translates it.

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