On June 6, 2013, the members of AGTA Literary Translation Club visited  Qanun, a publishing house that  publishes 2 new books per day. Shahbaz Xuduoglu, the head of the publishing house welcomed youth translators and first took them to a room withnumerous  books published by the company and talked about the history of publishing house as well.

Xuduoglu noted that in the early stages of its operation, the publishing house first translated and published constitutions of democratic countries. “I started  this work with my dear friend Natig Safarov. We used to go to streets and sell the journals, which seemed strange to everyone. Currently we publish 2 books a day,” he said.

The head of the publishing house then led  the youth translators to the printing division and familiarized them with printing equipments andbriefed them about printing process. Following a brief tea break, members of AGTA Literary Translation Club and Shahbaz Xuduoglu held round-table talks. Xuduoglu answered questions delivered to him.

The head o fthe publishing house shared his opinions on the quality of translation. “At Soviet times, translations were not perfect , since they were censoredSometimes they say translations in Russian ares more perfect . But if Russian is not your native language, , translation mistakes can not be felt.  Mistakes are apprehended only if the text is translated into your native language. Therefore some our Russian readers say that translations in Russian are  more successful.”

As for recent translations, publisher underlined that, the best translations are done from English, French, German and Russian languages. ” It is surprising that translations from English are not that good.  It is because they do not know their mother tongue in a high level.  Rich cultures like Japan and China are not translated into our language.

In his response to the question  concerning the determination of prices in book sales, he said :” In addition to technical costs , there are  many factors that influence book prices.  The reason of book’s being expensive is tax burden.  In Georgia, there is not only books but also some other products related to books, are exempt from VAT. There is care for books.  Our God is our market.”

Publisher emphasized that situation is more miserable in regions : ” Even there is not a bookshop in Jalilabad, a region with thirty thousand people. This situation dominates in other regions as well .”

After answering the questions, publisher called on the youth translators to be more actively involved in translation, follow the field of translation and invited them to cooperate .

“Qanun has a leading role in the publication of translated literature. Despite all the criticisms, we highly appreciate the role of the publishing house in local books sales, which represents the main reason why we chose Qanun.  We will continue efforts to contribute to the local book market.“ said  Gunel Abilova ,Coordinator of AGTA Literary Translation Club .