Edinburgh Napier University

  English-language proficiency, and thus the number of consumers able to read in English, is rapidly growing in Europe. Concomitantly, digitization and online retailing make English-language books readily available to consumers.
Whilst representing an opportunity for Anglophone publishers to export to non-Anglophone markets, this constitutes a significant threat to local publishers, as they must face competition from English-language editions. Perhaps due to the relatively recent upsurge in this trend, this phenomenon and its consequences on local-language publishing have been little studied. This thesis helps fill this gap by undertaking an empirical study on English-language reading in one of the European countries with the highest level of English proficiency: the Netherlands.
Drawing on the theoretical framework of field theory, two methodological approaches are adopted in this study: 1) quantification of the scale of the phenomenon by gathering statistics on English-language sales in Europe and the Netherlands; and 2) investigation of how Dutch publishing and translation professionals are affected by this issue through in-depth qualitative interviews.
The quantitative results show a steady rise in English-language books sold in the Netherlands between 1976 and 2018, when they accounted for 15% of the trade book market. The qualitative results show that the main defence strategy used by Dutch publishers is to release translations simultaneously with English-language originals. However, through acceleration of publication rhythms, simultaneous publication was felt to exert significant pressure on publishers and translators. Also, Dutch publishers indicated they increasingly concentrated on publishing Dutch originals and non-Anglophone books.
This study enhances Dutch publishing professionals’ awareness of this phenomenon and lays the foundations for self-reflection. Moreover, its findings set the basis for further research into this topic in the Netherlands as well as in other markets and fields facing similar challenges.