I`m afraid I was wrong, kinda, about this, or, to be more precise, the below (I quote):
On a brighter note, books written by Scandinavian authors are translated rather decently, mostly. I suspect that is so because Scandinavians care about their literature and sponsor translations into other languages. Still, I do not understand why it is them that should pay. Good books properly translated pay for themselves, no?
I mean, if you subsidize a translation of a book, you most probably like the book, and you certainly want a good translation... Or is it just a translation into a foreign language that matters?
Some time ago someone gave me this book as a present. You don`t look a gift horse in the mouth, of course, but I`m a translator and a readaholic! The book is not really a bestseller, I`d say, still a good one worth reading. But for! The translation into Lithuanian could by no means be called a good translation. Of course, I`ve seen translations much more awful, yet...
It`s Sumaištis dėl Basios (Awantura o Basię by Kornel Makuszyński), translated from Polish and published by Gimtasis žodis, 2007. It was subsidized by Instytut Książki. What I fail to understand is Why Oh Why them that gave the money did not demand quality in return? Oh well...
We have lots of poor translations into Lithuanian as it is...