A Cat (and Another Cat and a Journalist) Abroad

Qwilleran, Koko, and Yum Yum have fared fairly well overseas; as Braun's publisher boasts, her Cat Who... titles have been translated into tens of languages. Usually, however, to tailor the books to a nation's specific audience and marketing concerns, there's a little lost - or, at least changed - in the translation...

For one thing, the books have been printed mostly out of order abroad. Publication of foreign editions largely started in the early 1990's, as it took for the Cat Who... books to climb onto the U.S. bestseller charts to generate interest in translating the titles for foreign markets. Publishers usually started with releasing the titles that were the current bestsellers in the U.S. first, then catching up with the older installments as they went along. Furthermore, in many countries, the publishers concentrated on releasing the early country episodes (probably to introduce and acclimate potential fans to the Moose County setting where most of the series's events transpire), filling in the city episodes later on (presumably as Qwilleran's backstory). It's a wonder anyone reading the foreign editions was able to keep the book-to-book plot thread straight.

The titles aren't always translated literally, either, Danish Modern and Came to Breakfast being favorites to toy around with. (Countries in continental Europe seem particularly fond of switching around The Cat Who Came to Breakfast to their native tongue's version of The Cat Who Played Dominoes.)

Below is a language-by-language compilation of the data I have been able to garner off the net on the various international editions of the Cat Who... series - publishers, publication dates, publication order, titles (in the native language and translated), and links to sites where you can either find out a (little) more about or purchase the foreign-language editions. Due to my lingual limitations (I only speak English, French, and some Japanese), I cannot always furnish comprehensive info on all the overseas editions, so I'm forced to put out a call for outside help here; if you can provide additional info or translation, please contact me. (You will, of course, receive full credit for all contributions. Information on editions not mentioned on this page is also very welcome.)

In the native English:

To review: in the U.S., there have been twenty-three titles released so far:

The Cat Who Could Read Backwards, 1966
The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern, 1967
The Cat Who Turned On and Off, 1968
The Cat Who Saw Red, April 1986 (actually written in 1960's, right after On and Off)
The Cat Who Played Brahms, June 1987
The Cat Who Played Post Office, December 1987
The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare, June 1988
The Cat Who Sniffed Glue, September 1988
The Cat Who Went Underground, March 1989
The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts, January 1990
The Cat Who Lived High, August 1990
The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal, May 1991
The Cat Who Moved a Mountain, February 1992
The Cat Who Wasn't There, September 1992
The Cat Who Went into the Closet, April 1993
The Cat Who Came to Breakfast, February 1994
The Cat Who Blew the Whistle, February 1995
The Cat Who Said Cheese, February 1996
The Cat Who Tailed a Thief, January 1997
The Cat Who Sang for the Birds, February 1998
The Cat Who Saw Stars, January 1999
The Cat Who Robbed a Bank, January 2000
The Cat Who Smelled a Rat, January 2001

The Cat Who Had 14 Tales short-story anthology voulme first was published in 1988. (Does anyone have the publication months for the U.S. releases?) Dutton published the first three in the '60's; the others are published by G. P. Putnam's Sons (hardback) and Jove (paperback). (Note: #4-7, Saw Red-Knew Shakespeare, were published only in paperback, no hardcover. Many thanks to Anita Cruzan for the preceding info, the U.S. publication months, and a considerable amount of U.K. publishing information.)

In the U.K., all the books have been released by Headline Book Publishing under their original titles. There does not appear to have been a U.K. edition of 14 Tales, but most British on-line booksellers do carry the U.S. edition of the title. They were not, however, published in order (not even close, actually)...

U.K. publication dates:
Could Read Backwards, January 1995*
Ate Danish Modern, May 1995*
Turned On and Off, May 1991*
Saw Red, March 1990
Played Brahms, January 1996
Played Post Office, May 1996
Knew Shakespeare, November 1996
Sniffed Glue, December 1990
Went Underground, August 1997
Talked to Ghosts, September 1990
Lived High, October 1991
Knew a Cardinal, February 1992
Moved a Mountain, July 1992
Wasn't There, April 1993
Went into the Closet, September 1993
Came to Breakfast, June 1994
Blew the Whistle, September 1995
Said Cheese, January 1996
Tailed a Thief, April 1997
Sang for the Birds, March 1998
Saw Stars, July 1999
Robbed a Bank, July 2000
Smelled a Rat, July 2001

* - Of note, however - Anita informs me that these first three titles were indeed published in the U.K. in '67 and '68 by Collins Crime Club (often called just plain Crime Club).

New (quite stylish, I may add) cover art was created for the U.K. editions; pictures of the those covers are available on-site on our Pics page. You can purchase the British editions at the Internet Bookshop, or, if you want to be bourgeois, at Amazon UK.

The countries in Oceania do have their own editions of the Cat Who... books, though further information is sketchy. (I assume, though, that since the language-barrier problem is nonexistent, there wouldn't be much to impede Australia, New Zealand, and the like from getting all the books.)

Czech:

I've found one book title, at a site called katalog LANius, whose title has been interpreted in Czech as Tøi pøípady a Jim Owilleran (yes, "Ow").

Dutch:

Wa-hah! Many, many thanks to Sofie for providing this list of title and release dates! Apparently, the Dutch have quickly caught up on the series:

English Title	Dutch Title...	...Which, When Translated, Means:	Publication Date
The Cat Who Could Read Backwards	De kat die van achteren naar voren las	The Cat Who Read Backwards	1989
The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern	De kat die vreemde zaken at	The Cat Who Ate Strange Things	1989
The Cat Who Turned On and Off	De kat die in- en uitschakelde	same		1990
The Cat Who Saw Red	De kat die kleur bekende	The Cat Who Confessed Color¹	1990
The Cat Who Played Brahms	De kat die de toon aangaf	The Cat Who Indicated the Tone²	1990
The Cat Who Played Post Office	De kat die de brief bracht	The Cat Who Brought the Letter	1990
The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare	De kat die het drama zag	The Cat Who Saw the Drama/The Cat Who Saw the Tragedy	1991
The Cat Who Sniffed Glue	De kat die lont rook	The Cat Who Smelled the Fuse³	1991
The Cat Who Went Underground	De kat die onderdook	The Cat Who Went into Hiding/The Cat Who Went Underground	1991
The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts	De kat die een spook zag	The Cat Who Saw a Ghost	1991
The Cat Who Lived High	De kat die op niveau woonde	The Cat Who Lived at a Level*4	1992
The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal	De kat die de hoofdrol speelde	The Cat Who Played the Main Part	1992
The Cat Who Moved a Mountain	De kat die bergen verzette	The Cat Who Moved Mountains*5	1992
The Cat Who Wasn't There	De kat die er niet was	same	1993
The Cat Who Went into the Closet	De kat die in de kast kroop	The Cat Who Crept into the Closet	1993
The Cat Who Came to Breakfast	De kat die kwam ontbijten	same	1994
The Cat Who Blew the Whistle	De kat die een boekje opendeed	The Cat Who Opened a Little Book*6	1994
The Cat Who Said Cheese	De kat die naar het vogeltje lachte	The Cat Who Smiled at the Little Bird*7	1996
The Cat Who Tailed a Thief	De kat die de dief schaduwde	same	1997
The Cat Who Sang for the Birds	De kat die het vogeltje toezong	The Cat Who Sang for the Little Bird	1998
The Cat Who Saw Stars	De kat die sterretjes zag	The Cat Who Saw Little Stars*8	1999
The Cat Who Robbed a Bank	De kat die de bank beroofde	The Cat Who Robbed a Bank	2000
The Cat Who Smelled a Rat	De kat die onraad rook	?? [was published after Sofie made up the list...]	2001

Sofie's Notes:
¹ - Could also mean The Cat Who Showed One’s Colors (translated from a Dutch saying).
² - Could also mean The Cat Who Called the Tune/The Cat Who Took the Lead (translated from a Dutch saying).
³ - Could also mean The Cat Who Smelled Danger (translated from a Dutch saying).
*4 - Could also mean The Cat Who Lived at High Standards (translated from a Dutch saying.)
*5 - Could also mean The Cat Who Did a Lot of Work (translated from a Dutch saying).
*6 - Could also mean The Cat Who Told Things about a Person/The Cat Who Showed a Person up (translated from a Dutch saying).
*7 - Probably translated from the English saying "say cheese" when taking a picture; to "smile at the little bird" is the Dutch equivalent.

14 Tales was released in 1988 as De kat die voorlas - The Cat Who Read Aloud. Bruna Uitgevers, A.W. is the titles' publisher, apparently.

Cover Pics are available on-site. Bol sells a few of the titles in Dutch. Also, an on-line store calling itself ECI sells a compilation of four books (that skips over Saw Red, I'm told?).

Finnish (or not):

The Finnish mystery page DekkariNetti has posted a few Cat Who... book reviews (in English) written by Harriet Klausner (gee, she's everywhere, isn't she?). I once thought that this would mean that Finnish-language Cat Who... titles did indeed exist, but a Finnish fan tells me that they do not. My apologies for the confusion.

French:

In France (and French-speaking Canada), the books have been released mostly in order (save for Backwards and Danish Modern, which were released slightly later). The table below will fill you in. (A few notes on the table: each row gives a book's English title; its corresponding title in French; the English translation of that French title (if it differs from the English title; if not, it's just noted as "same"); and the date the book was first published in French. Also, in French, only the first word of a book title is capitalized, in case you're wondering about that (thanks, Bob).)

English Title	French Title...	...Which, When Translated, Means:	Publication Date
The Cat Who Could Read Backwards	Le chat qui lisait à l'envers	same¹	1992
The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern	Le chat qui mangeait de la laine	The Cat Who Ate Wool	1992
The Cat Who Turned On and Off	Le chat qui aimait la brocante	The Cat Who Liked Second-Hand (as in second-hand shops)	1992
The Cat Who Saw Red	Le chat qui voyait rouge	same	1991
The Cat Who Played Brahms	Le chat qui jouait Brahms	same	1991
The Cat Who Played Post Office	Le chat qui jouait au postier	The Cat Who Played Post Office Clerk	1991
The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare	Le chat qui connaissaît Shakespeare	same	1991
The Cat Who Sniffed Glue	Le chat qui sniffait de la colle	same	1992
The Cat Who Went Underground	Le chat qui inspectait le sous-sol	The Cat Who Investigated the Underground	1992
The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts	Le chat qui parlait aux fantômes	same	1993
The Cat Who Lived High	Le chat qui vivait haut	same	1993
The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal	Le chat qui connaissaît un cardinal	same	1993
The Cat Who Moved a Mountain	Le chat qui déplaçait des montagnes	The Cat Who Moved Mountains	1993
The Cat Who Wasn't There	Le chat qui n'était pas là	same	1994
The Cat Who Went into the Closet	Le chat qui allez au placard	same	1995
The Cat Who Came to Breakfast	Le chat qui jouait aux dominos	The Cat Who Played Dominoes	1995
The Cat Who Blew the Whistle	Le chat qui donnait un coup de sifflet	same	1995
The Cat Who Said Cheese	Le chat qui disait cheese	same²	1996
The Cat Who Tailed a Thief	Le chat qui flairait une piste	The Cat Who Sniffed Out a Clue	1997
The Cat Who Sang for the Birds	Le chat qui parlait aux oiseaux	The Cat Who Talked to Birds	1998
The Cat Who Saw Stars	Le chat qui regardait les étoiles	same	1999
The Cat Who Robbed a Bank	Le chat qui volait une banque	same	2000

¹ - While "lisait" is actually the imperfect tense of the verb "lire", meaning "to read" - which would make the French title actually read The Cat Who Read [past tense, not Could Read, conditional present tense] Backwards - the tense can also hold a "can do" connotation - thanks very much to French Cat Who... fan Angel for backing this up.
² - Yes, the French title uses the English word "cheese", not "fromage", the French word for "cheese", which, merci à Angel, I can report is indeed used in France for the same photography-related purpose it is in the English-speaking world.

The Cat Who Had 14 Tales was brought over to the French-speaking world as Le chat qui racontait les histoires - The Cat Who Told Tales. Robbed a Bank has apparently been released, but no further details are available.

Pictures of the French covers (which seems to be taken from French folk art and have nothing to do with the series or Siamese) can be found in the Pics section.

Other bits of miscellany: the names of some supporting characters and a few place names have been changed around. A sampling:

Yum Yum - Yom Yom
Homer Tibbitt - Homer Tibitt
David Lyke (interior decorator from Danish Modern) - David Lyne
Down Below - le Pays En-Bas ("The Land(s) Down Below")
Junktown - Came-Village ("Junk Village")
The New Pickax Hotel - Le Nouvel Hôtel ("The New Hotel")
Qwilleran's "Gracious Abodes" magazine - Le Gai Logis ("Cheerful Lodging")

Most of this info was gleaned from the online European bookstore Bol. I oughta pick up a few of the French editions and do a little in-depth research...

German:

I finally found one of the two German title lists and translations I was given (Anthony Giasi's; I received lists from both Anthony and Michele Hermansen, both of whom are due extensive kudos) so here we go:

English Title	German Title...	...Which, When Translated, Means:	Publication Date
The Cat Who Could Read Backwards	Die Katze, die rückwärts lesen konnte	same	1991
The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern	Die Katze, die in den Ohrensessel biss	The Cat Who Bit into the Easychair¹	May 1995
The Cat Who Turned On and Off	Die Katze, die das Licht löschte	The Cat Who Turned on the Light	December 1995
The Cat Who Saw Red	Die Katze, die rot sah	same	June 1992
The Cat Who Played Brahms	Die Katze, die Brahms spielte	same	October 1992
The Cat Who Played Post Office	Die Katze, die Postbote spielte	same	July 1996
The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare	Die Katze, die Shakespeare kannte	same	February 1992
The Cat Who Sniffed Glue	Die Katze, die Leim schnüffelte	same	January 1993
The Cat Who Went Underground	Die Katze, die Lippenstift liebte	The Cat Who Loved Lipstick	1992
The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts	Die Katze, die Geister beschwor	same	1993
The Cat Who Lived High	Die Katze, die hoch hinaus wollte	same¹	October 1993
The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal	Die Katze, die einen Kardinal kannte	same	Feburary 1994
The Cat Who Moved a Mountain	Die Katze, die Berge versetzte	same	April 1994
The Cat Who Wasn't There	Die Katze, die rosa Pillen nahm	The Cat Who Took a Pink Pill²	January 1995
The Cat Who Went into the Closet	Die Katze, die im Schrank verschwand	same	January 1995
The Cat Who Came to Breakfast	Die Katze, die Domino spielte	The Cat Who Played Dominoes	October 1995
The Cat Who Blew the Whistle	Die Katze, die Alarm schlug	The Cat Who Sounded the Alarm	March 1996
The Cat Who Said Cheese	Die Katze, die für Käse schwärmte	The Cat Who Was Wild for Cheese	March 1997
The Cat Who Tailed a Thief	Die Katze, die den Dieb vertrieb	same	October 1997
The Cat Who Sang for the Birds	Die Katze, die Gesang studierte	The Cat Who Studied Song	August 1998
The Cat Who Saw Stars	Die Katze, die Sterne sah	same	sometime in 2000
The Cat Who Robbed a Bank	Die Katze die eine Bank ausraubte	same	sometime in 2001

Anthony's Notes:
¹ - Translation of idiomatic expression.
² - "To take a pink pill" is a German idiomatic expression roughly equivalent to "to take a powder". [My note: also, if you've read The Cat Who Wasn't There, you know that the German title can be a reference to the events of the story.]

The Germans have gotten 14 Tales under the title Die Katze, die zuletzt lachte. 14 Kriminalgeschichten. They also have The Cat Who... Companion (Das grosse Lilian Jackson Braun Lexikon, or The Big Lilian Jackson Braun Encyclopedia and an anthology volume of the first three books.

Pics of the original cover art are on the Pics page; a booklist can be found at Christel Wysocki's page (check out the cute li'l graphics there). There's also a German page on the Cat Who...s at Hammett Krimibuchhandlung, which appears to be selling the U.K. editions of the books. (There appears to be more information there, but danged if I can make it out.) I haven't yet found an online bookstore based in Germany, but you still can order the German titles through Amazon.

Italian:

I can confirm everything up to Said Cheese as having been published in Italian, and, considering how quickly the last few titles appeared in Italian after they were first published in English, I wouldn't be surprised if they already had Tailed a Thief, Sang for the Birds, and (at least imminently) Saw Stars as well. A booklist is available at the Associazione Nazionale Felina Italiana (with a mirror here; if you can read Italian, by the way, I'd recommend that you take a look around the other sections, as this appears to be quite a well-done site). Giallo Mondadori is the publisher, which began releasing the books in Italy starting in 1991, slightly out of order.

Japanese:

In the land of our beloved Iron Chef, 19 Cat Who... titles have been released by Hayakawa Publishing - through Tailed a Thief, skipping over Played Post Office for some reason (with Played Brahms rumored to have been published only in June of 2001). The books have been released mostly in order over there, except for the first one to come out over there, Saw Red.

I translated the title list below. Please note that Japanese nouns rarely distinguish between singular and plural, so the titles below could feature "cats" instead of just one "cat" (for example, The Cat Reads Clues could also be translated as Cats Read Clues).

English Title	Japanese Title...	...Which, When Translated, Means:	Publication Date
The Cat Who Could Read Backwards	Neko wa Tegakari o Yomu	The Cat Reads Clues	November 1988
The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern	Neko wa Sofa o Kajiru	The Cat Gnaws the Sofa	August 1989
The Cat Who Turned On and Off	Neko wa Suitchi o Ireru	The Cat Turns on the Switch	April 1990
The Cat Who Saw Red	Neko wa Koroshi o Kagitsukeru	The Cat Sniffs out a Murder	May 1988
The Cat Who Played Brahms	Neko wa Buraamusu o Ensou Suru	The Cat Plays Brahms	June 2001¹
The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare	Neko wa Sheikusupea o Shitte Iru	The Cat Knows Shakespeare	January 1992
The Cat Who Sniffed Glue	Neko wa Nori o Nameru	The Cat Sniffs Glue	September 1992
The Cat Who Went Underground	Neko wa Nukashita o Moguru	The Cat Goes under the Floor	September 1993
The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts	Neko wa Yuurei o Hanasu	The Cat Talks to Ghosts	April 1994
The Cat Who Lived High	Neko wa Pentohausu ni Sumu	The Cat Lives in a Penthouse	December 1994
The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal	Neko wa Tori o Mitsumeru	The Cat Watches a Bird	April 1995
The Cat Who Moved a Mountain	Neko wa Yama o mo Ugokasu	The Cat Moves an Entire Mountain	November 1995
The Cat Who Wasn't There	Neko wa Rusuban o Suru	The Cat Housesits	August 1996
The Cat Who Went into the Closet	Neko wa Kurosetto ni Kakureru	The Cat Hides in the Closet	September 1997
The Cat Who Came to Breakfast	Neko wa Shima ni Wataru	The Cat Crosses over to the Island	December 1997
The Cat Who Blew the Whistle	Neko wa Kiteki o Narasu	The Cat Blows the Whistle	August 1998
The Cat Who Said Cheese	Neko wa Chiizu o Nedaru	The Cat Asks for Cheese	March 1999
The Cat Who Tailed a Thief	Neko wa Dorobou o Oikakeru	The Cat Tails a Thief	December 1999
The Cat Who Sang for the Birds	Neko wa Tori no Tame ni Utau	The Cat Sings for the Birds	June 2000

¹ - Date tentative, mentioned on The Cat Who Click with Mouse's message board as being posted on Hayakawa Publishing's website. I haven't found any further speculation on it.

The Cat Who Had 14 Tales was also published in Japanese (also by Hayakawa), given the title Neko wa 14 no Nezo o Motsu - The Cat Has 14 Riddles. A woman named Shizuko Hata is listed as the translator for Turned On and Off; I don't know if she translated the others, but since publishers tend to stick with the same translator throughout a series, it's a safe bet she did.

Koko's name is still spelled the same, but "Qwilleran" and "Yum Yum" are spelled as "Kuiraran" and "Yamu Yamu" in Japanese. This does not, however, mean that they changed Qwilleran and Yum Yum's names; the Japanese alphabet is quite different from the Western alphabet - it has no "l" and is composed not of individual letters but of syllables, most of which are stand-alone vowels or syllables ending in vowel sounds - the only Western consonant in which a Japanese word can end is "n", which is considered a syllable on its own. "Kuiraran", therefore, is the best way it can be transcribed into Japanese within the limitations of the language. (If the Japanese wrote out Qwill's name in roman letters for some reason, they'd write in its original, uncompromised form, "Qwilleran".)

An amusing note: The Daily Fluxion newspaper is now The Daily Fraction.

A bit more info on the Japanese books can be found on The Cat Who Click on Mouse. (Yes, it's in Japanese. What did you expect?)

Portuguese:

Another country that I know has native editions of the books but cannot confirm exactly how many. I have, however, seen a Portuguese copy of Knew a Cardinal, entitled O Gato Que Conhecia un Cardeal (literal translation? liberal adaptation? who knows?), at Intervista (if you can navigate the site to find out more, good for you). The cover pic is here.

Russian:

I can get confirmation on the existence of the first four Cat Who... books in Russian - nothing more - from here and here, at the "Publishing House Server". Fortunately, Jan Helman has stepped up to provide some info: according to the pages cited above, apparently two Cat Who... volumes have been published in Russia, both in 1997, each containing two Cat Who... titles. The first volume is entitled Kot, kotorii chital cprava nalevo (The Cat Who Read from Right to Left) and contains Could Read Backwards and Ate Danish Modern; the second is called Kot, kotorii prokhodil skvoz styeni (The Cat Who Went through Walls) and contains Turned On and Off and Saw Red. Aleksandra Sergeyeva is the translator.
Further notes from Jan: "In Russian, there are no articles (a, an, the), and the verb "to be" isn't used in the present tense. Also, there is no letter W in Russian, and the sound we represent with the letters K, Q, and C (the hard C) is represented only by the letter K. In the Russian versions of these novels, they've dropped the third syllable of Qwilleran's surname in Russian, hence the name becomes Kviller." The descriptive blurbs on the site above read as follows:
The Cat Who Read from Right to Left: "This book introduces a fascinating person, Jim Kviller, reporter. In this book Kviller's companion appears -- a Siamese cat, Koko. Now these two are inseparable. Find out more about their combined activities to uncover crime in L. Jackson Braun's 'Cat, who.' "
The Cat Who Went through Walls: "Something new appears in the lives of Jim Kviller and Koko. Koko has acquired a new friend -- the charming Yum-Yum. Now Yum-Yum has come to help Kviller solve the crimes that happen in the 'mouse trap' home where all three live." (Jan warns that these translations are rough and that "'mouse trap' home" might be a Russian idiom with which she is unfamiliar. Hey, this looks more-than-good enough to me.)

Spanish:

Five Cat Who... titles have been released in Spanish so far:

English Title	Spanish Title...	...Which, When Translated, Means:	Publication Date
The Cat Who Could Read Backwards	El gato que leía al revés	same	1996
The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern	El gato que se comía los muebles	The Cat Who Ate Furniture	1996
The Cat Who Turned On and Off	El gato que sabía grabar	The Cat Who Knew Second-Hand (as in second-hand shops)	1997
The Cat Who Saw Red	El gato que odiaba el rojo	The Cat Who Hated Red¹	1997
The Cat Who Played Brahms	El gato que escuchaba a Brahms	The Cat Who Listened to Brahms	1997

¹ - "Hated Red" could be idiomatic in Spanish for "rage".

Thanks to Sherri Voigt for the title translations.

The books were published by Plaza & Janés Editores. The books do not appear to have been big sellers in the Spanish language; only five installments have been released - a remarkably low number for a foreign market - the last of which was released almost three years ago, and some of the titles are apprently hard to find. (Arrgh, to leave the Spanish audience hanging on the end-of-Brahms cliffhanger - evil, evil.) Cover images are in the Pics section (they're, for the most part, the same as the British covers); you can buy the Spanish editions from BOL.com.