Stack of dictionariesEven the most casual reader or citizen might reply with the correct answer: The Bible.

The Qur’an is naturally close behind and Book of Mormon, too, is in the top most translated, but Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia’s List of Literary Works by Number of Translations puts Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi in second place.  Published in 1883, the enchanting story of a puppet who wishes to be a real boy has been translated into more than 260 languages to date.  Astounding!

I think I would have guessed The Little Prince by St. Exupery, the middle school classic, to be higher than Pinocchio, but it rests firmly behind the Collodi classic at sixth-place just after fifth-ranked Pilgrim’s Progress by Bunyan (what?) and just above seventh- place Andersen’s Fairy Tales by (you guessed it) Hans Christian Andersen.  It looks like the Grimm Brothers’ cautionary stories might be a tad too grim for a world-wide following.

In particular, this list is a genuinely interesting compilation of world classics that have been carefully translated into countless languages.  Another reason why document translation services provided by Apex Translations is a necessary service in a world which demands more translations of faith-based tomes and beloved literary classics now more than ever!