The Goethe Institute encourages with the grant programme Translations of German Books into Other Languages non-German publishers with the publication of translated German titles and contributes part of the translation costs.

The Society for the Promotion of African, Asian and Latin American Literature fosters with its Translation Support Programme for Fiction from African, Asian and Latin American the translation of works from the mentioned regions that are not or only inadequate available in German translation as well as works from countries those literature is represented only insufficiently at the German-speaking book market. The programme is financed from the Federal Foreign Office and the Swiss Cultural Foundation Pro Helvetia.

The Swiss Cultural Foundation Pro Helvetia assists in line with the publisher’s and translation’s support Moving Words Swiss literature publishers combing support of publishers and translators. So the editorial competence should be raised in the field of literature translation and the literary exchange in Switzerland as well as the presence of Swiss literature at the international book markets should be strengthened.

The European Union supports in line with the Programme Culture 2007-2013 publishers and publishing houses which translate high-quality European literature in different languages. Further information in the Programme Guide.

Fritz Thyssen Foundation, VG Wort, the German Publishers and Booksellers Association and the Federal Foreign Office support translations of outstanding books of the social sciences and humane discipline to the Englisch language. With their award Geisteswissenschaften International they support books which are important for the location of science of Germany.

The support programme Building Literary Bridges of the Robert Bosch Foundation targets professional literary translators from Central and Southeast European countries, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), China as well as Germany, Switzerland, and Austria who translate from and into German. A particular attention of the programmes turns on exchange and networking between translators, helping translators gain a foothold in the current literary scene, and improving the public perception of the art of translation as well as the translators' commitment to their work.

The European Translation Council in Straelen organises various seminars conducing the experience exchange between translators. Furthermore it offers bilingual translating workshops that are concentrated at a fixed language pair and at those native speakers and translators have the possibility to discuss its own texts together.

The Literary Colloquium Berlin fosters the exchange between translators through the activity of seminars and lectures as well as the annually occurring translation’s day with readings, short presentations and literary performance.

The support programme Building Literary Bridges of the Robert Bosch Foundation targets professional literary translators from Central and Southeast European countries, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), China as well as Germany, Switzerland, and Austria who translate from and into German. The provided work scholarships will take from one week to one month according to requirements and are organised in cooperation with the Literary Colloquium Berlin and the European Network of Literary Centres – Halma.

The European Translation Council in Straelen offers literary translators who have published at least two longer translations and are working on a translating project commissioned by a publisher residences and grants.

The translation promotion of the Literary Colloquium Berlin is addressed on the one hand to translators with the target language German as well as on the other hand to translators of German literature. Alongside it offers bilingual translation workshops for agents of a special language pair.

The Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia aims to increase with its support programme Moving Words the quality of literary translation in Switzerland.

The Hieronymus-Programme a jointly initiative of the Robert Bosch Foundation and the Federal Government Representative for Culture and Media offers the opportunity for young translators with the native language German to work at its own translation project at the European Translator Colloquium Straelen.

The Goldschmidt Programme is organised jointly by the Frankfurt Book Fair, the German-French Youth Office and the Bureau International de l’Édition Française. It gives German and French up-and-coming translators the chance to get to know publishing companies of both countries and to work at translation projects under the guidance of experienced translators.

The German Translator’s Fund offers various support programmes amongst others also work and travel scholarships for translators of foreign-language works into German.

The Network of European Literary Institutions Halma organises scholarships for writers, translators and promoters of literature. Each scholarship lasts for two months, and includes a grant holder’s stay in at least two different host countries. Usually grant holders spend one month in the first host country and then travel to a second one.

The Alfred Toepfer Foundation and the Goethe Institute offers four to eight weeks continuing residence scholarships at the manor Siggen for European translators working at the translation of a subject of the German-speaking literature.

The Translation House Looren in Switzerland offers translators from all nations a place to reside and work for a number of weeks. There up to ten guests can devote themselves to their task and at the same time exchange experiences and ideas with other translators.

The Robert Bosch Foundation awards every two years the Karl Dedecius Prize for Polish translators of German literature and German translators of Polish literature. The next award ceremony is in 2011.

The European Translation Council in Straelen awards in cooperation with the Art Foundation NRW the Translator Prize of the Art Foundation NRW. This prize acknowledges outstanding achievements in literary translations from German into another language or from another language into German.

The Literary Colloquium Berlin awards together with the Goethe Institute the Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize honouring each year an outstanding literary translation from German into English published in the USA the previous year. The Else Otten Translator’s Prize is awarded every two years for the best German translation of one of the most important literary works from the Dutch.

The Translator’s Prize Tarabya of the Ernst Reuter Initiative is awarded for outstanding literary translations from Turkey to German and from German to Turkey and is offered from the Federal Foreign Office and the Turkish Cultural Ministry.