Which Languages Did Jennifer Teege'S Book Get Translated Into?

I still get goosebumps talking about how 'My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me' traveled beyond German and into many other tongues. From casual browsing and curating lists for friends, I know there are clear English and French versions, plus Spanish and Italian. Portuguese and Dutch editions exist too, and the book shows up in Scandinavian languages like Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian. Central and Eastern Europe picked it up with Polish, Czech, Hungarian, and Romanian translations, and Israel has a Hebrew edition.

Asian markets were interested as well: Japanese, Korean, and Chinese translations have been published, sometimes in both simplified and traditional formats. That’s the short tour of where the memoir has landed in translation — it’s been surprising to see how widely the story resonates, and if you’re hunting a specific edition, checking the publisher’s rights page or a library catalogue will point you straight to it.

There’s something bittersweet about seeing a personal story cross borders, and with 'My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me' I’ve watched that happen. From what I’ve gathered over the years — through bookshop window displays, foreign reviews, and a handful of international interviews — the memoir has been translated into many of the world’s major languages. You can definitely find it in English, French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese editions. It’s also available in several Northern European languages like Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Finnish, and in Central/Eastern European tongues such as Polish, Czech, Hungarian, and Romanian.

Beyond Europe, the book reached readers in Hebrew and a number of Asian markets: there are translations in Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (often both simplified and traditional editions depending on region). I’ve also seen editions in Turkish and a few other languages aimed at wider Mediterranean and Middle Eastern readerships. I don’t have a perfect catalogue in front of me, so if you need a definitive list for citation or collecting, the safest route is to check the publisher’s international rights page or library databases like WorldCat — but for casual reading, you’ll likely find it in most big-language markets. I still get a little chill thinking about the first time I read it on a late-night train; it’s one of those books whose translations all seem to carry the same raw shock and honesty, no matter the language.

Every time our book group picked something heavy, I’d slide in a wild card, and 'My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me' ended up translated into a surprising number of languages — at least in all the places I’ve seen it shelved. Prominent translations include English and French, and Spanish-language editions pop up regularly in Latin American and European bookstores. Italy and Portugal got their own versions, and if you wander through Northern Europe you’ll spot the Dutch and Scandinavian versions easily.

On the academic side, I’ve noticed Polish and Czech editions cited in papers, and Hungarian and Romanian translations have appeared in Eastern European literary reviews. There’s a Hebrew edition for Israeli readers, and several Asian translations — notably Japanese, Korean, and Chinese — which is how I stumbled on reviews from Tokyo and Seoul that piqued my interest. For anyone trying to collect editions, book fairs and rights catalogues are your friends; otherwise, global retailers and national library networks often list the language of each edition right in the metadata.

If you want a short checklist to start with: English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Romanian, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. That covers most of what I’ve seen, but there may be a few more regional translations tucked away — and hunting those down can be oddly addictive.