[Janet Michelson]

I am publishing my book in French, with a French version of the cover. Would there be an advantage to leaving the title page in the English version? The reason I am asking is that the title does not translate exactly, and the word play is lost in the translation: Chew Chew the Food Chain Train becomes Tchou-Tchou (choo-choo). Do you think it matters? Everything else in the book is in French.

 

[WHDean]

Well, it is conventional to translate the title, even if it comes out different in French. I think Yann Martel's Life of Pi, for example, was translated as L'histoire de Pi, which literally means "The History of Pi." You'll see what I mean if you look up the French versions of familiar books.

The only case where you might keep it the same is a person's name or a slang word that's also used in French (e.g., Rock 'n' Roll, cool, etc.). Much of English slang is familiar to French speakers because of pop culture. Your tittle isn't really slang, so I guess this route is out.

 

[TheSFReader]

I don't think having the english title will help in any way. Readers proficient enough in english to "get" it are not "common" enough to grant the cover space, or worth the reminder that the book is a translation rather than French (which COULD bother people).
Having it inside would be much better.