Biblatex: in the bibliography, cite translation in the form “translated as …” when translator is unknown

Question

A couple of years ago, I asked how to make Biblatex cite, in the bibliography, the translation of a work in the form “translated by … as …”.

I was told, in that post, to use relatedtype={bytranslator} instead of relatedtype={translatedas}. This generally works well. However, I have just encountered a little problem, namely in cases where the translator is not specified. In such cases, I think, the words “by …” should be dropped, such that only “translated as [title of work]” remains. What happens, though, is that “translated by [title of work]” is produced. That is, rather than dropping the word “by” preceding the name of the translator, Biblatex drops the word “as” following the name. Can this be fixed?

Here is a MWE (note that this example is fictitious; the translator of that translation is in fact known; but I have encountered cases where the translator is not known):

\documentclass[12pt]{article}

\usepackage{filecontents}

\begin{filecontents}{biblio.bib}
@book{Badiou2006,
author = {Badiou, Alain},
title = {Logiques des mondes},
subtitle = {L'\^{e}tre et l'\'{e}v\'{e}nement 2},
location = {Paris},
publisher = {\'{E}ditions du Seuil},
date = {2006},
related={Badiou2009},
relatedtype={bytranslator},
}
@book{Badiou2009,
author = {Badiou, Alain},
title = {Logics of worlds},
subtitle = {Being and event 2},
location = {London},
publisher = {Continuum},
year = {2009},
}
\end{filecontents}

\usepackage[style=authoryear,abbreviate=false]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{biblio.bib}

\begin{document}

Citing a book by \textcite{Badiou2006}.

\printbibliography

\end{document}

This produces the following entry:

Badiou, Alain (2006). Logiques des mondes. L’être et l’événement 2. Paris: Éditions du Seuil. Translated by Logics of worlds. Being and event 2 (London: Continuum, 2009).

It should be "Translated as" instead of "Translated by". How can this be achieved?

EDIT:

The relatedtype should work not only with books, but also with articles in journals or collections such as the following:

@incollection{Althusser1976a,
author = {Althusser, Louis},
title = {Id\'{e}ologie et appareils id\'{e}ologiques d'\'{E}tat},
subtitle = {Notes pour une recherche},
location = {Paris},
publisher = {\'{E}ditions sociales},
year = {1976},
booktitle = {Positions, 1964--1975},
pages = {67-125},
related = {Althusser1971a},
relatedtype = {translatedbyas},
}
@incollection{Althusser1971a,
author = {Althusser, Louis},
translator = {Brewster, Ben},
title = {Ideology and ideological state apparatuses},
subtitle = {Notes towards an investigation},
location = {New York},
publisher = {Monthly Review Press},
year = {1971},
booktitle = {Lenin and philosophy and other essays},
pages = {127-186},
}

Answer 1

You can define a new relatedtype based on bytranslator that can deal with a missing translator.

The only trick here is to check if the translator is present and print different strings depending on whether or not it is present. For the remaining part related:translatedbyas below is a copy of related:bytranslator from biblatex.def (ll. 2291-3008 in v3.16).

\documentclass[12pt]{article}

\usepackage[style=authoryear,abbreviate=false]{biblatex}

\NewBibliographyString{translated}
\DefineBibliographyStrings{english}{
  translated = {translated},
}

\makeatletter
\newbibmacro*{related:translatedbyas}[1]{%
  \entrydata{#1}{%
    \ifnameundef{translator}
      {\bibstring{translated}}
      {\bibstring{bytranslator}%
       \setunit{\addspace}%
       \renewbibmacro*{name:hook}[1]{%
         \ifnumequal{\value{listcount}}{1}
           {\mkrelatedstringtext{\lbx@initnamehook{##1}}}
           {}}%
       \printnames[bytranslator]{translator}}%
    \setunit{\addspace}
    \bibstring[\mkrelatedstringtext]{astitle}%
    \setunit{\space}%
    \usebibmacro{title}%
    \setunit{\addspace}%
    \printtext[parens]{%
      \printlist{location}%
      \iflistundef{publisher}
        {\setunit*{\addcomma\space}}
        {\setunit*{\addcolon\space}}%
      \printlist{publisher}%
      \setunit*{\addcomma\space}%
      \printdate}}}
\makeatother

\begin{filecontents}{\jobname.bib}
@book{Badiou2006,
  author      = {Badiou, Alain},
  title       = {Logiques des mondes},
  subtitle    = {L'être et l'événement 2},
  location    = {Paris},
  publisher   = {Éditions du Seuil},
  date        = {2006},
  related     = {Badiou2009},
  relatedtype = {translatedbyas},
}
@book{Badiou2009,
  author    = {Badiou, Alain},
  title     = {Logics of worlds},
  subtitle  = {Being and event 2},
  location  = {London},
  publisher = {Continuum},
  year      = {2009},
}
@book{Badiou2007,
  author      = {Badiou, Alain},
  title       = {Logiques des mondes},
  subtitle    = {L'être et l'événement 3},
  location    = {Paris},
  publisher   = {Éditions du Seuil},
  date        = {2007},
  related     = {Badiou2010},
  relatedtype = {translatedbyas},
}
@book{Badiou2010,
  author     = {Badiou, Alain},
  translator = {Toscano, Alberto},
  title      = {Logics of worlds},
  subtitle   = {Being and event 3},
  location   = {London},
  publisher  = {Continuum},
  year       = {2010},
}
\end{filecontents}
\addbibresource{\jobname.bib}

\begin{document}

Citing a book by \textcite{Badiou2006,Badiou2007}.

\printbibliography

\end{document}

---

Together with the code from biblatex: relatedtype={bytranslator} does not work as expected with @article and @incollection you'd probably end up with something like

\makeatletter
\newbibmacro*{related:translatedbyas}[1]{%
  \entrydata{#1}{%
    \ifnameundef{translator}
      {\bibstring{translated}}
      {\bibstring{bytranslator}%
       \setunit{\addspace}%
       \renewbibmacro*{name:hook}[1]{%
         \ifnumequal{\value{listcount}}{1}
           {\mkrelatedstringtext{\lbx@initnamehook{##1}}}
           {}}%
       \printnames[bytranslator]{translator}%
       \clearname{translator}}%
    \setunit{\addspace}
    \bibstring[\mkrelatedstringtext]{astitle}%
    \setunit{\space}%
    \usebibmacro{title}%
    \ifentrytype{article}
      {\usebibmacro{in:}%
       \usebibmacro{journal+issuetitle}}
      {}
    \ifentrytype{inbook}
      {\usebibmacro{in:}%
       \usebibmacro{bybookauthor}%
       \newunit\newblock
       \usebibmacro{maintitle+booktitle}%
       \newunit\newblock
       \usebibmacro{byeditor+others}%
       \newunit\newblock
       \printfield{edition}}
      {}
    \ifentrytype{incollection}
      {\usebibmacro{in:}%
       \usebibmacro{maintitle+booktitle}%
       \newunit\newblock
       \usebibmacro{byeditor+others}%
       \newunit\newblock
       \printfield{edition}%
       \newunit
       \iffieldundef{maintitle}
         {\printfield{volume}%
          \printfield{part}}
         {}}
      {}
    \ifentrytype{inproceedings}
      {\usebibmacro{in:}%
       \usebibmacro{maintitle+booktitle}%
       \newunit\newblock
       \usebibmacro{event+venue+date}%
       \newunit\newblock
       \usebibmacro{byeditor+others}%
       \newunit\newblock
       \iffieldundef{maintitle}
         {\printfield{volume}%
          \printfield{part}}
         {}}
      {}
    \setunit{\addspace}%
    \printtext[parens]{%
      \printlist{location}%
      \iflistundef{publisher}
        {\setunit*{\addcomma\space}}
        {\setunit*{\addcolon\space}}%
      \printlist{publisher}%
      \setunit*{\addcomma\space}%
      \printdate}
      \newunit\newblock
      \printfield{note}%
      \newunit\newblock
      \printfield{chapter}%
      \setunit{\bibpagespunct}%
      \printfield{pages}}}
\makeatother