RISING to fame in the mid ’90s, Irvine Welsh produced writing that captured the essence of a raw vernacular language in conversations and events around not only his hometown of Leith, Edinburgh, or London — to where he moved in the ’80s finding punk and acid house scenes — but also resonating with readers on a truly global scale.

If you ever have the delight of finding a copy of his debut novel, Trainspotting, in a French edition — and wonder how translators tackled words such as “bampot,” “swedge,” “radge,” “weedgie” and “gadgie” — then spare a thought for the person who had the task of adapting Welsh’s book into Chinese, likesay.

Trainspotting was perhaps received as a mostly drug-themed story — yet within the narrative and candid style, there is an undercurrent reflecting the realities of a dispossessed generation that still resonates today.