Child and adult readers’ processing of foreign elements in translated South African picturebooks

Target ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 180-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haidee Kruger
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Cognitive Effort ◽  
Adult Readers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Areas Of Interest ◽  
Reading Study

The tension between domesticating and foreignising translation strategies is particularly strongly felt in the translation of children’s literature, and has been a key issue in many studies of such literature. However, despite the pervasiveness of the concepts, there is little existing empirical research investigating how child (and adult) readers of translated children’s books process and respond to for eignised elements in translation. This means that scholars’ arguments in favour of either domestication or foreignisation in the translation of children’s literature are often based on intuition and personal experience, with no substantial empirical basis. This article presents the findings of an experiment undertaken to investigate Afrikaans child and adult readers’ processing of and responses to potentially linguistically and culturally foreign textual elements in translated children’s picturebooks, against the background of postcolonial/neocolonial cultural and linguistic hybridity in South Africa. The paper reports the results relating to two of the research questions informing the study: Does the use of foreignised elements in translated children’s picturebooks have any significant effect on the cognitive effort involved in reading for child and adult readers? Is the comprehension of child and adult readers affected by the use of for eignised elements in translated children’s picturebooks? A reading study utilising eye-tracking was conducted, involving both child and adult participants reading manipulated domesticated and foreignised versions of pages from two picturebooks translated from English to Afrikaans. To answer research question (1), data obtained by means of eye-tracking were analysed for dwell time, fixation count, first fixation duration and glances count for areas of interest (AOIs) reflecting domesticating or foreignising translation strategies. In order to answer question (2), short structured questionnaires or interviews with participants were used, focusing on the degree of comprehension of the two texts. Overall, the findings of the experiment demonstrate that while there are perceptible effects on processing and comprehension associated with the use of foreignising strategies, these effects are not straightforward or uniform, with notable differences not only for different AOIs, but also for child and adult readers.

The Adventures of Peter Rabbit in Romania: Translation Challenges and Strategies

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana Cocargeanu
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Marketing Strategies ◽  
Read Aloud ◽  
Writing Style ◽  
Publishing Process ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Cultural Specificity ◽  
Low Visibility ◽  
Selection Of

Romanian children's literature, particularly translations for children, has rather low visibility in international children's literature scholarship, and translations of Beatrix Potter have not been extensively researched, either. This article contributes to filling these gaps by exploring the challenges involved in the recent publication of the first licensed Romanian edition of Beatrix Potter and the strategies employed to solve them. It identifies extra-textual challenges, related to the possibility of publishing Potter, the licensing process, the selection of particular tales and book formats for publication, and marketing strategies; and textual challenges, arising from Potter's writing style, the interdependence between visual and verbal aspects in her tales, their cultural specificity and read-aloud qualities. It also discusses the roles of the British and Romanian publishers in the publishing process and relates the translation strategies visible in the texts to the translator's apparently divided responsibility towards Potter and the Romanian audience, her conceptions of children and children's literature, and the Romanian literary tradition.

scholarly journals “Quality not Quantity”

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Berry
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Oral History ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Professional Collaboration ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Small Press ◽  
History Of ◽  
Set Up

This article takes as its subject the project of British author and editor Aidan Chambers to set up a small press dedicated to publishing modern European children’s literature in translation, 1988–92. Positioned within Gideon Toury’s framework of Descriptive Translation Studies, this paper outlines the history of the firm and its founding ideology to publish children’s literature “with a difference” for a British audience. As a result, preliminary norms (relating to text, author and translator selection) and operational norms (relating to translation strategies) for four novels by Maud Reuterswärd, Peter Pohl and Tormod Haugen are identified and analyzed. Fundamental to the article’s methodology is the use of bibliographical, archival and oral history primary sources. The principal focus of research interest is Chambers’ use of language consultants in addition to his commissioned translators in an unusual and sometimes challenging professional collaboration of editor-translator-consultant within a Nordic-British setting.

Emergent bilinguals as text designers: rendering meaning through signs

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Brown
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Emergent Bilinguals ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Content Type ◽  
English Only ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
The Social ◽  
Semiotic Resources ◽  
Multilingual Learning

Purpose The main purpose is to investigate what resources young emergent bilinguals use to communicate a multimodal response to children’s literature. In particular, attention is paid to the ways students translanguage as part of the learning process. Design/methodology/approach An ethnography-in-education approach was used to capture the social and cultural aspects of literacy learning in an English-only context. A multimodal transcript analysis was applied to video-recorded data as a method for examining semiotic resources and modes of learning. Findings The results revealed that students used technology, paper-based resources and peers to construct meaning relative to books. Experimentation or play with the affordances of the tablet computer served as avenues to determine the agentive selection of resources. As students wrestled with constructing meaning, they gathered multiple perspectives from peers and children’s literature to involve symbols and representations in their texts. Signs, multiple language forms and meaning came together for the social shaping of situated perspectives. Originality/value This study addresses the call for educators to engage in multiliterate, multimodal practices with young learners in the contexts of classrooms. It provides insight into the need to create multilingual learning spaces where translanguaging freely occurs and the meaningful ways early childhood learners use technology. To fully understand what emergent bilinguals know and can do, they must be afforded a variety of semiotic resources at school.

scholarly journals Oswajanie obcości kulturowej w przekładzie literatury dziecięcej. Przypadek Domowych duchów Dubravki Ugrešić

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Ślawska
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Children's Literature ◽  
Proper Names ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Translation Strategies

The Domestication of Cultural Strangeness in the Translation of Children's Literature: The case of Dubravka Ugrešić's Kućni duhovi [Home Ghosts]This article is devoted to the Polish translation of Kućni duhovi [Home Ghosts], a collection of short stories by Dubravka Ugrešić, her only book addressed to the youngest readers which has been published outside Croatia. The study focuses on the issue of cultural strangeness generated mostly by proper names that appear in the stories: ghosts' names, and the names and surnames of other characters. In her translation, Dorota Jovanka Ćirlić domesticated the source text, replacing all of them with Polish equivalents. The comparative analysis presented in this article considers translation strategies she used and illustrates them with numerous examples. Oswajanie obcości kulturowej w przekładzie literatury dziecięcej. Przypadek Domowych duchów Dubravki UgrešićNiniejszy artykuł poświęcony jest przekładowi na język polski zbioru opowiadań Dubravki Ugrešić pt. Domowe duchy. Jest to jedyna książka pisarki adresowana do najmłodszych czytelników, która ukazała się poza granicami Chorwacji. Szczególna uwaga skierowana została na kwestię obcości kulturowej, którą w książce Ugrešić generują przede wszystkim nazwy własne (nazwy duchów, imiona i nazwiska pozostałych bohaterów). Dorota Jovanka Ćirlić, autorka przekładu, dokonała udomowienia tekstu źródłowego, zastępując wszystkie nazwy własne, pojawiające się w oryginale, polskimi ekwiwalentami. Zastosowane przez tłumaczkę strategie translatorskie zostały omówione oraz zilustrowane licznymi przykładami w toku analizy porównawczej.

scholarly journals Eleanor & Park by R. Rowell

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne De Groot
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Children's Literature ◽  
Young Adult ◽  
Elementary Education ◽  
Comic Books ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Learning Program ◽  
Adult Readers ◽  
Red Hair

Rowell, Rainbow. Eleanor & Park.  New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 2013. Print.“Disintegrated. Like something had gone wrong beaming her onto the Starship Enterprise. If you’ve ever wondered what that feels like, it’s a lot like melting, but more violent. Even in a million different pieces, Eleanor could still feel Park holding her hand. Could still feel his thumb exploring her palm. She sat completely still because she didn’t have any other option.  She tried to remember what kind of animals paralyzed their prey before they ate them...Maybe Park had paralyzed her with his ninja magic, his Vulcan handhold, and now he was going to eat her. That would be awesome” (p. 72).Eleanor & Park is a smart, funny young adult romance that takes place over one school year in 1986. Told in alternating voices, this is the story of two teenagers who don’t quite fit in. Eleanor comes from the wrong side of the tracks and has big red hair and wears all the wrong clothes. Park is half Asian, loves comic books and alternative music.  Eleanor has had a rough life, living with her mother, her mother’s new husband, and her four siblings in a rundown house without even a door on the bathroom. Park’s family is much more stable, yet his military veteran father and immigrant mother do not quite know what to make of Park, with his black clothes, eye makeup and love of music. Pushed together on Eleanor’s first day of school when she takes the only seat left on the bus, the one beside Park, they bond over comic books and mixed tapes and help each other survive the tumult that is high school, and life.  The characters, young and old, in Eleanor & Park are far from perfect, and their imperfections and weirdness make them likeable. Young adult readers will identify with these outsiders and will be cheering for them from the beginning. Some of the pop culture references may not be recognized by today’s young adults; however, the specific music and comic book references are less important than what they represent in the story. Rowell has written a nuanced and balanced story that will appeal to young adult fans of realistic and romantic fiction.  The ending is satisfying without being easy and Rowell has created characters that are believable and heartwarming.  Eleanor & Park won the 2013 Boston Globe Horn Book Award for Best Fiction Book.  Rainbow Rowell is the author of Attachments (2011) and the recently released Fangirl (2013).  The book contains some scenes with some mild sexuality, violence, and language. It will make an excellent addition to any school or public library collection for young adult readers ages 14 and up.Highly Recommended:  4 out of 4 starsReviewed by: Joanne de GrootJoanne de Groot is a teacher, librarian and mom who loves to read children's literature (especially with her two kids!).  She is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Elementary Education at the University of Alberta and teaches primarily in the Teacher-Librarianship by Distance Learning program.  Joanne teaches courses on resources for children and young adults, children's literature, educational technology and Web 2.0, and contemporary literacies.

scholarly journals Translating Folklore: the Myth of Baba Jaga in Afanasev’s Fairy Tales

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 16-30
Author(s):  
Caterina Neri
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Fairy Tales ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Oral Culture ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Language And Culture

The main aim of this article is to provide a thorough insight about the difficulties encountered when translating fairy tales from Slavic folklore, in a sense that not only it implies the shift from anoral version to a written one, but also it has to face all the challenges of children’s literature. In order to do this, we have analyzed one of the hundreds of fairy tales present in the work of the Russian writer and linguist Aleksandr Nikolaevič Afanas’ev, Narodnye russkie skazki, an extraordinary collection and classification of a large amount of fairy tales of the Slavic oral culture. Our analysis focuses on the well-known character Baba Jaga, the ‘wooden leg’ witch, who lives in an izbaand rests on hen’s legs in an enchanted wood. In particular, an attempt is made to conduct a translatological analysis of Afanas’ev’s text, within the framework of textual typology considering the translation macro-strategy, the most significant linguistic factors, as well assome potential translation strategies which help the story to fit in the target language and culture in the best possible way.

scholarly journals English Cultural Expressions Translation: Strategies Used in Rendering Narnia Chronicles into Arabic

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 1015
Author(s):  
Hussein Ali Habtoor ◽  
Abrar Abdullah Al-Qahtani
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
Target Audience ◽  
Ideal Solution ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Cultural Expressions ◽  
The Ideal

This study explores the intercultural transfer that takes place during the process of translating children's literature from English into Arabic. It's main purpose is to investigate how culture-specific items or expressions are dealt with when they are rendered into Arabic and find out the most preferable translation strategies that can be applied in an attempt to make the translated versions acceptable and accessible to the target audience. This study draws its data from three English novels that belong to the famous series of Narnia Chronicles which are translated into Arabic. It also states the effects of following domestication or foreignization translation strategies. It is found that there is no consistency in the used translation strategies despite the fact that the three books are translated by the same translator. The study also shows that a compromise which includes the use of domestication and foreignization translation strategies seems to be the ideal solution.

‘I shouldn’t even be telling you that I shouldn’t be telling you the story’: Pseudonymous Bosch and the postmodern narrator in children’s literature

2021 ◽  
pp. 096394702110097
Author(s):  
Ella Wydrzynska
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Adult Readers ◽  
Academic Background ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Underdeveloped Area ◽  
World Theory ◽  
Child Reader

This article furthers the somewhat underdeveloped area of research regarding the consideration of complex theoretical concepts such as postmodernism and metafiction in relation to children’s literature by concentrating on a stunningly complex—although by no means rare—experimental text aimed at 8–12 year-olds. Using The Secret Series by Pseudonymous Bosch as example, I examine how children’s literature can use such strategies to engage a child-reader and make them a tangible part of the construction of the novel. Drawing on elements of Text World Theory, diegetic narrative levels and the concept of the internal author, this study primarily explores the role of the interactive, visibly inventing, postmodern narrator, and, by extension, the dramatization of the reader as a part of the story. Framed against an academic background in which children’s literature was deemed unworthy of study or outright dismissed, this article illustrates why children’s literature is not only worthy of rigorous academic study in its own right but also that it often readily displays enough literary, linguistic, and narratological complexities to rival even the most sophisticated literature for adult readers.

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