A Study of Translators’ Approach in Dealing with Culture-specific Items in Translation of Children’s Fantasy Fiction

Subject Areas : All areas of language and translation

Asma Sabermahani ¹ , Azita Ghazizade ²

1 - Department of foreign languages, Faculty of literature and humanities, Shahid Bahonar University, Kerman, Iran
2 - Department of foreign languages, Faculty of literature and humanities, Shahid Bahonar University, Kerman, Iran

Received: 2017-05-07 Accepted : 2017-07-17 Published : 2017-08-01

Keywords: Literary Translation, Culture-specific items, Fantasy fiction, Children's literature,

Abstract :

This study aimed to investigate translators‟ approach in dealing with culture-specific items (CSI) in translation of fantasy fiction for children. For this purpose, the culture-specific items in Persian translations of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien‟s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit as well as Lewis‟s The Chronicles of Narnia were taken into consideration. Since children have limited amount of knowledge and language ability, translators of children‟s novels may encounter difficulties while dealing with culture-specific items. They cannot easily decide whether to domesticate or foreignize such items. The reason to select these novels was that these are highly fantasy, localized novels, and are expressive of the country where they were developed. They are also very popular novels and strongly related to fairy tales, myths, and legends. They demonstrate obvious deviation from reality and abound in culture-specific items. This descriptive research employed a parallel corpus study and a consolidation of translation procedures introduced by four theorists, i.e. Aixelá , Davies, Fernandes, and Klingberg as the theoretical framework. The results of the study were indicative of the translators‟ source-oriented tendency and the most frequently applied strategy was transliteration.

References:

Aixelá, J. F. (1996). Culture-specific items in translation. Translation, Power, Subversion, 8, 52-78.

Davies, E. E. (2003). A goblin or a dirty nose? The treatment of culture-specific references in translations of the Harry Potter books. The Translator, 9(1), 65-100.

Fernandes, L. (2006). Translation of names in children’s fantasy literature: Bringing the young reader into play. New Voices in Translation Studies, 2(2), 44-57.

Hermans, T. (1988). On translating proper names, with reference to De Witte and Max Havelaar: Athlone Press.

Hervey, S., & Higgins, I. (1992). Thinking translation. London & New York: Routledge.

Hume, K. (1984). Fantasy and mimesis: response to reality in western literature. London: Methuen.

Katan, D. (1999). Translating cultures: An introduction for translators, interpreters and mediators. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing.

Klingberg, G. (1986). Children's Fiction in the Hands of the Translators. Sweden: Bloms Boktryckeri AB.

Lewis, C. S. (1956). The chronicles of Narnia. United Kingdom: Geoffrey Bles.

Lewis, C. S. (2007). The chronicles of Narnia: the magician’s nephew (O. Eghtedari & M. Karimzade, Trans.). Tehran: Hermes Publishers.

Manlove, C. (1975). Modern fantasy: five studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Mathews, R. (2002). Fantasy: The liberation of imagination. London: Routledge.

Newmark, P. (1988). A textbook of translation. Hertfordshire: Prentice Hall International Ltd.

Nida, E., & Taber, C. (1982). The theory and practice of translation. Leiden: E. J. Brill.

Rudvin, M. (1994). Translation and ‘myth’: Norwegian children's literature in English. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 2(2), 199-211.

Shavit, Z. (1986). Poetics of children’s literature. London: The University of Georgia Press.

Tolkien, J. R. R. (1937). The hobbit, or there and back again. United Kingdom: George Allen & Unwin.

Tolkien, J. R. R. (1955). The lord of the rings. United Kingdom: George Allen & Unwin.

Tolkien, J. R. R. (2002). The lord of the rings (R. Alizade, Trans.). Tehran: Rowzaneh Nashr.

Tolkien, J. R. R. (2014). The hobbit, or there and back again (R. Alizade, Trans.). Tehran: Rowzaneh Nashr.

Zhang, S. (1993). Review on the emergence of Chinese poems in English version. Foreign Language, 3.