This article addresses ambiguity in translations for children. ‘Ambiguity’, here understood as something that allows for more than one interpretation, is supposed to be critical in translation for children as it clashes with some mediators’ ideas of what children’s literature is or ought to be. Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of “Den standhaftige Tinsoldat” [‘The steadfast tin soldier’] and a sample of twenty-four translations thereof (twelve into Swedish and twelve into Spanish) are used to explore different ways that ambiguity is translated for children. The objective is to determine if and how the tale’s ambiguities are manipulated in the various translations, and thus to initiate a theoretical discussion of ambiguity in translation for children. A difference is established between ‘textually resolvable’ and ‘textually irresolvable’ ambiguities and these two kinds of ambiguity are found to be treated differently in the analyzed sample of translations.
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Hans Christian Andersen’s “Den standhaftige Tinsoldat” by name of translator, editor or publisher
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Kärnan. 1980. Den ståndaktige tennsoldaten, Kärnan. Anonymous translator. Anonymous illustrations. Translation from an English edition named The brave tin soldier.
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Martínez Vega, María VictoriaRaebel, Guillermo. 1999. Los mejores cuentos de Andersen. León: Everest. Translation from a German edition named Die schönsten Märchen von Hans Christian Andersen (by Anica Esterl). Illustrations: Anastassija Archipowa.
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Payarols, Francisco. 1959. Cuentos completos. Barcelona. Illustrations by Vilhelm Pedersen and Lorenz Frölich. (Also available in electronic format at: [URL]. Access date 2005-12-06.)
Stjernquist, Astrid. 1960. H.C. Andersen. De bästa sagorna. Helsingborg: Förlaget Kärnan. Anonymous illustrator.
Todolibro. No year of publication but available in Spanish bookshops2005. Clásicos para contar, anonymous translator. Madrid: Todolibro. Anonymous illustrations.
Welinder, Lars. 2002. Hans Christian Andersen: Älskade sagor. Malmö: Corona förlag. Illustrations: Vilh. Pedersen & Lorenz Frölich.
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Cited by four other publications
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2020. Postanthropocentric Transformations in Children’s Literature: Transcreating Struwwelpeter. In Negotiating Translation and Transcreation of Children's Literature [New Frontiers in Translation Studies, ], ► pp. 39 ff.
Giugliano, Marcello & Elia Hernández Socas
2020. Ambivalence, Gender, and Censorship in two Spanish Translations of Little Women. Meta 64:2 ► pp. 312 ff.
Linder, Daniel
2014. Getting away with murder. Target. International Journal of Translation Studies 26:3 ► pp. 337 ff.
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