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Part of
Humour in Self-Translation
Edited by Margherita Dore
[Topics in Humor Research 11] 2022
► pp. 179–194

Chapter 8
iTranslate or iWrite?

A case study of Yoneyama Hiroko’s picture book self-translation

ORCID logo | Seisen University

This chapter argues that the translation of humour can become a criterion for defining the self-translation of a children’s book. Not all literature written in a foreign language by the same author can be considered translation. In my chapter I propose a verification criterion for the translation of children’s literature by the original author based on the re-creation of humorous effects in translation. Humour in picture books comes in the form of anecdotes and allusions. The successful re-creation of humour preserves the entertainment value of picture books and answers theoretical claims concerning children’s literature translation. The loss of humorous effect results in the prevalence of the pedagogical value over the entertainment value. Such writing could be regarded as a writing that loses the source-text-target-text relationship. My findings are framed in Toury’s terms of acceptability and adequacy.

Keywords: children’s literature translation, picture book translation, humour translation, self-translation
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Translation of humour in picture books
  • 3.Yoneyama Hiroko and the story of A Rabbit Beats the Rock
  • 4.Humour in Ishi wo Tataku Usagi
  • 5.Reader’s interpretation
  • 6.It is not funny anymore
  • 7.Conclusive remarks: iTranslate or iWrite?
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 13 October 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/thr.11.08sas
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