Cover not available
Article published In:
Translation and Interpreting Studies
Vol. 15:2 (2020) ► pp.242–260

When the audience changes

Translating adult fiction for young readers

| University of Ljubljana
| University of Ljubljana

Much is expected to change when a work of fiction is translated from one language and culture to another, but the intended reader is not. This paper deals with the issue of the change of the intended reader from adult to child/adolescent in translations of fiction from English into Slovene. The intended reader is most likely to change in translations of comics/cartoons, fantasy, and realistic fiction with child or animal protagonists. The reasons for the change can be both textual and extra-textual: on the one hand, books are categorized as children’s books by libraries, award boards and marketers, as well as by the publisher’s choice of translator, while, on the other hand, individual translation decisions on the microlevel can help move a book from one category to another.

Keywords: literary translation, comics and fantasy translation, target reader, translation for children, translation into a peripheral language
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Literature for adults, literature for children
  • Translating children’s literature
  • How does the audience change?
    • The awards and honors system in Slovenia
    • When does the audience change?
    • Adaptations of classics
    • Translations of comics
    • Translations of fantasy
    • Translations of books with child narrators
  • When the style changes the audience: A case study
    • Stylistic changes
    • Semantic changes
    • Cultural changes
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 8 April 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tis.20015.zla
References
Alvstad, Cecilia
2003 “Publishing strategies of translated children’s literature in Argentina: A combined approach.” Meta 48 (1–2): 266–275. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baer, Brian James
2014 “Translated literature and the role of the reader.” In Companion to Translation Studies, First Edition, ed. by Sandra Bermann and Catherine Porter, 333–345. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Berginc, Amadea
2015 Prevajanje medmetov v stripih iz angleščine v slovenščino. [Translating interjections in comics from English into Slovene]. Unpublished BA thesis. Ljubljana: Filozofska fakulteta.Google Scholar
Cerar, Vasja
(ed.) 1997a Prevajanje otroške in mladinske književnosti. [Translation of literature for children and young people]. Ljubljana: Društvo slovenskih književnih prevajalcev.Google Scholar
1997b “Kako otročje je prevajati za otroke?” [How easy is it to translate for children?]. In Prevajanje otroške in mladinske književnosti, ed. by Vasja Cerar, 5–9. Ljubljana: Društvo slovenskih književnih prevajalcev.Google Scholar
Chan, Leo Tak-hung
2015 “Reader response and reception theory.” Researching Translation and Interpreting, ed. by Claudia V. Angelelli and Brian James Baer, 164–172. Routledge.Google Scholar
Ewers, Heinz-Heinz
2011 “Von der Zielgruppen. Zur All-Age-Literatur. Kinder- und Jugendliteratur im Sog der Crossover-Vermarktung.” [On target groups. On all-age literature. Children’s and adolescent literature in light of crossover marketing]. In Quo vadis Kinderbuch? Gegenwart und Zukunft der Literatur für junge Leser, ed. by Christine Haug and Anke Vogel, 13–22. Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz Verlag.Google Scholar
Gradišnik, Janez
1997 “Nekaj prevajalskih izkušenj in spoznanj.” [A few experiences and discoveries of a translator]. In Prevajanje otroške in mladinske književnosti, ed. by Vasja Cerar, 10–13. Ljubljana: Društvo slovenskih književnih prevajalcev.Google Scholar
Haug, Christine and Anke Vogel
(eds.) 2011 Quo vadis Kinderbuch? Gegenwart und Zukunft der Literatur für junge Leser. [Quo vadis books for children? The present and future of literature for young readers]. Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz Verlag.Google Scholar
Heilbron, Johan
1999 “Towards a sociology of translation. Book translations as a cultural world-system.” European Journal of Social Theory 2 (4): 429–444. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
IBBY
n.d. “IBBY Honour List.” [URL]. Last accessed May 2019.
n.d. “What is IBBY?” [URL] Last accessed 11 March 2020.
Haddon, Mark
2004 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. London: Red Fox Definitions.Google Scholar
2009 Skrivnostni primer ali kdo je umoril psa. Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga.Google Scholar
Jankovič, Jaroslav
2002 “Troji prstani za vilinske kralje in pravica do zmotljivosti.” [Three rings for the elven kings and the right to be wrong]. Delo: Sobotna priloga 26 January, 20–22.Google Scholar
Knowles, Murray and Kirsten Malmkjær
1996 Language and Control in Children’s Literature. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kruger, Haidee
2014 “Preliminary norms in selection of children’s books for translation in South Africa.” Southern African Linguistics and Applied Linguistics Studies 29(3): 293–311. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lathey, Gillian
(ed.) 2006 The Translation of Children’s Literature: A Reader. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Lavrenčič Vrabec, Darja and Ida Mlakar Črnič
(eds.) 2016 Od gnezd do zvezd. Priročnik za branje kakovostnih mladinskih knjig 2016. Pregled knjižne produkcije iz leta 2015 [From nests to stars. A guide to quality books for children 2015. An overview of book production in 2016]. Ljubljana: Mestna knjižnica.Google Scholar
López, Marisa Fernàndez
2006 “Translation studies in contemporary children’s literature: A Comparison of Intercultural Ideological Factors.” In The Translation of Children’s Literature: A Reader, ed. by Gillian Lathey, 41–53. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Noč, Karin
2007  Prevodni premiki in njihov vpliv na bralčeve predstave o Haddonovem romanu Skrivnostni primer ali kdo je umoril psa (v angl. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time). [Translation shifts and their influence on the reader’s perception of Haddon’s novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time ]. Unpublished BA Thesis. Ljubljana: Filozofska fakulteta.Google Scholar
Nodelman, Perry
2008 The Hidden Adult: Defining children’s literature. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Oittinen, Riitta
2000 Translating for Children. London: Garland Publishing.Google Scholar
Oittinen, Riitta, Anne Ketola, and Melissa Garavini
(eds) 2017 Translating Picturebooks: Revoicing the Verbal, the Visual and the Aural for a Child Audience. New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Olsson, Lotta
2014 “ ‘Negerkung’ tas bort i nya Pippi [‘King of the Negroes’ dropped from the new Pippi].” Dagens Nyheter, online edition, February 14. [URL]. Last accessed 11 March 2020.
Shavit, Zohar
1981 “Translation of children’s literature as a function of its position in the literary polysystem.” Poetics Today 2 (4): 171–179. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1986 Poetics of Children’s Literature. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.Google Scholar
2006 “Translation of Children’s Literature.” In The Translation of Children’s Literature: A Reader, ed. by Gillian Lathey, 25–40. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Vogel, Anke
2011 “Crossreading – publikumszentrierte Ansätze zur Erklärung des All-Age-Booms im Buchmarkt [Crossreading – public centered approaches to clarify the all-age boom on the book market].” In Quo vadis Kinderbuch? Gegenwart und Zukunft der Literatur für junge Leser, ed. by Christine Haug and Anke Vogel, 22–36. Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz Verlag.Google Scholar
Weinkauff, Gina and Gabriele V. Glasenapp
2014 Kinder- und Jugendliteratur [Children’s and adolescent literature]. Paderborn: Schöning.Google Scholar
Wilder, Charly
2013 “Redacting racism: Edit of classic children’s book hexes publisher.” Spiegel Online International, January 16. [URL]. Last accessed 12 December 2018.
Zabukovec, Dušanka
1997 “Poslušajte, otroci”. [Children, listen]. In Prevajanje otroške in mladinske književnosti, ed. by Vasja Cerar, 33–37. Ljubljana: Društvo slovenskih književnih prevajalcev.Google Scholar
Zlatnar Moe, Marija
2010 “Register shifts in translations of popular fiction from English into Slovene.” In Why Translation Studies Matters, ed. by Daniel Gile, Gyde Hansen and Nike K. Pokorn, 125–136. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2015 “Stylistic shifts in the translation of fiction into Slovene: Is literary fiction translated differently from popular fiction?” In Contrastive Analysis in Discourse Studies and Translation/Analyse contrastive de discours et traduction, ed. by Mojca Schlamberger Brezar, David Limon and Ada Gruntar Jermol, 338–359. Ljubljana: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete.Google Scholar
Zlatnar Moe, Marija and Tanja Žigon
2020 “Said, Spoke, Spluttered, Spouted: The Role of Copy Editors in Stylistic Neutralization of Translated Children’s Literature.” In Children’s Literature in Translation: Texts and Contexts, ed. by Jan Van Coillie and Jack McMartin. Leuven: Leuven University Press.Google Scholar
Zlatnar Moe, Marija, Tanja Žigon and Tamara Mikolič Južnič
2019 Centre and Periphery: Power Relations in the World of Translation. Ljubljana: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete.Google Scholar