Table Of ContentTranslating Children’s Literature
Translating Children’s Literature is an exploration of the many developmental
and linguistic issues related to writing and translating for children, an audience
that spans a period of enormous intellectual progress and affective change from
birth to adolescence. In this book, Lathey looks at a broad range of children’s
literature, from prose fiction to poetry and picture books. Each of the seven
chapters addresses a different aspect of translation for children, covering:
(cid:129) narrative style and the challenges of translating the child’s voice;
(cid:129) the translation of cultural markers for young readers;
(cid:129) translation of the modern picture book;
(cid:129) dialogue, dialect and street language in modern children’s literature;
(cid:129) read-aloud qualities, wordplay, onomatopoeia and the translation of
children’s poetry;
(cid:129) retranslation, retelling and reworking;
(cid:129) the role of translation for children within the global publishing and
translation industries.
This is the first practical guide to address all aspects of translating children’s
literature, featuring extracts from commentaries and interviews with published
translators of children’s literature, as well as examples and case studies across
a range of languages and texts. Each chapter includes a set of questions and
exercises for students.
Translating Children’s Literature is essential reading for professional
translators, researchers and students on courses in translation studies or
children’s literature.
Gillian Lathey is Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of
Roehampton, UK, and is a co-founder and judge of the Marsh Award for
Children’s Literature in Translation. Publications include The Translation
of Children’s Literature: A Reader (2006) and The Role of Translators in
Children’s Literature: Invisible Storytellers (Routledge, 2010).
Translation Practices Explained
Series Editor: Kelly Washbourne
Translation Practices Explained is a series of coursebooks designed to help
self-learners and students on translation and interpreting courses. Each volume
focuses on a specific aspect of professional translation practice, in many cases
corresponding to courses available in translator-training institutions. Special
volumes are devoted to well-consolidated professional areas, to areas
where labour-market demands are currently undergoing considerable growth,
and to specific aspects of professional practices on which little teaching and
learning material is available. The authors are practicing translators or
translator-trainers in the fields concerned. Although specialists, they explain
their professional insights in a manner accessible to the wider learning public.
These books start from the recognition that professional translation practices
require something more than elaborate abstraction or fixed methodologies. They
are located close to work on authentic texts, and encourage learners to proceed
inductively, solving problems as they arise from examples and case studies.
Each volume includes activities and exercises designed to help learners
consolidate their knowledge (teachers may also find these useful for direct
application in class, or alternatively as the basis for the design and preparation
of their own material). Updated reading lists and website addresses will also
help individual learners gain further insight into the realities of professional
practice.
Titles in the Series:
Localizing Apps Revising and Editing for
Johann Roturier Translators 3e
Brian Mossop
User-Centered Translation
Tytti Suojanen, Kaisa Koskinen,
Audiovisual Translation
Tiina Tuominen
Frederic Chaume
Translating for the European Union
Institutions 2e Scientific and Technical Translation
Emma Wagner, Svend Bech, Explained
Jesús M. Martínez Jody Byrne
Translation-Driven Corpora Notetaking for Consecutive
Federico Zanettin Interpreting
Andrew Gillies
Subtitling Through Speech
Recognition Translating Official Documents
Pablo Romero-Fresco Roberto Mayoral Asensio
Conference Interpreting Explained
Translating Promotional and
Roderick Jones
Advertising Texts
Ira Torresi
Legal Translation Explained
Enrique Alcaraz, Brian Hughes
Audiovisual Translation,
Subtitling
Electronic Tools for Translators
Jorge Diaz-Cintas, Aline Remael Frank Austermuhl
Medical Translation Step by Step Introduction to Court Interpreting
Vicent Montalt, Maria González-Davies Holly Mikkelson
For more information on any of these titles, or to order, please go to www.
routledge.com/linguistics
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Translating Children’s
Literature
Gillian Lathey
First published 2016
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2016 Gillian Lathey
The right of Gillian Lathey to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification
and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lathey, Gillian, 1949-
Translating children's literature / By Gillian Lathey.
pages cm – (Translation Practices Explained.)
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Children's literature – Translating. 2. Translating and interpreting –
Study and teaching. I. Title.
PN1009.5.T75L38 2015
418′.04 – dc23
2015005141
ISBN: 978-1-138-80374-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-80376-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-75351-5 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon, UK
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
1 Narrative communication with the child reader 15
2 Meeting the unknown: translating names, cultural
markers and intertextual references 37
3 Translating the visual 55
4 Translating dialogue and dialect 71
5 Translating sound: reading aloud, poetry, wordplay
and onomatopoeia 93
6 Retellings, retranslation and relay translation 113
7 Children’s publishing, globalization and the child reader 127
Bibliography 145
Index 157
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Acknowledgements
My interest in this book arises from a passion for children’s literature in my
early career as a teacher of young children and as an academic, as well as a
deep and lifelong interest in the art of translation. I am not a professional
translator, nor could I possibly cover the range of languages addressed in these
pages. I therefore owe a debt of gratitude to all the translators, friends and
colleagues whose help I have called upon, or whose work I have cited during
the writing of this book. Particular thanks are due to: Sarah Ardizzone, Mona
Baker, Anthea Bell, Nancy and Aidan Chambers, Estelle Chan, Patricia
Crampton, Mieke Desmet, Gunnar Florin, Janet Garton, Jane Grayson, Daniel
Hahn, Cathy Hirano, Nadja Korthals, Tomoko Masaki, Aoi Matsushima,
Noriko Shimoda Netley, Riitta Oittinen, Emer O’Sullivan and Jehan Zitawi.
Every effort has been made to contact copyright-holders. Please advise the
publisher of any errors or omissions, and these will be corrected in subsequent
editions.
