Department of English and American Studies Translation of Children's
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English-language Translation Bc. Johana Kroupová Translation of Children’s Narratives in Fictional Diaries Master’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Ing. Mgr. Jiří Rambousek, Ph.D. 2017 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Author’s signature I would like to express my gratitude to Ing. Mgr. Jiří Rambousek, Ph.D. for his advice, feedback and comments on this thesis. I would also like to thank my husband and family for their support and encouragement. Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 2. Methodology ............................................................................................................. 3 3. Theoretical background and tendencies in translation for children .......................... 4 3.1 History of writing and translating for children .................................................. 4 3.2 The development of Czech children’s literature and its translation ................... 7 3.3 Children’s literature translation awards and organizations ................................ 9 3.4 Translation for children .................................................................................... 10 3.4.1 Cultural context ......................................................................................... 11 3.4.2 Illustrations ............................................................................................... 15 3.4.3 Humor ....................................................................................................... 17 4. Children’s literature in the style of a diary ............................................................. 19 5. Translation issues specific for narratives in diary-books for children .................... 21 5.1 Mind style......................................................................................................... 23 5.2 Cultural context translation .............................................................................. 25 5.3 Idiolect and dialect ........................................................................................... 25 5.4 Names and nicknames ...................................................................................... 27 5.5 Illustrations and their influence on the translation process .............................. 28 5.6 Translating humor ............................................................................................ 29 6. Big Nate: In a Class by Himself by Lincoln Peirce ................................................ 30 6.1 Nate’s mind style .............................................................................................. 31 6.2 Cultural context ................................................................................................ 35 6.2.1 Culture-specific phenomena, school-related ............................................. 37 6.3 Idiolect and dialect ........................................................................................... 39 6.4 Names in Big Nate ........................................................................................... 41 6.5 Nicknames devised by the narrator .................................................................. 42 6.6 Illustrations in Big Nate ................................................................................... 44 6.7 Humor in Big Nate ........................................................................................... 46 6.8 Evaluation of the translation strategy ............................................................... 47 7. I am (Not) a Loser by Jim Smith ............................................................................ 47 7.1 Barry’s mindstyle ............................................................................................. 48 7.2 Cultural context ................................................................................................ 51 7.3 Idiolect .............................................................................................................. 52 7.4 Names in Barry Loser ...................................................................................... 53 7.5 Nicknames ........................................................................................................ 55 7.6 Illustrations in Barry Loser .............................................................................. 56 7.7 Evaluation of the translation strategies ............................................................ 58 8. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney .................................................................... 59 8.1 Greg’s mind style ............................................................................................. 60 8.2 Cultural context ................................................................................................ 63 8.3 Names and nicknames in Wimpy Kid ............................................................... 64 8.4 Humor (jokes and wordplays) .......................................................................... 65 8.5 Illustrations in Wimpy Kid ................................................................................ 67 8.6 Comics included in a diary-book ..................................................................... 68 8.7 Evaluation of translation strategies in the translation of Wimpy Kid ............... 69 9. Evaluation of translation strategies ......................................................................... 69 9.1 Mind style and register of the narrator ............................................................. 70 9.2 Cultural context translation .............................................................................. 71 9.3 Idiolect and dialect ........................................................................................... 73 9.4 Names of characters ......................................................................................... 73 9.5 Nicknames and expressions devised by the narrator ........................................ 74 9.6 Illustrations and their influence ........................................................................ 76 9.7 Humor .............................................................................................................. 76 9.8 Overall evaluation ............................................................................................ 77 9.9 Evaluation of the translators ............................................................................. 77 10. Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 78 10. REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 81 11. RESUMÉ ............................................................................................................. 85 1. Introduction Literature for children as a genre is significant because it cultivates young readers and their literacy, it raises a new adult readership. It contains many specifics, the most evident one being the inequality of the author and the reader. Authors of literature for children are adults who write for a child audience and base their writing on what they perceive children need to learn, what is the limit of their capacity to understand foreign or complex phenomena or expressions, and they also decide what is suitable for them (Lathey 2006: 5). The frequent presence of illustrations is a feature that differentiates the literature for children as well, illustrations are present especially in works for the youngest readers. The specifics of literature for children influence the translation process as well. The translator of children’s literature is also an adult who decides, according to his perception of the target text readers, what will children in the target culture understand, what culture-specific items demand adaptation, what is unsuitable for them to read and what will be the connection of illustrations and text in target language. The specifics of translation for children are the topic of this diploma thesis, which concentrates on a diary-books, a genre of literature for children that has gained a great popularity in the past ten years. Diary-books for children are nowadays among the most purchased and borrowed books in libraries and bookstores. Their pseudo-authentic narrators are peers of the readers, they speak their language, live in a similar environment and share their experiences, they also bring a unique perspective of the source text culture, which makes the books relatable and entertaining for children. 1 For analysis three diary-books have been chosen. First of them is the Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, a bestseller, its success has inspired various authors to write similar novels for children. One of the inspired authors is Lincoln Peirce, who has converted his comic strip Big Nate that he has been creating since 1991 into his first book, Big Nate: In a Class by Himself, which is the second book chosen for analysis. The authorship of both the illustrations and the text is common for authors of diary- books for children. The last chosen book, I am not a Loser by Jim Smith, is not an exception. All three books are targeted at children aged 8-13 years. Their narrators are boys