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Journal of

Language and Translation


Volume 7, Number 2, Summer 2017, (pp.35-42)

A Study of Translators’ Approach in Dealing with Culture-specific Items in


Translation of Children’s Fantasy Fiction

Asma Sabermahani1 , Azita Ghazizade 2*


1
Department of foreign languages, Faculty of literature and humanities, Shahid Bahonar University,
Kerman, Iran
2
Department of foreign languages, Faculty of literature and humanities, Shahid Bahonar University,
Kerman, Iran
Received: 07 May, 2017 Accepted: 17 July, 2017

Abstract
This study aimed to investigate translators‟ approach in dealing with culture -specific items (CSI) in
translation of fantasy fiction for children. For this purpose, the culture-specific items in Persian
translations of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien‟s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit as well as Lew-
is‟s The Chronicles of Narnia were taken into consideration. Since children have limited amount of
knowledge and language ability, translators of children‟s novels may encounter difficulties while
dealing with culture-specific items. They cannot easily decide whether to domesticate or foreignize
such items. The reason to select these novels was that these are highly fantasy, localized novels, and
are expressive of the country where they were developed. They are also very popular novels and
strongly related to fairy tales, myths, and legends. They demonstrate obvious deviation from reality
and abound in culture-specific items. This descriptive research employed a parallel corpus study and
a consolidation of translation procedures introduced by four theorists, i.e. Aixelá , Davies, Fernandes,
and Klingberg as the theoretical framework. The results of the study were indicative of the transl a-
tors‟ source-oriented tendency and the most frequently applied strategy was transliteration.

Keywords: Children‟s literature, Culture-specific items, Fantasy fiction, Literary translation

INTRODUCTION becomes more evident in translation because they


Children‟s literature is a term used to refer to fic- may not have direct equivalent in the target lan-
tional texts written for children. This kind of lit- guage. Translators cannot easily decide whether
erature, therefore, address children who have a to domesticate or foreignize such words. Culture-
limited amount of knowledge. Fantasy fiction specific items include meals and food items,
abounds in Culture-Specific Items (CSI) and this proper names, names of plant and animal species,
might be difficult for a child to understand. The historical references, games, customs and meas-
problem of understanding such items and words urements.
*Corresponding Author‟s Email: The problem of translating culture-bound
Azita.Ghazizade@yahoo.com terms can be investigated from various aspects.
36 A Study of Translators’ Approach in Dealing with Culture-specific …
Some of them such as genre-specific norms and Aixelá (1996) asserted that:
discourse structure belong to text level. Others, “In translation a Culture-Specific Item
which refer to culture-specific entities such as (CSI) does not exist [of] itself, but as the
clothes, food, games, and so on, are problems result of a conflict arising from any linguis-
tically represented reference in a source
at the lexical or semantic level. The present
text [which], when transferred to a target
study aimed to investigate the second type, language, poses a translation problem due to
which involves conveying the meaning of par- the nonexistence or to the different value
ticular culture-specific items in the target lan- (whether deter- mined by ideology, usage,
guage. frequency, etc.) of the given item in the target
Many scholars dealt with the problem of language culture (p. 57)”.
translating culture-specific items so far. For in-
In addition to Aixelá (1996) , Davies (2003)
stance, Klingberg (1986) proposed nine proce-
suggested some procedures to deal with culture-
dures for translating culture-specific items, i.e.
specific items. He used these procedures in trans-
added explanation, rewording, explanatory
lating of such items in the Harry Potter books. He
translation, explanation outside the text, substi-
introduced two dimensions, i.e. the micro-level
tution of an equivalent in the culture of the tar-
and the macro-level. Concerning micro-level di-
get language, substitution of a rough equivalent
mension, he suggested some procedures includ-
in the culture of the target language, localiza-
ing preservation, addition, omission, globaliza-
tion, deletion, and simplification. Newmark
tion, localization, transformations, and creation.
(1988) also introduced some procedures includ-
These are related to the level investigated in the
ing transference, cultural equivalent, neutraliza-
present study. Katan (1999) suggested a different
tion, naturalization, componential analysis,
approach, which involves the concept of chunk-
gloss, notes, using classifiers, couplet, para-
ing. It refers to moving between different cultural
phrase and zero translation. Hervey and Higgins
frames, either to a more specific one (chunking
(1992) proposed five procedures for dealing
down), to a more general level (chunking up), or
with cultural transposition. They range their
to an equivalent frame at a similar level (chunk-
procedures along a scale between the extremes
ing sideways).
of exoticism and cultural transplantation. Aixelá
Fernandes (2006) investigated the translation
(1996) considered eleven procedures for trans-
of names in children‟s fantasy literature and fo-
lating culture-specific items. His procedures
cused on the most important types of „meanings‟
could be divided into two categories: conserva-
conveyed by such names. He used Hermans‟s
tion and substitution. The former refers to those
(1988) ways of translating names from the source
procedures applied by the translator to preserve
language into the target language and offered a
the foreign flavor of the Culture-Specific Items
categorization of ten procedures that were identi-
(CSI). In other words, the CSI in the source text
fied in the Portuguese-English Parallel Corpus of
is retained in translation. The latter refers to
Children‟s Fantasy Literature (PEPCOCFL).
those procedures applied by a translator to sub-
Translation of children‟s literature can be dif-
stitute a CSI with another one in the target lan-
ferent from translation for an adult audience.
guage. Therefore, the foreign flavor is neutral-
Translation for children can be considered less
ized or lost. The strategies, which belong to the
constrained. Shavit (1986) pointed out that “un-
first category, are repetition, orthographic adap-
like contemporary translators of adult books, the
tation, linguistic (non-cultural) translation, ex-
translator of children‟s literature can permit him-
tratextual gloss, and intratextual gloss. Substitu-
self great liberties regarding the text” (p.112). On
tion category also includes synonymy, limited
the other hand, Rudvin (1994) explained about
universalisation, absolute universalisation, natu-
the relative status of the source and target cul-
ralisation, deletion, and autonomous creation.
tures and was of the opinion that usually in the
Journal of language and translation, Vol. 7 , No.2, 2017 37
process of translating from a minor to a dominant the most frequently applied strategies?
culture a translator feels that he/she can exercise
more freedom. Therefore, the source text is ma- METHODS
nipulated based on the target culture‟s conven- This descriptive qualitative study investigated the
tions to make translations more comprehensible procedures that the translators use, to translate
for children. culture-specific items in literary works of fantasy
The term fantasy refers to something, which is fiction for children. The corpus of this study was
imaginative or fanciful. With regard to fantasy comprised of three novels including The Hobbit
fiction, it is difficult to give an exact definition of (one book) and The Lord of the Rings (three
the term because all scholars including Manlove books) by J.R.R. Tolkien as well as The Chroni-
(1975) , Hume (1984) , and Mathews (2002) do cles of Narnia by Lewis. The two works of Tol-
not agree on a particular definition for this liter- kien were translated by Reza Alizade and the
ary genre. However, they all agree that the most work by Lewis was translated by Omid Eghtedari
outstanding characteristic of this genre is devia- and Manouchehr Karimzade. The parallel corpus
tion from reality. Moreover, what is expected in (English novels and their Persian translations)
fantasy fiction is magical content. In fact, fantasy was scrutinized and CSIs including names of
fiction abounds in cultural elements because it is characters, geographical names, supernatural el-
something inseparable from mythological and ements, festivals, domestic life and activities,
legendary elements of the local culture of that measurements, etc. were detected. Thereafter, the
particular country. The aim of the present study procedure(s) applied to translate each of these items
was to investigate cultural elements found in were identified. The procedures were eclectically
some popular novels written for children. For this selected from four models introduced by Aixelá
purpose, three popular novels, i.e. The Lord of (1996) , Davies (2003) , Fernandes (2006), and
the Rings and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien as Klingberg (1986) to form the theoretical framework
well as The Chronicles of Narnia by Lewis were of this study. These procedures included translitera-
selected and a consolidation of the translation tion, rendition, convention, substitution, intratextual
procedures suggested by the four aforementioned addition, extratextual addition, naturalization, omis-
scholars, i.e. Aixelá (1996), Davies (2003), Fer- sion and cultural dilution.
nandes (2006) and Klingberg (1986) were ap- Transliteration: A translation procedure in
plied. The aim of this research study was to an- which a CSI is translated by its closest corre-
swer the following two questions: sponding sound in the target language. It also
1. How did the translators deal with cul- referred to as phonetic translation. The procedure
ture-specific items in translating the super- has been the most frequently used in the transla-
natural novels for children? tion of personal names, geographical places and
2. Concerning the procedures suggested by the proper names (Zhang, 1993). This procedure re-
four aforementioned scholars, what are fers to what Aixelá (1996) named as orthographic
adaptation.

Table 1
Examples of Transliteration
Novels Source text (ST) Target text (TT)
The Lord of the Rings Bilbo Baggins ‫بیل بُ بگیىش‬
The Hobbit Arnor ‫آروُر‬
The Chronicles of Narnia Cair Paravel ‫کایز پاراَل‬

Rendition: It is applied when the item is word order of the source text is not necessarily
translated by its meaning. In this case, the actual the same in the target text. In other words, rendi-
38 A Study of Translators’ Approach in Dealing with Culture-specific …
tion is a procedure by which the sense of the CSI is rendered in the target language.

Table 2
Examples of Rendition
Novels ST TT
The Lord of the Rings Lonely Mountain ‫تىٍا کُي‬
The Hobbit Old Noakes of Bywater ‫بابا وُکض اٌل بای َاتز‬
The Chronicles of Narnia Nymphs ‫پزیٍا‬

Convention: It refers to a procedure in which (1996), Davies's (2003) and Klingberg‟s (1986)
an item is translated in a conventionally accepted categorizations. Fernandes (2006) suggested this
way. It is usually used in translating literary or procedure to deal with translation of historical or
historical characters as well as geographical literary figures and geographical locations.
names. However, this procedure is not in Aixelá's

Table 3
Examples of Convention
Novels ST TT
The Lord of the Rings April ‫آَریل‬
The Hobbit September ‫طپتامبز‬
The Chronicles of Narnia London ‫لىدن‬

Substitution: It is often applied when translat- that a formally and/or semantically unrelated
ing names of characters or geographical names. name is substituted in the target text for any name
According to Hermans (1988), it means in the source.

Table 4
Examples of Substitution
Novels ST TT
The Lord of the Rings Penny ً‫طک‬
The Hobbit Sky-high ‫آطمان ٌفتم‬
The Chronicles of Narnia Mile ‫کیلُمتز‬

Intratextual addition: In is applied to provide strategy functions to make explicit something


additional information when translators think that that is only partly revealed in the source text.
an item is not ideologically appropriate or com- Therefore, it might be also used to clarify ambi-
prehensible. According to Aixelá (1996), the guities as well.

Table 5
Examples of Intratextual Addition
Novels ST TT
The Lord of the Rings Fireworks ‫مزاطم آتش باسی‬
The Chronicles of Narnia Dryads ‫پزیٍای جىگلی‬

Extratextual addition: It is similar to the previ- information is provided through apreface, com-
ous procedure described above (i.e. Intratextual mentary, glossary, footnote, endnote, etc.
addition). The only difference is that additional In the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, the
Journal of language and translation, Vol. 7 , No.2, 2017 39
translator provides detailed information (e.g. more transparent and fluent for the TL readers. In
about the characters) in preface. About Narnia, this case, the translator reproduces a cultural ref-
we see the use of footnote: erence with its closest natural equivalent in the
Bacchus: target language (Aixelá, 1996; Davies, 2003;
‫باکُص (اس اطاطیز یُواوی اطت کً طبیعت را ٌمزاي‬ Klingberg, 1986; Nida & Taber, 1982). It, there-
‫ اَ شیفتًی‬.‫آییهٌای مذٌبی َ احظاص بزاوگیشی بارَر میکىد‬ fore, refers to the substitution of a source culture
).‫شعز َمُطیقی اطت‬ reference with a target one.
Naturalization: It is used to make translation

Table 6
Examples of Naturalization
Novels ST TT
The Lord of the Rings Penny ً‫طک‬
The Chronicles of Narnia mile ‫کیلُمتز‬

Omission: This procedure is similar to dele- RESULTS


tion in Aixelá‟s (1996) and Fernandes‟ (2006) The present study investigated the procedures
categorization and omission in Davies‟s (2003) adopted by translators to translate culture-specific
categorization. Klingberg (1986) ignores it in his items in fantasy fiction for children. For this pur-
classification. It is used when a ST cultural refer- pose, three popular works of this genre, namely
ence is deleted during the process of translation The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and The
because it is either ideologically or stylistically Chronicles of Narnia, were scrutinized for appli-
inappropriate for the TT reader. cation of nine procedures including translitera-
Cultural dilution: It aims to produce a more tion, rendition, convention, substitution, intratex-
general or neutral rendition; therefore, target tual addition, extratextual addition, naturaliza-
readers can more easily understand the cultural tion, omission and cultural dilution. The results
backgrounds of the source text. Davies (2003) of applying these procedures are provided for
calls this procedure “globalization”, Klingberg each book to clarify translators‟ behavior in deal-
(1986) calls it simplification and Aixelá (1996) ing with CSIs (Table 7 below).
calls it limited universalisation and absolute uni-
versalisation.

Table 7
The Frequency of Procedures Applied in Translating CSIs
Procedures The Lord of the Rings The Hobbit The Chronicles of Narnia
Transliteration 61% 60% 51%
Rendition 12% 5% 20%
Convention 2% 5% 13%
Substitution 5% 2% 6%
Intratextual addition 2% 0% 2%
Extratextual addition 15% 28% 4%
Naturalization 3% 0% 4%
Omission 0% 0% 0%
Cultural dilution 0% 0% 0%

Concerning the first research question on generally two approaches. One is foreignization
translator‟s tendency to deal with CSIs, there are and the other is domestication with the former
40 A Study of Translators’ Approach in Dealing with Culture-specific …
being a more source-oriented approach to reflect Regarding the second research question on
and retain the culture of the original in translated the most frequently adopted procedures, the re-
texts and the latter tending to be more target- sults of investigating all three works were more
oriented. The procedures of naturalization, con- or less similar. The most frequently applied pro-
vention and substitution are the clearest and the cedure in all the three works was transliteration.
most typical examples of domestication since Thereafter, in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, trans-
these aimed to make the text closely conform to lated by the same translator, the second most fre-
the culture and expectations of target text audi- quently applied procedure was extratextual addi-
ence. Transliteration, on the other hand, is inevi- tion while in Lewis‟s work rendition was the se-
tably representative of foreignness in target text cond most commonly adopted procedure. The
with transferring the source item into the target translator of The Chronicles of Narnia made little
language with least changes possible. According- use of extratextual addition as compared with that
ly, the translators of the three works investigated of Tolkien‟s works. Finally, cultural dilution and
in the present study were more inclined to for- omission were not detected in any of the transla-
eignization of CSIs as it is evident in Table 7 tions, hence, considered as the least frequent pro-
above. Although the translators made use of do- cedures applied while encountering CSIs in fan-
mestication procedures in certain cases, the high tasy fiction for children. Figure 1 below com-
frequency of transliteration (more than 50 percent pares the use of procedures in the three works
in all works) well demonstrated their preference under the investigation of this study through vis-
in taking foreignization approach to clearly mir- ual aids.
ror the culture of the original.
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

The Lord of the Rings The Hobbit The Chronicles of Narnia

Figure 1. Frequency of Procedures Applied in Translating CSIs

DISCUSSIONS toward foreignizing culture-specific elements.


This study investigated and compared the appli- The other reason for high frequency of translit-
cation of various procedures in dealing with CSIs eration is that most CSIs detected in these works
in fantasy fiction for children. As demonstrated were names of characters for which translitera-
in the result section, the most frequent procedure tion is a simply commonplace method. Although
adopted by both translators in three works was most of these proper nouns were selected pur-
transliteration. This strategy that was the most posefully by the original author to convey a par-
commonly used with a significant departure from ticular semantic load relevant to the role of the
others, suggests the inclination of translators character, the translators only transliterated these
Journal of language and translation, Vol. 7 , No.2, 2017 41
nouns and sought to consistency to render all and procedures.
names with the same method. The name Chubb,
for example, in The Lord of the Rings, has to do CONCLUSION
with the adjective “chubby” in English referring This study was set out to investigate the behavior
to the fat and round character, which was simply of translators in encountering culture-specific
transliterated irrespective of its semantic burden. items in fantasy fiction of children literature. To
Sackville and Baggins were also indirectly relat- this end, a consolidation of procedures proposed
ed to words “bag” and “sac”, an intentionally by Aixelá (1996), Davies (2003), Fernandes
used play of words by the author, but again lost (2006), and Klingberg (1986) were taken into
partly by simple transliteration. account including transliteration, rendition, con-
While rendition was the second most fre- vention, substitution, intratextual addition, extra-
quent procedure in The Chronicles of Narnia, it textual addition, naturalization, omission and cul-
was the third most common in the two works by tural dilution. The utilization of these procedures
Tolkien. This reveals the tendency of the trans- was scrutinized in three fantasy fiction works of
lator of Lewis‟s work to provide close denota- children literature i.e. The Lord of the Rings and
tive equivalence for CSIs more than that of Tol- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien as well as The
kien‟s. In the same way, convention was more Chronicles of Narnia written by Lewis . The re-
commonly used in translation of The Chronicles sults revealed that translators were more inclined
of Narnia than in Tolkien‟s fictions. This, possi- to foreignization of CSIs on target text. In other
bly, is due to the point that in The Chronicles of words, source-oriented strategies were more
Narnia, geographical names and supernatural commonly used to retain the culture of the origi-
elements were derived from the true concepts in nal in translation. Furthermore, transliteration
the real world, thus, having more familiar was the most frequently adopted procedure to
equivalents in target language for target audi- translate CSIs particularly the name of characters.
ence. On the contrary, the author in a fantasy The least frequent procedures were omission and
world for which no conventional equivalence cultural dilution for which no cases were detected
was prevalent in target language mostly invent- in any of the translations. Fidelity to source text
ed the proper nouns used in the works of and necessity felt by translators to render all ma-
Tolkien. terial of original in target text were probably the
The use of naturalization and substitution was reasons why no omission took place.
so rare in all translations on the account of trans- Particular nature of fantasy fiction especially
lators‟ tendency to avoid domestication as much those in relation to children, brings about certain
as possible. No case of omission was detected in features that can be rarely found in other genres.
any of the translations, which to some extent; Therefore, translation of such works is a chal-
emphasize the translators‟ faithfulness to render lenging task particularly with regard to CSIs. The
all materials of the source resorting to various tendency of translators whose works were inves-
methods. tigated in this study, towards sticking as closely
Finally, the choice of works for this study was as possible to the original is rooted in the point
in a way that it allowed the possibility to compare that it is difficult and sometimes impossible to
two translations of the same translator on two find an equivalent in target language, which en-
works of the same genre directed to the same au- tirely matches with that of the source. Hence, a
dience. Almost close results in taking procedures transcription of original and direct transfer of
to deal with CSIs in translations of The Hobbit source items into target language is done to let
and The Lord of the Rings revealed the transla- the target audience have access to the source and
tor‟s consistent and systematic use of methods decide on his/her own on how to decipher it.
42 A Study of Translators’ Approach in Dealing with Culture-specific …
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Aixelá, J. F. (1996). Culture-specific items in back again. United Kingdom: George
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Hervey, S., & Higgins, I. (1992). Thinking
translation. London & New York: Bio data
Routledge. Asma Sabermahani graduated with a master‟s
Hume, K. (1984). Fantasy and mimesis: response degree in the field of translation studies at the
to reality in western literature. London: Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman. She has
Methuen. taught at the Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan
Katan, D. (1999). Translating cultures: An for two years. She has also translated a book enti-
introduction for translators, interpreters
tled “How to succeed as a freelance translator?”
and mediators. Manchester: St. Jerome
Publishing. which was accepted for publication at the Shahid
Klingberg, G. (1986). Children's Fiction in the Bahonar University of Kerman‟s press. She has
Hands of the Translators. Sweden: published some articles in the field of translation
Bloms Boktryckeri AB. studies and her research interests include sociol-
Lewis, C. S. (1956). The chronicles of Narnia. ogy, discourse analysis and literary translation.
United Kingdom: Geoffrey Bles. Email: Asma.Sabermahani@gmail.com
Lewis, C. S. (2007). The chronicles of Narnia:
the magician’s nephew (O. Eghtedari &
M. Karimzade, Trans.). Tehran: Hermes Azita Ghazizade is a lecturer at the Shahid Bah-
Publishers. onar University of Kerman and Kerman Institute
Manlove, C. (1975). Modern fantasy: five of Higher Education. She has been responsible
studies. Cambridge: Cambridge for teaching the courses in relation to translation
University Press. studies including Islamic translation, literary
Mathews, R. (2002). Fantasy: The liberation of
translation and translation within the field of eco-
imagination. London: Routledge.
Newmark, P. (1988). A textbook of translation. nomics as well as General English courses. . She
Hertfordshire: Prentice Hall International was the first top student among other graduates in
Ltd. the field of English language translation in her
Nida, E., & Taber, C. (1982). The theory and master and bachelor‟s study at the Shahid Baho-
practice of translation. Leiden: E. J. nar University of Kerman. She also translated
Brill. two books entitled “Higher than the Poplars” and
Rudvin, M. (1994). Translation and „myth‟:
“The Red Iftar”. She has also published a number
Norwegian children's literature in
English. Perspectives: Studies in of articles, mostly, in the field of Islamic and lit-
Translatology, 2(2), 199-211. erary translation.
Shavit, Z. (1986). Poetics of children’s literature. Email: Azita.Ghazizade@yahoo.com
London: The University of Georgia
Press.

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