Cultural Aspects of Translation and its Problematic in Brothers Grimm Fairy-tales

Abstract

The 19th century was largely marked by Grimm’s fairy tales leading to the demand of translations for children across cultures. The Grimm brother’s work played a vital role in the overall development of the German language, history and nation building. The focus of this article is primarily to discern the relevance of the German Linguists and Folklorists Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm’s Kinder-und Hausmärchenand its translation. Unfortunately, in the course of time and with the different translations of the Grimm texts, the relevance and essence are diverging and now only their names seem to be left living. The Grimm brothers certainly had some goals behind the collection of Fairy Tales; and it is well established among the scholars that the collections of fairy tales helped in creating a new culture and in shaping the history of Germany as a nation, not to forget that they helped enormously in the development and standardization of the German language (Hochdeutsch).