Abstract
It is widely accepted that translation is a form of rewriting and it is also true for children’s literature. Translation reflects a certain degree of ideological manipulation of the source text in order to either conform to the norms of the target culture or serve some ideological purposes. Since children's literature usually performs both didactic and pedagogical functions, ideological manipulation on children's literature translation is even more significant. Drawing on two English translations of Chinese children’s literature works, this article shows how ideology, cultural ideology to be specific, drives the adaptation and rewriting in translation. In source and target cultures, different norms of adult-child co-sleeping lead to the cover substitution for the picture book <i>A New Year’s Reunion</i> and different norms of father-daughter bond triggers plot adaptation for the adolescent fiction <i>Bronze and Sunflower</i>. The article further points out that conforming to target culture and considering target readers’ tolerance are principal contributors to the success of these two books in western world. Under the background of Chinese children's literature going global, this article attempts to shed some light on Chinese-to-English translation practice of children’s literature.
Highlights
It occupies an important position of literary and translation practice, translated children’s literature (TChL) has always been marginalized in literary translation studies
What adaptations do translators make to fit the norm of target culture so as to achieve better reception? What kind of socio-cultural factors lead to these adaptations? The present study is to answer the above questions by conducting a descriptive study, attempting to shed some light on Chinese-to-English translation practice of children’s literature
Based on the previous analysis in this paper, it is proved that rewriting and adaptation in TChL are driven by many factors, with ideological considerations one of them
Summary
It occupies an important position of literary and translation practice, translated children’s literature (TChL) has always been marginalized in literary translation studies. Some adopt a extra-textual approach to investigate the social-cultural ideological norms behind translations and how they manifest themselves in certain times, places and genres [3]. As a supplement to current studies, this article takes two Chinese books for young readers as case studies, aimed at showing how ideological manipulation in English translation leads to the substitution of the picture book’s cover and the purification of the adolescent fiction’s plot to fit the norms of the target culture. Among the few studies that have been done, most focus on English-to-Chinese translation strategies of award-winning picture books or canonized adolescent fictions. Such a situation may be attributed to the fact that in Chinese book market the imported children’s books from the western world greatly outnumber the exported ones. What adaptations do translators make to fit the norm of target culture so as to achieve better reception? What kind of socio-cultural factors lead to these adaptations? The present study is to answer the above questions by conducting a descriptive study, attempting to shed some light on Chinese-to-English translation practice of children’s literature
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