Translating Children's Literature

Book excerpt: 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. 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: · Narrative style and the challenges of translating the child’s voice; · The translation of cultural markers for young readers; · Translation of the modern picture book; · Dialogue, dialect and street language in modern children’s literature; · Read-aloud qualities, wordplay, onomatopoeia and the translation of children’s poetry; · Retranslation, retelling and reworking; · 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.