A study o f children’s literature across a century Translation or rewriting of proper names

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Translation or rewriting of proper names

A study of children’s literature across a century

Author: Veronica Sand Supervisor: Magnus Levin Examiner: Jukka Tyrkkö Term: HT20

Subject: English Linguistics

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Abstract

The translation of names is a topic for discussion within many fields, no less so within translation studies. Furthermore, the translation of proper names in children’s literature is a topic with on-going changes. There is a divide between those who believe that the names should be translated into proper cultural equivalent and those who believe it is time to have faith in children being able to handle foreign names.

That is what this study will focus on. Approx. 15 names from seven children’s books from 1865 to 2011 were studied to conclude that there seems to be a greater faith in children’s ability to handle foreign names. Three languages were compared English, Spanish, and Swedish with the majority of the 337 names studied being kept in their original format, with spelling intact.

Keywords

Translation as rewriting; Children’s literature; Translating proper names; André Lefevere; Gillian Lathey; Alice in wonderland; Tomtebobarnen; Coraline; Wolf Brother; Hunger Games; The Graveyard Book; Cirkeln; English; Spanish; Swedish;

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1 Introduction

Translation studies is a field in which much has happened in the last decades. From the firm establishment of the subject as its own discipline in the 1970s to the many subfields which have appeared since. One topic within these subfields, which until recently was not part of a greater discussion, is the view on translating as rewriting. This was primarily presented by two researchers in the 1990s, Bassnett and Lefevere (2003). Lefevere (2017) later continued to expand on this concept wherein he divides the reasons behind the changes into different categories. While the opinion on how much of cultural aspects should be translated in order to fit the target culture is both divided and heatedly debated, there exists another which is closely related, yet somehow apart from the discussion. The translation of proper names, both those of place names and names of individuals is a controversial topic at best within the discussion itself on cultural translation. For a long time, the translation of names was not an uncommon occurrence in both adult and children’s literature (Lathey, 2016). However, the need for translating names seems to be growing increasingly less needed, with a few exceptions. If the name has meaning important to the story being told then a translation might be necessary (Burgess, 2005) or in regards to children’s literature where the translation of character names help lessen the feeling of alienation and increase the child’s feeling of connection to the story (Cámara, 2008; Wirnitzer, 2008; Lathey, 2016; Veiesund, 2020). However, according to Lefevere, there are two main factors controlling what is and what is not translated, these being professionals and patronage (Munday, 2016). Professionals are those versed in the study of literature, academics who may influence what is translated and what is not. Patronage comes from outside this sphere, from influential people and companies. This is part of what Lathey (2016) writes in her chapter as well, how translators make choices when translating names in children’s literature to not ensure that children do not feel alienated by strange or difficult names. Some examples of older names that were changed to not alienate the character from the targeted child audience are those of famous Disney characters such as Chip and Dale, Donald Duck, and Goofy. In more recent times names of characters such as Katniss from the Hunger Games series (Collins, 2008) as well as Torak from the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness (Paver, 2004) are not translated. While there is a long history of translating dating back to ancient Rome and Greece and the history of name translation is indeed fascinating this thesis will focus on a more narrow area (Reynolds, 2016; Lefevere, 2017).

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1.1 Aim and Research question

The aim of this thesis is to see how the changes in the world have had an effect on the names we now translate with a primary focus on children’s and young adult (YA) literature. The study focuses on children’s books written between 1865 to 2011 with either English or Swedish as the original language and English, Spanish, and Swedish as the target languages.

In order to do this, the following questions will be used to focus the study.

1. When comparing samples of books published after 2000 to those published before 2000, to what extent does the number of names translated significantly decrease or increase?

2. How do the strategies that are used to translate these names differ? Is there a reason other than alienation for the name(s) being translated?

2 Background

In his work from 1992 Lefevere presents “those in the middle, the men and women who do not write literature, but rewrite it” (2017, p.1). He discusses how these people are responsible for the survival of a text in the target language and culture, a view he is not alone in sharing (Lefevere, 2017; Derrida, 1985; Benjamin, 2004). It is based on this observation of translation being a form of rewriting that Lefevere goes on to present his ideas on translation as rewriting and how, according to him, there are historically two reasons for a work of literature to be translated. Lefevere’s concept with its two main factors of professionals and patronage can then be further explained by what these two factors include. As previously stated, the professional factor includes those who in some way have studied literature and as such are well-versed in the literary system and choose in part what is translated. However, Lefevere (2017) highlights the importance of patronage. This includes those outside the sphere of the literary system, those who may enjoy reading but are not interested in the how. The factor of patronage is defined by those it includes. This extends to both people and ideas people may have. In the most tangible way, this would be the people which hold the patronage, such as in Shakespearean times Elizabeth I or other nobles. In more recent times it extends more frequently to institutions such as publishers, media, or politicians (Munday, 2016, p.200). However, it can also be in the form of ideals and cultural aspects. It is this area of culture where this thesis is most concerned.

However, before going further into the area of study a clarification is needed. As this study focuses on names in children’s and YA literature it is important to specify what type of names will be studied and how these are defined. ‘Name’ is by definition “a word or phrase that

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constitutes the distinctive designation of a person or thing” (Merriam-Webster, 2020). For this study, the focus is on proper names of people and specific place names important to the story that may have been translated. ‘Proper name’ or ‘proper noun’ is “a noun that designates a particular being or thing, does not take a limiting modifier, and is usually capitalized in English”

(Merriam-Webster, 2020). While the term proper noun can indicate a thing as well as a being, for this study the focus will be on proper names of beings. ‘Place name’ is a simpler term as it refers to “the name of a geographic locality” (Merriam-Webster, 2020) as such the place names in this study are mainly fictional with reference to a place made-up by the author. However, in some instances, there are references to authentic place names as well. Primarily in Cirkeln (2011) which takes place in the town of Engelsfors, an actual place in Sweden although not a town. The other places studied are both buildings and natural areas, as such many are named by what they represent. However, they are not necessarily authentic in the sense that they exist in our world in exactly the manner as in the books. For instance, a meadow is a place any person will be able to conjure an image of in their mind, however, the Meadow in Collins’ Hunger Games is specific to her world of Panem. Therefore, it is not unlikely to be translated to the corresponding term in the target languages. Meanwhile, the name Panem, the name Collin has given her fictional country, is a Latin word and is presented as such in the story. It is given the connection to a “saying from thousands of years ago,(…) in a language called Latin about a place called Rome” (Collins, 2011, p.249 ). Here the name has its origin in a foreign language even in the original and as such is unlikely to be translated into another target language.

This translation of names based on their origin is a matter which has been studied to some extent as mentioned in the introduction (Burgess, 2005; Lathey, 2016; Weiss, 2019). Weiss’

(2019) work is one to study this in some detail when comparing his translation of Valère Novarina’s Le Drame de la vie. The study of names and name formation is known under the term onomastics, for this study one specific area within this field is of interest. The sense and no-sense theories. This is where the divide on theories concerning proper names have their base.

In the late 1940s, Maurice Merleau-Ponty wrote a book titled “Sens et non-sens” which was later translated into English, “Sense and Non-sense”, in 1964. This book discusses the view by which humans, specifically scientists, and researchers, view the understanding of knowledge and learning. While Merleau-Ponty’s work is mainly focused on the philosophical field it was concerned with our understanding of language. As such it has inspired a take of the same theory within onomastics. As previously stated the divide is between those of the no-sense who are of the opinion that proper names stand for particular objects, referring to this object but with no

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additional meaning. On the other side are those of the sense theory who are of the opinion that names are a sort of disguised description of the person or thing it is referring to (Weiss, 2019, p.100). Weiss suggests that all names are reflections of the language they originate from.

Thereby having a, if somewhat obscure, meaning connected to the language if not to the individual holding the name. It is for this reason Weiss argues that names “cannot be effectively translated”(2019, p.100). A translator should instead make the effort of trying to recreate the tone of the name into the target language and find, if possible, the acts of an onomastic denomination which lead to the name’s creation (Weiss, 2019, p.104).

Lathey (2016) discusses another aspect of this divide, of how cultural aspects and ideology have been fundamental in the translation of names and many other aspects of culture.

She presents examples of larger changes such as change of location of the setting of the story as well as the translation of food, and on to names. This stems from a fear many translators and editors have of alienating the young readers in the target language if certain aspects are not translated to resemble the culture the child is more familiar with. Lathey discusses famous works translated from other languages into English as she argues that translators have in recent decades shown greater faith in children’s ability to handle different words and changes in culture that may differ from their own. She presents an argument made by Katarina Kuick “that it was time English-speaking children got used to foreign names.” (Lathey, 2016, p.44) and supports this by presenting examples of classic characters such as Hansel and Pinocchio.

Characters which English speaking children have been presented with for decades and handle without major problems. Yet the goal presented by many previous researchers of the translator remains: ensure that the text survives in the target language (Derrida, 1985; Benjamin, 2004;

Lefevere, 2017). Lathey does not neglect to present this objective parallel to the faith put in younger children of today. In fact, she shows how important it is for a child to not be faced with a book full of names they have no idea how to pronounce or perhaps are simply too different from ones they are used to. This, Lathey argues, is where every translator must make a choice in their translation.

This choice translators are faced with leads us to the next and final part of this chapter. In his work on translating children’s literature, Jakob Kenda (2006) describes his own method as

“switching off” and briefly discusses the difficulty of attempting other translators’ methods and strategies. It highlights the difficulty and individuality of translators’ strategies. Finding one source discussing multiple translation strategies in a textbook manner is not an easy thing to do. Nord (2003) also mentions different ways translators approach translating proper names,

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without mentioning different strategies. Instead, the strategies can be gleaned from individual articles written by translators or linguistic researchers discussing the topic. It is for this reason that the translation strategies identified in this study are not collected from any previous work.

Instead, they are simple categories which are easy to identify and explain. For this thesis the translation strategies will fall into one of five kinds; direct translation, kept, modified, partly translated, or completely altered. These are the most frequent ways to translate proper names in any literature and from the previous research presented here, it is more than likely these are to be found also in children’s literature.

3 Material and Method

3.1 Material

Many books have been published in the time span chosen for this study, it was, therefore, necessary to further narrow down the choice of books to study since all cannot be included. The choice was a pragmatic one to start by deciding the oldest book to be Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Five editions in addition to the English original were examined, four in Swedish by different translators spanning from 1945 to 1977, and one in Spanish from 1984. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has been translated no less than ten times into Swedish (Lundsgård, 2013) and nine times into Spanish according to my own search on the library website Worldcat.org and comparing those findings to the Spanish Wikipedia page on the subject. In this study, only four Swedish translations and one Spanish were used due to accessibility. These translations were chosen to see how translations might differ throughout many years as well as between languages. Then choosing a children’s book from before 1950, preferably as close to the publication of Carroll’s as possible, from Sweden or Spain popular enough to have been translated into both English and the other language. This resulted in Elsa Beskow’s book Tomtebobarnen originally published in 1910 and published in English as The children of the forest. The other books were chosen in more of a random pattern, looking at those with supernatural elements such as Neil Gaiman’s books Coraline (2013) and The Graveyard Book (2009), historical fiction as in Michelle Paver’s Wolf Brother (2012), and dystopian future set as in Susan Collins’s Hunger Games (2008). Gaiman’s books were chosen to see how newer books aimed at younger children with characters having both everyday names common in Britain and names made special for the stories are translated. A similar reason was behind the choice of Wolf Brother and Hunger Games but with the previous genres in mind.

For further research purposes, another Swedish book was chosen with a YA theme. Cirkeln was

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published in Swedish in 2011 and then translated and published in English and Spanish under the names The circle (2012) and El círculo (2012) respectively.

The books were in some cases first published years earlier than the copies used in this study. Gaiman’s two books were published in 2002 and 2009. Coraline was first published in 2002 and has since been republished as a novel and comic-novel. The Graveyard Book was first published in 2009 but has, much like Coraline, been republished in both novel and comic-novel format. Unlike Coraline, it has not yet been dramatized. Paver’s book was first published in 2004 and has since been republished in all three languages.

3.2 Method

The study itself is of mixed methods. There is a quantitative part in order to later do a qualitative analysis of those quantitative results.

After deciding on the books came the selection and search for names in all seven books in the three languages. In books with many characters whose names may be translated the limit was set to fifteen names per book. In other where fewer characters are named or where names were unlikely to be translated the names of places were also selected to see if any pattern could be found between place names and personal names. Despite this, not all books have fifteen names to be translated. Therefore, in those instances, as many as possible and applicable have been used. As such the number of original names studied are 98 with the resulting number of names compared in the target languages arrive at 241 with a total number of 337 names.

Initially, there was only going to be four strategy types for the translations to be divided into. However, after looking at some of the names and their translations it became clear that an additional strategy type was needed. Therefore, the following five kinds of translation strategies were chosen. First kept are the names that are not translated but simply remain the same as in the original version. Direct translations are names where the name has a meaning of some sort and has been translated into the exact word for the same in the target language. Modified includes names that have been slightly altered, this can be spelling or meaning. However, the meaning of the target name cannot be too different from the source name. Partly translated was the added type of strategy after noticing names in the translated version where some names had been partly translated, e.g. Mother Slaughter. The final type of strategy is the completely altered, where the target name is completely different from the source name.

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Figure 1:Strategies in Alice

4 Results

The translation strategies are most naturally different from book to book and translator to translator. In this chapter, the result will be presented with a brief analysis of what strategies seem to have been used by the different translators, before continuing to the next book. The results will be presented from the oldest original publication to the newest.

4.1 Alice in Wonderland

Starting with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland originally written in English under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll and published in 1865. This is a story which has survived through the years and is still loved by many. The only translation where the title itself has changed is the Spanish where Alice is renamed Alicia. Resulting in the full title being Las Aventuras de Alicia (Alicia’s adventures). While the Swedish title does not change Alice’s name, the title becomes an additional mystery, Alice i underlandet or alternatively Alices äventyr i underlandet, due to the dual meaning of the Swedish word under which can mean both ‘wonder’

and ‘under(neath)’. Another, older, title in Swedish is Alices äventyr I sagolandet (Alice’s adventure in the fairytale land). In Table 1 below fifteen names from Carroll’s original Alice are compared with the corresponding names used in the five translations. In the above Figure 1, the strategies observed to be used in these translations can be seen. There were only two cases of partly translated names but the other strategies were more evenly distributed with a five name difference between those directly translated and those modified and completely altered.

21 20

16 16

2 0

5 10 15 20 25

Direct Kept Modified Com. altered Partly trans.

Strategies in Alice

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English Original 1865

Swedish 2015 Trans. 1977

Swedish 1945 Spanish 1986 Trans. 1984

Alice Alice Alice Alice Alice Alicia

Ada Ada Ada Ada Ada Ada

Mabel Mabel Mabel Mabel Mabel Mabel

Mouse Råttan (The rat) Musen (The mouse)

Musen Råttan Ratón

(mouse)

Dinah Dinah Dina Dinah Dina Dina

Dodo dront dront dront dront Dodo

W. Rabbit P. Kanin (P.Rabbit (Pelle))

K. Kanin (K.

Rabbit (Kalle))

V. Kanin (V.

Rabbit (Vit=White))

V. Kanin Conejo B (Rabbit B (blanco))

Mary Ann Marianne Mary Marianne Marianne Mariana

Bill Bill Knut

(Knot)

Bill Bill Bill

Caterpillar Kålmasken (The cabbage-worm)

Kålmasken Larven (Larva, Caterpillar)

Larven Oruga

(Caterpillar)

Cheshire- Puss

Cheshirekisse (Cheshire kitty)

Trollkisse (Troll kitty;

magic kitty)

Cheshirekisse Cheshirekisse Señor Minino (Mr. Puss) Hatter Hattmakare

(Hatmaker)

Hattmakare Hattmakare Hattmakare Sombrerero (Hatter) March

Hare

Påskhare (Easter bunny)

Marshare (March hare)

Påskhare Marshare Liebre

Marcera (Hare of March (fem.)) Dormouse Hasselmus

(Dormouse)

Sjusovare mus (Seven- sleeper mouse)

Hasselmus Hasselmus Lirón (Dormouse)

Tortoise Fyren (Lighthouse)

Pärlefar (Pearl-father)

Sopp (Boletus)

Soppsköldpadda (Boletus turtle)

Tortura (Torture)

Many translators have taken Carroll’s Alice as a project, an equal number have chosen to not even attempt it due to the many made-up words and the whimsical world created by Carroll (Vid, 2008). However, this world of make-believe has also resulted in translator exploring what

Table 1: Names translated in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

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they can do in order for the story to progress in a manner similar to Carroll’s original English story. In Table 1 we see four translators using a similar approach to the text and its names. This results in the majority of the names being kept or the direct translation of the English original name. The one exception being the final name, the name of the Mock Turtle’s teacher. In Carroll’s original the name Tortoise is a play on the phonetical similarities of the word ‘tortoise’

and ‘taught us’(Carroll, 1980). This is not a phonetical play that works in the other target languages which results in the translators being forced to come up with other word plays that may work in a similar manner or with a similar result. In the Spanish book, Buckley (Carroll, 1986) chose to use a fairly straight forward comparison in how a teacher can be described as torturing the children by teaching. The different translations in Swedish show how the translators chose to handle the challenge. The first two oldest translations both refer to Sopp with the wordplay being closest to Carroll’s original meaning. “Vi kallade honom sopp för att vi lärdes opp av honom” (Carroll, 1945, p.84) ’We called him sopp because we were brought up by him’. The underlined words in the previous sentences are where the wordplay comes in.

‘Opp’ is a phonetic spelling of the Swedish word ‘upp’ meaning ‘up’. In the 1977 translation, Lundin (Carroll, 2015) chose a similar approach to that of Buckley. Fyren is presented as a name and defended with the word “Vi kallade honom Fyren därför att han agade oss” (Carroll, 2015, p.108) ‘We called him Lighthouse because he disciplined us’. The wordplay here is hard to grasp to such a degree that the translator has included a footnote to explain the connection.

In Swedish there is a type of lighthouse called agafyrar, aga being the Swedish word for striking your child to discipline them. While the final Swedish version of that name makes no such wordplay with raising or disciplining. Instead, it is a case of fairly straightforwardness in the interaction between Alice and the Mock Turtle wherein Alice expresses “Pärlefar! (…) Pärlemor har jag hört talas om, men aldrig pärlefar!” (Carroll, 1986, p.116) ‘Pearlfather! Pearlmother (mother-of-pearl) I have heard of but never pearlfather!’. The explanation from the Mock Turtle is likewise simple in the form of not being able to call a male mother.

As can be seen from the data presented in Table 1, the majority of completely altered names are found in the Swedish version from 1976. This is Behre’s way of doing what Lefevere refers to as rewriting, something all translators do but to varying degrees. Behre makes many changes not necessary for the story but changes she thought valid for different reasons.

However, the translation mentioned above of Fyren and discipline does raise some questions of necessity. It is not uncommon for footnotes to appear in translated literature, Lathey (2016) discusses different reasons for this. The most common reason is due to the untranslatability of

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the original word which might prompt the translator to keep the original word with a footnote explaining its meaning. This is not the case in Lundin’s translation. Here the footnote is still added to give an explanation of the word, however, it is an explanation of the Swedish translated word. Furthermore, it is a wordplay that does not bring the same ease of reading as the previous translation. Schöter (2005) discusses the translation of wordplay and how the approach to these can differ and the result as such can vary from close to the original to farfetched.

The two names which were partly translated are the shortened name for the White Rabbit in the two most recent translations of Alice into Swedish. The species of the character was translated, however, the apparent first name of the rabbit was changed to refer to common names given to rabbits in Sweden.

To summarize, the translations of Alice are similar in the translation strategies used in most cases, with Behre’s version being the exception. The many difficulties of translating Carroll’s Alice is a subject discussed in many articles and as such the changes made in the translations are not unexpected (Vid, 2008; Lundsgård, 2013; Lecercle, 2019). An interesting fact is the similar or exact same translations used in the Swedish versions not only those close in time of publishing but across the 30 years between the four versions. Because of this, it does not seem as tho the number of names translated over the years has decreased on increased substantially during the 30 years or between languages.

4.2 Tomtebobarnen

0 0

4

14

0 0

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

Strategies in Tomtebobarnen

Figure 2: Strategies in Tomtebobarnen

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The next book is a Swedish children’s book originally published in 1910 called Tomtebobarnen in Swedish by Elsa Beskow. Directly translated being santa-/gnome-/elf- lair-/house-/nest- children. Given the many possible translations of the names themselves the title given to the book in both English and Spanish connects to where the children live, The children of the forest and Los niños del bosque respectively. This book is one of the books with less than ten named characters, because of this, the names in Table 2 include names used in only the translated versions or names which were not translated from Swedish into English or Spanish.

Swedish Original 1910

Spanish 2003 English 2005 Trans. 1982

Tusse Juana Daisy

Kajsa Clara Harriet

Pär Pedro Tom

Truls Quique Sam

_ Bufón (Buffoon) Buffo

_ Renato Renata

farbror Rivjärn (uncle Grater)

un viejo erizo (an

old hedgehog an old hedgehog Ugglemor

(owlmother)

Señora Lechuza

(Mrs. Owl) Mrs. Owl

Jösse Liebre (hare) hare

As can be seen both in Table 2 and Figure 2, the majority of names in this book were changed.

Many of which completely. In this story, there is one quite large change made in the story when looking at the names of the children. In Beskow’s original book the children are three brothers and a sister. However, in the two translations, the siblings are two girls and two boys. Although some of the names between Swedish and Spanish share similarities in the form of Pär > Pedro and Kajsa > Clara, the first phoneme in both names are quite similar as well as the latter name being made up of two syllables. It is important to note, however, that the Spanish edition was

Table 2: Names and translations in Tomtebobarnen

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translated from the English version and not the Swedish original text. This results in both the English and Spanish version deviating quite a lot from the original Swedish. This is the translation that most fits in the description of translation as rewriting, similar to that of Behre (1976) but to an even higher degree (Lefevere, 2003). However, the Spanish edition is quite similar to the English, and Noguera as such has not made many changes to the story itself or the form it is told in. Alison Sage, however, did. The original Swedish book was written in rhymes, which of course is not easy to translate directly. Schröter (2005, p.302) suggest that in many cases the response in attempting to translate rhymes to a target language result in half- rhymes or different rhymes than what was in the original. Sage (2005) avoids this by not writing in rhyme at all. In addition to this Sage also adds details to the story not previously present in the Swedish original, e.g. naming some of the animals the children encounter and adding dialog.

This results in the English and Spanish editions deviating a lot from the original story.

As can be seen in Table 2 there are two names being added in the translations. Buffo and Bufón being names given to a frog the youngest child goes to for comfort. The youngest child in the Swedish original being the baby brother Tusse who is changed into little sister Daisy/Juana in the translated versions. The other added name is also for an animal the children meet, this time a bat which in the Swedish original is not named but is given the name Renata in the English version and the male form Renato in the Spanish version.

The two other changes are in names that were not translated or even included as names, Farbror Rivjärn and Jösse. The first name is the honorary title of ‘uncle’ with the word for

‘grater’ as a name of a hedgehog the children give a dead snake to. The second would be a difficult one to understand without an understanding of the Swedish language as Jösse is a term used for ‘hare’ mainly in hunting terms, first recorded use in 1621 (SAOB, 2020). For this study, Jösse and Ugglemor were deemed to be modified instead of completely altered. The former due to the nature of the word being synonymous with ‘hare’, and in the case of the latter due to her being referred to as Ugglefru at one point in the book.

To summarize, Tomtebobarnen is a book where Lefevere’s theory of rewriting is most applicable. The changes made by the translator were in all probability made to facilitate the book being well received in the target culture. This is also one of the older books chosen for the study and with the number of names being changed it provides us with a good reference point by which to compare newer children’s literature with.

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Figure 3: Strategies in Coraline

4.3 Coraline

Let us now look at the more recent books. Since the chronological order demands Gaiman’s books to be separated we will start by looking at Coraline which was originally published in 2002. Above in Figure 3, the number of instances where the different types of strategies are used can be seen. The majority is kept names at 15 and partly translated being second with less than half the number of names. The partly translated names are those where the honorifics are translated but not last names as can be seen in Table 3 and will be discussed further later on. It is important to note that the story does not contain many named acting characters, however, by including names of pets as well as the names Coraline has given three of her dolls the list presented in Table 3 amounts to fourteen.

2

15

1

3

7

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

Strategies in Coraline

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English Original 2002 Swedish 2020 Trans. 2003

Spanish 2008 Trans. 2003

Coraline Coraline Coraline

Miss Forcible

Fröken Kraft (Miss Force)

Señorita Forcible (Miss Forcible)

Miss Spink

Fröken Spink (Miss Spink)

Señorita Spink (Miss Spink)

Angus Angus Angus

Hamish Hamish Hamish

Bruce Bruce Bruce

Miriam Miriam Miriam

April April April

Apple Äpple (Apple) Manzana (Apple)

Jemima Emma Jemima

Pinky

Rosa (Pink, but also a name derived from

Rose) Pinky

Primrose Gullan Primrose

Mr. Bobo Herr Bobo (Mr. Bobo)

Señor Bobo (Mr.

Bobo)

Mr. Lovat Herr Lovat Señor Lovat

The story of Coraline is in large the focus of a young girl being bored and feeling ignored by the adult around her. Her neighbors do not even call her by the right name, instead calling her Caroline. This makes the title and main character’s name untouchable by the translators. The other names, however, are not as set in stone. This allows for many of the names to be open for translation or complete change. Despite this only one name is translated in the sense of a word being replaced by its equivalent in the target language. The name of Miss Forcible is translated in Swedish to Fröken Kraft a name which directly means ‘Miss Force’. It is more direct than Gaiman’s original Forcible but an attempt was made to facilitate the children’s understanding of at least part of the meaning behind her name. The only other names to change are those of Coraline’s dolls, and again only in the Swedish version. Ramil (Gaiman, 2008) chose to keep all names in Coraline and only change the honorifics to those of the Spanish language when

Table 3: Names and translations in Coraline

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needed. These are categorized as partly translated as can be seen in Figure 3, the same is done for the Swedish equivalent. However, had it not been for the honorifics the names themselves are kept and the choice of whether to count them as such was entertained before deciding to add a fifth type of strategy. Leandoer (Gaiman, 2020), however, chose to change the names to similar-sounding but more common Swedish names. Jemima and Emma do not share the same origin, meaning, or structure. Despite this, I can see why Emma was chosen to substitute for Jemima. There is something to be said about the feel of a name and the phonetic sound of both are not entirely different. Rosa is a more direct translation. By taking the meaning of Pinky in a variation of ‘something pink’. However, depending on the pronunciation the name can also be a name derived from ‘rose’. The final name of Primrose is the one with the most change and least connection to the original. Gullan is a name connected to nicknames, usually Gunhild, as is the case of the famous Swedish musician Gullan Bornemark, or Gunilla (Isof.se, 2014).

However, the name itself is also a short form of the Swedish word ‘gullig’ meaning ‘sweet’ or

‘cute’. As such the name Gullan can also mean ‘cutie’ or ‘sweetie’. This would be the closest connection to the original Primrose as the primrose flower is a small flower.

To summarize, Coraline is the first of the most recent books in this study, and in the way of strategies, it seems to speak for Lathey’s (2016) observation on names not being translated as often in children’s literature anymore. The translated honorifics but kept last names bring Coraline to the total of seven partly translated names and as such the one with the most of this kind in the study.

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4.4 Wolf Brother

Fourth on the list is Michelle Paver’s first book in her Chronicles of Ancient Darkness: Wolf Brother. The book takes place thousands of years ago with no real anchoring in today’s world.

This gives Paver more freedom with naming and shaping her world how she believes it could have been when humans were still hunter-gatherers. The book’s title was directly translated in Spanish to Hermano Lobo (Brother Wolf), in Swedish, however, the name was pluralized resulting in Vargbröder (Wolf brothers). In the above Figure 4, the number of names per strategy is shown and as such we see that there are no completely altered names nor any partly translated. In Table 4 below the exact translations can be seen with the direct translation of those translated names. The changes that can be seen made to the names are made in accordance with the target language’s grammatical rules. For example the translation of Wolf’s name for his pack-brother Tall Tailless.

4

17

9

0 0

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

Strategies in Wolf Brother

Figure 4: Strategies in Wolf Brother

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English Original 2004 Swedish 2005 Spanish 2005

Wolf Ulv (Wolf) Lobo (Wolf)

Torak Torak Torak

Tall Tailless

Långe Svanslös (Tall Tailless)

Alto sin Cola (Tall without Tail)

Renn Renn Renn

Hord Hord Hord

Fin-Kedinn Fin-Kedinn Fin-Kedinn

The mountain of the world spirit

Världsandens berg (The worldspirits mountain)

Montaña del Espíritu del Mundo (Mountain of the Spirit of the World)

The Open Forest

Öppna skogen (The open

forest) El Bosque (The forest)

Krukoslik Krukoslik Krukoslik

Mountain hare clan

Bergshararnas klan (Mountain hares clan)

Clan del Liebre Alpina ( Clan of the mountain hare)

Fa Fa Pa

Oslak Oslak Oslak

Vedna Vedna Vedna

Dyrati Dyrati Dyrati

Soul-Eaters

Själslukarna (Soul devourers)

Devorador de Almas (Devourer of souls)

As seen in Figure 4, the majority of names are kept in their original English. For this reason, the few that do differ are of more interest. The Spanish version (Paver, 2005) has two that are modified in contrast to the Swedish equivalent, Pa and El Bosque. The former is quite easy to determine the reason behind the change as the name is meant to refer to Torak’s father. In both English and Swedish, the complete noun for father begins with fa, the Swedish word being the older term ‘far’. In order for this to hold true for the Spanish version the Antón de Vez chose to change it to Pa, the first two letters of the Spanish word for father, ‘padre’. The latter change is the dropping of the adjective open. The Swedish version has one such change in the form of Wolf’s name. Gahtron (Paver, 2005) chose to make it clearer to the reader that it was a specific character’s name Ulv and not just another wolf. Ulv is an old term for ‘wolf’ in Swedish (Saob, 2020), one which children might understand immediately or simply ask an adult about it to find

Table 4: Names and translation in Wolf Brother

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Figure 5: Strategies in Hunger Games

out. Moreover, there are modifications made in both target languages. Primarily these changes are simply due to the grammar and sentence structure of the target language. However, the last name in Table 4 is one of interest. The English original is Soul-Eaters yet both Gahrton and Antón de Vez chose a more sinister tone with the equivalent of ‘devourer’ in both languages.

4.5 Hunger Games

The fifth book is Susan Collins’s first book in her trilogy by the same name Hunger Games.

Similarly to Wolf Brother the story takes place in a place we can to some extent only imagine, again giving the author more freedom with names and places. However, Collins's book is based on a future where our civilizations no longer exist but where they have. As such many of her names are based on familiar places or things to an English-speaking person. As seen above in Figure 5, the majority of names are kept and half as many names are directly translated. Below in Table 5 follows the full fifteen names found and compared from Hunger Games with the direct translation where applicable.

8

16

3 3

0 0

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

Strategies in Hunger Games

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English Original 2008 Swedish 2012 Trans. 2008

Spanish 2012 Trans. 2009

Katniss Katniss Katniss

Catnip Katta Catnip

Primrose Primrose Primrose

Buttercup

Smörblomma (’butterflower’

Buttercup) Buttercup

Panem Panem Panem

the Seam Sömmen (the seam) la Veta (the seam)

the Meadow Ängen (the meadow)

la Pradera (the prairie, the meadow)

The Reaping Slåttern La cosecha

the Hob Hällen (the hob) el Quemador (the burner)

Greasy Sae Flottiga Sae Sae la Grasienta

Effie Trinket Effie Trinket Effie Trinket

Clove Clove Clove

Foxface Rävflickan (Fox girl) Comadreja (Weasel)

Glimmer Glimmer Glimmer

Rue Rue Rue

The majority of changes made in the translations of Hunger Games is fairly straightforward.

However, as with Wolf Brother, this only makes the anomalies more interesting. In the case of Hunger Games, the biggest anomaly is that of the translation of Foxface. In the Swedish version she is given the gendered nickname of Rävflickan ‘foxgirl’, it is a modification but a smaller one. In contrast, in the Spanish version the very name she is compared with changes from fox to weasel. The reason for this can only be guessed at as the fox is not an animal Spanish children would be unfamiliar with.

Table 5: Names and translations in Hunger Games

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Figure 6: Strategies in The Graveyard Book

4.6 The Graveyard Book

The sixth book is another of Gaiman’s. The Graveyard Book is set in England just like Coraline and follows a young boy as he grows up on a graveyard surrounded by people buried in the graveyard as far back as the Roman Empire. As such many of the names are old and quite British in nature. There are also references to old English rhymes and nursery tales in the book and some are reflected in the names of characters. Nonetheless, as can be seen above in Figure 6, the majority of names are kept with only small numbers falling into the other types of strategies. The only instance of a name being completely altered is not so far from the original in actuality. This will be discussed further later on. Below follows Table 6 with all names collected from the three versions of The Graveyard Book with their direct translation where applicable.

1

19

6

1

3

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Strategies in The Graveyard Book

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Table 6: Names and translations in The Graveyard Book

English Original 2008 Swedish 2010 Spanish 2009

Nobody Ingenman (No-man) Nadie (No-one)

Bod Ingen (No-one/nobody) Nad

Bob Inge Bob

Betsy Owens Betsy Owens Betsy Owens

Josiah Worthington Josiah Worthington Josiah Worthington

Caius Pompeius Caius Pompeius Cayo Pompeyo (Isle Pompeyo)

Mother Slaughter

Mor Slaughter (Mother Slaughter)

Mamá Slaughter (Mom Slaughter)

Ezekiel Ulmsley Ezekiel Ulmsley Ezekiel Ulmsley

Scarlett Amber Perkins Scarlett Amber Perkins Scarlett Amber Perkins Thomes Pennyworth Thomas Pennyworth Thomes Pennyworth

Letitia Borrows Letitia Borrows Letitia Borrows

Jemima Jemima Jemima

Jack Frost Jack Frost Jack Frost

Jack Tar Jack Beck (Jack Pitch) Jack Tar

Jack Nimble Jack Flink (Jack Swift/nimble) Jack Nimble

This book follows a little toddler whose family gets murdered and he finds himself at a graveyard without a name and with no-one to take care of him. Except the deceased who exist in the graveyard. One of these ghosts, Mrs. Owens, decides to keep the boy as her son and by chance, the boy is named Nobody. With the name of the main character being a term used as a synonym to no-one but with nicknames throughout the novel that more closely resembled actual names, the translators were faced with finding similar words to use for the main character’s first name. The Swedish translation managed to do so for all three names, the Spanish translation had it harder with the word being as short as it is.

Another change is the only name changed in the Spanish version being of Caius Pompeius into Cayo Pompeyo where the name changes its meaning from a somewhat normal Latin name to a name referring to specific islands in the Antilles Sea and Mexican Gulf (RAE, 2020). While a few more are translated in the Swedish version they are translated more than changed. Beck, while also an established surname in Sweden, has an origin as the word used to refer to the

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Figure 7: Strategies in Cirkeln

residue after the distillation of tar (SAOL, 2020). This is also the only name in the book to fall into the completely altered type of strategy. As stated it does have a connection to the original Tar, however, it is a complete change from the original name.

4.7 Cirkeln

The final book is another Swedish one, Cirklen. The book is an urban fantasy novel set in Sweden during the 21^st century. It centers around six girls in ‘gymnasiet’, the Swedish equivalent to upper secondary or high school, who find themselves suddenly connected with each other by supernatural powers. In Figure 7 it can be seen that the strategies are not very diverse. The vast majority of names in Strandberg & Elfgren’s Cirkeln (2011) are kept in their original Swedish, without even changing the spelling. This can be seen below in Table 7, as well as the few times translations were made.

1

27

0 0

2 0

5 10 15 20 25 30

Strategies in Cirkeln

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Table 7: Names and translations in Cirkeln

Swedish original 2011 Spanish 2012 English 2012

Minou Falk Karimi Minou Falk Karimi Minou Falk Karimi

Vanessa Dahl Vanessa Dahl Vanessa Dahl

Rebecka Mohlin Rebecka Mohlin Rebecka Mohlin

Anna-Karin Nieminen Anna-Karin Nieminen Anna-Karin Nieminen

Linnéa Wallin Linnéa Wallin Linnéa Wallin

Ida Holmström Ida Holmström Ida Holmström

Södergök (Southerncuckoo) Cuco Cuckoo

Adriana Lopez Adriana López Adriana Lopez

Engelsfors Engelsfors Engelsfors

Bahar Bahar Bahar

Törnrosvägen (dog rose road) Törnrosvägen Törnrosvägen

Frasse Frasse Frasse

Peppar (Pepper) Peppar Pepper

Elias Malmgren Elias Malmgren Elias Malmgren

Jari Mäkinen Jari Mäkinen Jari Mäkinen

As previously stated, there are very few name translations in the translated versions of this book. The only ones to be translated is the name of Anna-Karin’s kitten Peppar which is translated in the English version to the equivalent. However, the same is not true for the Spanish version. Instead of naming the kitten ‘pimienta’ in the Spanish version Cano (Strandberg &

Elfgren, 2012) chose to keep the Swedish word for pepper as the name of the kitten. The common partly translated name in both translated versions is the name Södergök. In the book, it is used to refer to a part of an old Swedish folk rhyme wherein the southern cuckoo signifies death (SO, 2009).

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Figure 8: Total Number of Strategies

4.8 Comparative Results

The following section will compare the statistics of the translations. Mainly how many names were translated and in what way these translations may be interpreted as being made due to the sense or no-sense theories or if it is as Lathey suggest that proper names are not translated as much anymore. In Figure 8 below the total number of each strategy is present and shows the percentual of each.

As can be seen, there is a definite majority of names being kept in their original form, with no change being made even to facilitate pronunciation in the target language. This does in some ways go against Lefevere’s (2003) theory of translation as rewriting, and certainly Weiss’

(2019) idea of names needing to be translated in order for the correct understanding to come across. Especially when considering the success Cirkeln has had internationally despite having the highest number of kept names in this study and the majority of them being decidedly Swedish or Nordic in origin.

Direct 16%

Kept 47%

Modified 17%

Com. Altered 15%

Partly trans.

5%

TOTAL NUMBER OF STRATEGIES

Direct Kept Modified Com. Altered Partly trans.

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In the above figures 9 and 10, a comparison of the statistics is easily discernible. While the books published pre-2000 have a more even distribution of strategies, with some exceptions, the books published after 2000 can be seen to show a large majority in the use of the kept strategy. An increase of 42% in comparison to the older books. No strategy keeps their frequency of use from the pre-2000 books to the post-2000. The second most used strategy in the older books being the direct translation while in the newer books the second most used strategy is replaced by the modified strategy.

In figure 8 the total number of strategies can be seen and as previously stated the majority is kept in their original form. In comparison, it can be seen that Lathey’s statement of more faith being put in children’s ability to face foreign names seems to be true. There remain instances of names being translated in order to facilitate the young readers' immersion into the story and lessen the feeling of alienation. However, the fear of alienation does not stop translators from keeping character names as the original author wrote them. Reasons for the 18% direct or partly translated names are different but mainly due to the names having a significant meaning relevant to the story.

23%

21%

22%

32%

2%

Pre 2000

11%

63%

13%

5%8%

Post 2000

Figure 9: Strategies pre-2000 Figure 10: Strategies post-2000

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5 Conclusion

This thesis shows that there have been changes in the translation of names in children’s literature. Lefevere’s theory of translation as rewriting still holds true in the form of translators being the people responsible for the success of the literature in the target language. However, Lathey’s observation on the faith in children’s ability to read foreign cultures also holds true and seem to have gained much ground. Even if not all names remain in their original form they are increasingly being left in the form that the author wrote them. The exceptions are when the name has a meaning important to the story, as in The Graveyard Book (Gaiman, 2009).

However, even those times it is not unlikely for the name to remain, as can be seen in Hunger Games where Katniss remains Katniss in any translation. Of course, there are exceptions to this as well, in this study those exceptions can be seen in Coraline where her dolls are renamed in Swedish. The fear of alienation does not seem to have as big of an effect on translators' strategies as in previous years. However, this might differ if only younger children’s literature was studied as that is where many of the translated names in this study can be found.

This leads us to what further research can, and should, be done to better understand the trajectory of the changes in name translation in children’s literature. Firstly, a more narrow study could be done on younger children’s literature with a focus on an even number of books from all languages studied as source languages. Secondly, a larger study where one is able to go deeper into the reason behind the translations or lack thereof. The first would show if there is a larger number of names in young children’s literature being translated as opposed to the result shown in this study including older children’s and YA literature. The second would help to explain these changes to see if it is due to more faith in children’s ability or more in line with Lefevere’s theory of patronage, of who chooses what gets translated.

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