1st Edition

Translating Picturebooks Revoicing the Verbal, the Visual and the Aural for a Child Audience

    228 Pages 14 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    226 Pages 14 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Translating Picturebooks examines the role of illustration in the translation process of picturebooks and how the word-image interplay inherent in the medium can have an impact both on translation practice and the reading process itself. The book draws on a wide range of picturebooks published and translated in a number of languages to demonstrate the myriad ways in which information and meaning is conveyed in the translation of multimodal material and in turn, the impact of these interactions on the readers’ experiences of these books. The volume also analyzes strategies translators employ in translating picturebooks, including issues surrounding culturally-specific references and visual and verbal gaps, and features a chapter with excerpts from translators’ diaries written during the process. Highlighting the complex dynamics at work in the translation process of picturebooks and their implications for research on translation studies and multimodal material, this book is an indispensable resource for students and researchers in translation studies, multimodality, and children’s literature.

    1. First Steps
    2. Picturebook Characteristics and Production
    3. The Translator Between Images, Words and Sounds

    4. Dogs and Bulls: Translating Cultures
    5. Translator’s Diaries
    6. Last Steps

    Biography

    Riitta Oittinen works as a lecturer and adjunct professor at the University of Tampere, Finland, where she teaches translation. She has over 200 publications, including books and articles, 40 picturebook translations, 30 animated films, 30 art exhibitions, and five illustrated books. Her best-known books include Translating for Children (2000) and Kuvakirja kääntäjän kädessä (2004).

    Anne Ketola is a doctoral student at the University of Tampere, Finland. Her doctoral thesis examines word–image interaction in technical translation. Her other research interests involve the translation of children’s literature, particularly from a multimodally-oriented perspective. She has published in journals such as Translation Studies, trans-kom and Connexions.

    Melissa Garavini obtained her doctorate from the University of Turku with a thesis focused on Finnish-Italian translations of Mauri Kunnas’s picturebooks. Her research interests include translation studies and picturebooks. She collaborates with MeTRa, the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of Translation and Mediation for and by Children of the University of Bologna.

    "As a researcher holding a genuine interest in translation of children’s literature myself, I find the book both intimate and inspiring."
    - LI Xueyi, Shenzhen University, China