The Challenge Of Translating Children’s Books

When working on an English to French translation of a children’s classic you can’t just focus on the language. You must also keep in mind that you’re translating the text from one cultural system to another.

A system, in this case, is a certain view of the world. An adult has a way of looking at things that doesn’t match up to how a child understands life. That’s what makes translating children’s literature much more complex.

A translator is an adult, as is the author of a book or a short story. Yet the characters are mostly children, their voices are child-like and their message is intended for an audience of their peers.

If a professional is going to specialize in this field of translating the first step he/she must take is to study carefully what are referred to as the norms of writing for children. There are plenty of workshops and courses at libraries and colleges that teach such skills.

One of the first and most essential rules that experts point out is that when working with children’s literature the translator has a lot more freedom to change, add, erase or enhance the original document in order to allow the reader to see the story through the eyes of a child and with the target language in mind.

This might seem like a very difficult and risky task. And it is. So consider if children’s literature is a world you want to explore. In case you do, you will find it to be quite challenging yet fascinating as well.

By: Carl Wright

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