Translation of Non-normative Content in Three Persian Translations of Matilda

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• Elnaz Aliazam ¹
• Masood Khoshsaligheh ²
• Abdullah Nowruzy ³
• Azadeh Eriss ¹

¹ Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

² Professor in Translation Studies, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

³ PhD in Translation Studies,, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22067/lts.2023.83281.1202

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the techniques adopted by Iranian translators in translating non-normative social content in children’s literature from English to Persian. The corpus of the study included three Persian translations of the novel Matilda by Roald Dahl (1988). First, the social non-normative content was categorized into two main categories: verbal and non-verbal (behavioral). The verbal category was divided into insults, threats, and lying, while the non-verbal category was divided into aggressive behavior, child negligence, physical child abuse, and revenge. Secondly, a functionalist model developed by Molina and Albir (2002) was employed to identify social non-normative text strings in the original and explore their equivalents in the Persian translations. The results of the study indicated that the translators primarily employed a literal translation approach. The high frequency of using the “literal translation technique” resulted in preserving the negative implications of the social non-normative content.

Highlights

 

Keywords

• Children’s Literature
• Literal Translation
• Roald Dahl
• Non-normative Social Content
• Matilda

Main Subjects

• Translation Studies

Full Text

 

 

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