Post by Laura
Reading bedtime stories has become a habit in our family after my oldest turned two. Slowly but steadily we started to read more and more and we even created a habit before starting the story - we check the information about the book - the original title and the author’s and translator’s names.
Since I am a translator and I work in the localization business these details are important to me, and I want to pass this information to my children as well, so they can understand the effort that goes into this creative translation field.
One thing we noticed is that even if the books are wonderfully translated, sometimes the images are not localized, and since children are very curious and they notice all the tiny details they started to ask questions.
“Les émotions de Gaston” is a wonderful series of books which teach children how to deal with their feelings, and it was translated as “Emoțiile lui Noni” in Romanian. Wonderful adaptation of the tiny unicorn’s name - short, easy to remember by children. And the localization in Romanian is very good!
In one of the books, Noni gets frustrated because he can’t spell his name right, and even if all the pictures in the book have been localized to Romanian one of them remained in French. My oldest (who knows how to read) observed the tiny detail immediately. “Mom, why is this Gaston name here, when the unicorn’s name is Noni? You told me the French title contains this name, but this story is in Romanian”.
This topic will be discussed at the TranslateCluj conference in 23-25 March in Cluj-Napoca, when Lavinia Braniște will host a workshop about translating children’s literature. I can’t wait to learn more and to find out how we as translators can help publishers to create exceptional books, well localized in every tiny detail.
See you there!
Photo credit: Adi Bulboacă
Celebrated Romanian writer Lavinia Braniște will host a workshop about translating children’s literature at TranslateCluj, 23-25 March 2023. I can’t wait to learn more and to find out how we as translators can help publishers to create exceptional books, well localized in every tiny detail.
