Translating for Children

The study of translation of children’s literature is a recent phenomenon. The goal of this study is to explore the extent to which a translator needs to accommodate a child reader by making the text conform to the target culture. I examine two mainstream dual theories: “domestication”, which gives preference to the cultural and linguistic values of the target culture and “foreignization”, which leaves traces of the source culture and takes the readers out of their “comfort zone”. As a case study, I translated Alfredo Gomez Cerda’s book, "El arbol solitario" from Spanish to English and compared my strategies with another translation of the book done in French. Following a panoramic overview of the history and translation of children’s literature in Spain as well as in Quebec, I introduce the translation theories which I have explored during the translation process and compare them to the French translation of the text.