UKC

I am currently writing an essay on translated literature for children, and some of my reading is throwing up interesting questions about the parents' influence in the purchase of children's books.
If you were looking to buy a book for your child (or someone else's!), would a book that has been translated be something you would actively choose / avoid? Would the foreignness of the story be a good thing or would you be worried that your child would not understand about cultural differences? Would it be irrelevant if the pictures looked nice and the story seemed pleasant?
Obviously, I am not going to use your comments as evidence in my essay, but I am just curious!

In reply to girlymonkey: As background I live in Norway and buy both English and Norwegian childrens books. Also my ex-wife and several of my friends are educatonal specialists dealing with children and literature so I see a lot more childrens books than most people.

The first criteria is quality - a lot of childrens books are abject rubbish. And to be blunt those that are book format copies of TV programs are the very worst - usually with poor characterisation and bizarre , heavily nuanced and disjointed plots. Those from the newer Thomas the tank engine spring to mind as complete bile, but you can pick and choose your tv show. They go straight in the bin

Compared to that foreigness is a bit of a non problem tho' I guess I'm only dealing with Norsk, english and american books. The american ones are usually a bit fluffy I suppose.

My own personal favourite is a Norwegian book called Jakob and Neikob. Jakob says yes to everything, including car thieves, crocodiles and lamp salesmen, and Neikob no (nei!) to everything.

In reply to wbo:

And if there was a translated book from Africa, China, Russia, India or somewhere else non-European, do you think your kids would like it just as much (as long as it wasn't the abject drivel that you describe, but actually a decent story!)? Would you be less inclined to pick it up?

In reply to girlymonkey:

The story and the pictures were always the thing, and any foreignness was if anything a bonus for the breadth and insight into the universality of the bread and butter of life that it brought. When my children were young I was reading a great deal, actively seeking out fiction from other countries, and for several years we lived abroad, in Switzerland, Germany and France. Their mum is German and the girls didn't even speak English until they were 4 and 7. In that context the idea that the language of the actual text in our hand would matter a great deal seems a bit silly, as long as we could understand it. Great literature survives translation. As some one said of English translations of War and Peace - a world is lost, a world remains.

In reply to girlymonkey:
I would pick it up - there are books of translated stories around and I've read them in the past. The stories from other countries are not so very different really.

In reply to wbo:

Particularly kids stories, they are almost always very similar in the type of content.
The reason I have asked is that some translation theorists think that you have to loose most of the foreign elements of a text and make it familiar for the child or else they won't engage with it as their world view is narrower. My feeling is that this is nonsense as everything, domestic or foreign, is new for a child so actually it makes little difference to them and they just want a good story and nice pictures.

In reply to girlymonkey:

Children are children the world over. As for world view, I have never met an alien wearing underpants, but the book is popular enough. Familar isn't everything.

In reply to girlymonkey:

J.K. Rowling's accountant would disagree.

In reply to girlymonkey:
I don't mind whether it is translated or not as long as it is good. In fact, I do like if there are cultural differences, it's a positive thing, something to talk about.

In reply to girlymonkey:

2. Would the foreignness of the story be a good thing or would you be worried that your child would not understand about cultural differences?
3. Would it be irrelevant if the pictures looked nice and the story seemed pleasant?

1. no - neither
2. Not a good or bad thing. And I wouldn't be worried at all
3. yes, it would be irrelevant, I'd buy it in that case

I hope I'm making sense!

In reply to girlymonkey:

We've brought our kids up bilingual from the start and have always tried to buy or read the books in their original language, as sometimes in adults books the context and flow is lost in translation, although this does at times depend on the quality.

Julia Donaldson is one example, where all her stories are designed to flow, but having watched/listen/read the gruffalo film & books in both languages, it simply doesn't translate so well. But, this could be an adults perception, the kids may be less so, although the 7 yr old is now very fluent, grasping the details and quirks of both languages. We've all read books ourselves which because of the language style, grammar, punctuation etc. are simply painful to read and you feel like giving up after a few pages. I wouldn't want the kids to feel like that.

There are of course translations beyond your native tongue/s and we have a few, they aren't any better or worse than our usual translations and it wouldn't put us off buying them or encourage us too either, it simply adds to the variety of their collection, which is probably around 200-300 books.

Pictures, a little when they were younger, but less so now. They have little books they read themselves with pictures as if it's a new or different word, the picture might help them grasp the meaning and proper novels with practically zero pictures in which we read a chapter every bedtime for them, such as the books by Dahl, where you'll get a fussy pencil drawing once every 5 or 6 pages.

I don't think any of our books follow a traditional theme or specific nationality, which would put us off buying another that didn't fit the trend. But, I wouldn't buy one that was poorly translated and risk confusing their grammar etc.

In reply to tom_in_edinburgh:


I think they might agree, as HP and the Philosopher's Stone was originally published as HP and the Sorcerer's Stone in the US precisely because it was felt that the merkin kids wouldn't understand.

In reply to girlymonkey:


I agree with you on this. Not sure children have a 'world view' - they are little sponges, taking on board every new piece of information and processing it and adding it to their understanding of the world in a way which adults probably do far less.

I'm fairly sure I read many translated stories as a child and the more 'foreign' and unusual ones were the more mind-expanding.

If a child can deal with stories about magic lamps or ghosts or talking bears or living stars or dragons or hobbits or witches or gruffalos then they can deal with a story about a boy who lives on a tropical island and eats mangos and goes to school on a donkey.

In reply to girlymonkey:

One of the most popular childrens books (The Gruffalo) is based on a chinese proverb although i expect most parents would have no idea. A good story is a good story regardless IMO.

What I find fascinating is that we have well in excess of 200 childrens picture books in our house (too many really) of which most are pretty rubbish, but the children sift through the chaff to find what they like

In my house classics go down very well (Three little pigs, Jack and the Beanstalk, Princess and the Pea etc) as well as Julia Donaldson, Ian Whybrow and Caryl Hart. The one book I have never understood (as in it's popularity particularly in my house) is The Tiger who came home to Tea. He eats/drinks everything in the house then leaves. Good job I am not a publisher, because I would have read that draft and thrown it in the bin...shows what I know!

In reply to girlymonkey:

I ask myself the following questions:

1. Is it by Roald Dahl?
2. Is it about poo, vomit, blood?
3. Has it got lots of poo/vomit/blood references?
4. Is it about insects or internal organs?
5. Or lastly, do I have some sentimental attachment to the story which requires me to force said child to listen? (Call of the Wild, Snow Goose, Canny the Champion of the World etc).

If none of the above applies then we're not that desperate yet - daughter approves (instigated) 1 - 4, 5 is all my own work but did lead to offspring's love of Roald Dahl.