The Language of adolescents in translated young adult fiction
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Adolescent language; Jaunimo literatūra; Paauglių kalba; Paauglių kalbos kalbos elementai; Paauglių kultūra; Paauglių literatūra; Teen culture, teen speech items; Translation strategies; Vertimo strategijos; Young adult fiction; Adolescent language; Paauglių grožinė literatūra, paauglių šnekos vienetai; Suaugusiųjų kalba; Teen culture; Teen speech items; Translation strategies; Vertimo strategijos; Young adult fiction.
ENTranslation is an important social activity when the original written text in its original verbal language is rendered into a written text in a different language. This is a particularly complicated task for translators because they play important roles as cross-cultural transmitters of culture, attempting to interpret concepts and speech as faithfully and accurately as possible. This is certainly the case when the translation of adolescent language in literary discourse is in question, as this language is very closely linked to cultural traditions and the norms of a specific society and period. The aim of this research is to determine the particular strategies of translation used for adolescent language in fiction for young adults. The total number of lexical items of teen speech is 781. The research shows that 394 instances of teen speech (50.5%) have been rendered employing the strategy of direct transfers. Other examples of adolescent language, i.e. 387 cases, have been neutralized, standardized, toned down as well as being omitted or mistranslated. This totals 49.5%. Although the translations of fiction for young adults in Lithuanian retain slightly more than half of the examples of teen speech of the original texts in English, the choice to soften or neutralize the other half of the cases reveals that the Lithuanian translators still often choose to adhere to literary and writing traditions of Lithuanian culture, in this way domesticating the target texts more than foreignizing them. [From the publication]
