Nomen est Omen : reception of translated and non-translated descriptive names in My Little Pony Tales

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UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND PHILOSOPHICAL FACULTY

SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES English language and translation

Nina Karoliina Hirvonen Nomen est Omen

Reception of translated and non-translated descriptive names in My Little Pony Tales

MA Thesis May 2016

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ITÄ-SUOMEN YLIOPISTO – UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND

Tiedekunta – Faculty

Philosophical Faculty Osasto – School School of Humanities Tekijät – Author

Nina Karoliina Hirvonen Työn nimi – Title

Nomen est Omen - Reception of translated and non-translated descriptive names in My Little Pony Tales Pääaine – Main subject Työn laji – Level Päivämäärä – Date Sivumäärä – Number of

pages English Language and

Translation

Pro gradu -tutkielma x

17.5.2016 84 pages + Appendix Sivuainetutkielma

Kandidaatin tutkielma Aineopintojen tutkielma Tiivistelmä – Abstract

This study focuses on the literary function of descriptive personal names in the animated series My Little Pony Tales. Although the primary function of personal names is to identify characters from one another, descriptive names can also serve multiple complex purposes as a dynamic part the narrative. This study aims to explore how characterization is affected when descriptive names are retained in the source language and whether this retention can result in diminished character memorability and recognition.

Yvonne Bertills (2003: 48) argues that characters are the most important piece of narrative, as without characters there would be no story. Personal names function as determinants that set important characters apart from the non-important, and are often brought to attention of the audience early on (2003: 47).

Descriptive names have narrative functions; they impart knowledge of the character’s attributes such as appearance, origin or personality, amuse and entertain the reader, evoke emotion, or fulfil an aesthetic

function (Van Coillie 2006: 123). Bertills argues that translation of names with semantic content is necessary to preserving the desired effect (2003: 194).

What, then, happens if personal names with semantic meaning are retained and transferred unchanged to a Finnish context target text? As my materials I am using two Finnish dubs of My Little Pony Tales (Pikku Ponit), where two different translation strategies were used. One dub retains semantic names in English, the other dub has names translated into Finnish. The dubbed episodes were shown to two classes of students enrolled in Joensuu Normaalikoulu primary school, and the 24 participants, aged 7 to 9, were asked to answer a questionnaire after.

The results indicate that language context affects memorability, spelling and cognitive recognition of

characters not previously named. In short, characters appear to be more easily identified when the descriptive function is fulfilled and the allusion understood. However, characterization appeared to be determined by character behavior more so than language context and allusive values of personal names. Descriptive names, however, had some effect on characterization.

Avainsanat – Keywords

children’s literature, personal names, characterization, personal name translation, semantics

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ITÄ-SUOMEN YLIOPISTO – UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND Tiedekunta – Faculty

Filosofinen tiedekunta Osasto – School Humanistinen osasto Tekijät – Author

Nina Karoliina Hirvonen Työn nimi – Title

Nomen est Omen - Reception of translated and non-translated personal names in My Little Pony Tales Pääaine – Main subject Työn laji – Level Päivämäärä – Date Sivumäärä – Number of

pages Englannin kieli ja

kääntäminen

Pro gradu -tutkielma x

17.5.2016 84 sivua + liitteet Sivuainetutkielma

Kandidaatin tutkielma Aineopintojen tutkielma Tiivistelmä – Abstract

Tutkielmani tarkoituksena on tarkastella kuvaavien erisnimien funktioita animaatiosarjassa My Little Pony Tales (Pikku Ponit). Erisnimien ensisijainen tehtävä on erottaa henkilöhahmot toisistaan sekä taustastaan, mutta kuvaavilla erisnimillä on myös muita monitahoisia tarinankerronallisia funktioita. Tässä tutkielmassa tutkin kuinka kuvaavat nimet vaikuttavat hahmon karakterisaatioon silloin, kun kuvaava nimi on säilytetty alkukielisenä ja vaikuttaako alkukielinen erisnimi hahmon muistettavuuteen tai tunnistettavuuteen.

Tutkielma pohjautuu pitkälti Yvonne Bertillsin Beyond Identification -väitöskirjassaan esittämiin väittämiin hahmon roolista kenties tärkeimpänä osana tarinankerrontaa, jonka takia hahmo henkilöidään erisnimellä yleensä varhaisessa vaiheessa (2003: 48). Kuvaavilla erisnimillä on henkilöinnin lisäksi myös muita funktioita;

niiden tehtävä on kertoa lukijalle jotain kantajastaan kuten viittaukset ulkonäköön tai luonteeseen, huvittaa lukijaa, herättää tunteita, tai ne täyttävät esteettisen funktion (Van Coillie 2006: 123). Tästä syystä kuvaavien erisnimien kääntäminen on Bertillsin mukaan tarpeellista, jotta erisnimen tarkoitettu funktio välittyy lukijalle (2003: 193).

Mitä sitten tapahtuu, mikäli kuvaavaa erisnimeä ei käännetä kohdekielelle vaan se säilytetään alkukielisenä?

Käytin tutkimusmateriaalinani My Little Pony Tales -sarjan kahta dubbausta, joissa ensimmäisen

käännösstrategana on nimen säilyttäminen ja toisen nimen kääntäminen kohdekielelle. Suoritin tutkimukseni Joensuun Normaalikoulun kahdessa luokassa. Eri luokat katsoivat eri version samasta jaksosta ja täyttivät katselun jälkeen kyselylomakkeen. Yhteensä 24 oppilasta osallistui tutkimukseen, vastaajien ikähaitari oli 7-9 vuotta.

Tulokset viittaavat siihen, että kuvaavien erisnimien ymmärrettävyydellä on vaikutusta erisnimien muistettavuuteen sekä tunnistettavuuteen. Kun erisnimen kuvaava funktio täyttyi ja nimen kuvaavuus oli kielellisesti ymmärrettävissä kohdekielellä, vastaajat tunnistivat hahmoja sekä kirjoittivat nimiä oikein useammin. Hahmon karakterisaatioon nimen ymmärrettävyydellä ei kuitenkaan ollut oletetun kaltaista vaikutusta. Hahmon käyttäytymisellä ja toiminnalla on suurempi vaikutus karakterisaatioon kuin kuvaavalla nimellä. Nimen ymmärrettävyys ei kuitenkaan ollut yhdentekevää.

Avainsanat – Keywords

lastenkirjallisuus, erisnimet, kuvaavat erisnimet, erisnimien kääntäminen, semantiikka

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1 Introduction

This study endeavors to explore the effect of personal names on characterization and character name memorability with an emphasis on the possible difference translation and retention might have on the survey results. I test whether children can remember characters with greater accuracy when names are in their native language versus when they are in a foreign language the children either do not know or have a very limited grasp of. In the case of this study the language is English. Firstly, accuracy is primarily tested by having the children name characters without external help (writing the names under the characters) and combining names with characters (drawing lines between available names and characters). My hypothesis is that children will name more characters and have fewer spelling errors when naming characters in their native language as opposed to foreign language, and will combine characters with greater accuracy when they understand the names as opposed to when they do not.

Secondly, and perhaps more interestingly, characterization will be tested with free association questions, where children are asked to describe characters. These characters have semantically loaded names, and my hypothesis is that children will derive qualities from these names when they can understand them, and when the names are foreign they will derive qualities from other characterization attributes. I hypothesize that children will draw clues from translated names resulting in repetition of alluded qualities (that is to say, a character with a name alluding to niceness will result in characterizations that imply niceness) whereas non-translated names will result in a more vague characterization that is based on other cues, such as character appearance and character behavior.

My interest towards the effects of personal names in children’s literature (or in this case, visual media) stems from a personal recollection from my own childhood. My pastel-colored youth was filled with My Little Pony, and with translation policies as lax as they were and dubbing budgets so seemingly meager, my favorite ponies were often entangled in a web of confused identities. Is this pony called Apila or Clover, or perhaps both? Fast forward circa fifteen years, and I wrote my bachelor’s thesis on the subject of personal name translation in the 1990s animation series My Little Pony Tales. In my thesis I categorized and cataloged translation solutions regarding personal names, with a particular emphasis on names that contained semantically loaded elements. With the concluding chapter of my bachelor’s thesis begins the

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introductory chapter to this master’s thesis, as I intend to expand on the theories and themes I have explored previously.

Though children’s literature is considered by many to roost within the periphery of the literal polysystem (Lathey 2006, Shavit 1986), it by no means should be understood as children’s literature not adhering to literary conventions or authors not treating their literary pieces with appropriate integrity. As such, in my thesis I will be treating children’s literature as purposeful a text as any other, regardless of intended audience. One might criticize the choice of material, but My Little Pony has a long legacy as a franchise which spans decades as well as generations and is particularly fruitful in terms of its unique personal name conventions. Characters are primarily named with descriptive names or names containing semantic elements in the fictional world of My Little Pony, the Ponyverse.

Descriptive names are widely used in literature aimed at child audiences who can either read for themselves, or who are read aloud to by adults (Bertills 2003, Kapari et al. 2002). If we argue that all texts have a purpose (Vermeer 2013) and all communication has a meaning (ibid.), it can be assumed that names which are descriptive also serve a purpose in the realm of literature. They are used to communicate to the reader implicit or explicit information about the character (Nord 1997, Nikolajeva 2002, 2005, Bertills 2003, Oittinen 2000, Van Coillie 2006). And as such, no name is a coincidence.

Characters, one could argue, are the most meaningful part of a story and because of this it could also be argued that character names are particularly important to the narrative. Does non-translation affect characters if the specific intended purpose of a descriptive name is disclosing character attributes, when the allusion cannot be effectively exploited due to language barrier? Names are naturally not the only characterization tool, and other tools including age, sex, appearance and behavior are considered (for example what are we to think of old man Mr. Grumpy or the pirate Captain Tiny, who dwarfs a squadron of the royal guard with his hulking body?). Names alone, descriptive or otherwise, do not make a character. But I argue that names are a fundamental part of the narrative that should not be overlooked.

What is a descriptive name, or a semantic element? These terms are explored in chapter 2 and 3, but I will briefly illuminate the concept. In the context of this study I have chosen descriptive name as my primary term, but will use semantic name intermittently, which correspond with Yvonne Bertill’s semantically loaded name (2003: 206). A descriptive name, in short, is a proper noun and a personal

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name that by itself carries a meaning. Names that qualify as semantic are names that refer to intangible abstract concepts such as Sweetheart, to tangible real life objects such as Clover or Patch. Semantic names can be divided to many (if not countless) categories to best suit the purposes of the researcher.

For the purposes of this study I have assigned some general categories, which are further explored in chapter 3.2. Name with semantic elements is a more precise derivation of a semantic name, implying a name that by itself is not semantic, but rather parts of it are. These parts are called lexemes and are better explained in chapter 3.

The study was conducted as a questionnaire survey in two separate classes of students enrolled in Joensuu Normaalikoulu primary school in Joensuu Finland, among school children aged 7 to 9. The children were asked to watch a short episode of My Little Pony Tales and then asked to answer a brief questionnaire on paper. The survey consists of multiple choice and free association questions. Depending on their age, the children will see either a version where names have been translated or a version where they have been retained. These versions are official translations by two different translation agencies. The questionnaire is introduced in detail in chapter 5.

The thesis is structured as follows. Chapter 2 focuses on personal names in children’s literature and expands on the terms descriptive and semantic name. Translating of personal names and my categorizations for these translation solutions derived from previous research (Hirvonen 2012) are also explored in greater detail. Chapter 3 explores translating for children and translating children’s literature, aiming to expand on ideas of functional equivalence, fidelity, creativity and the position children’s literature have from a sociocultural perspective. It briefly defines some general linguistic theories which serve as a fundamental backbone to the vital theories on semantics by Ferdinand de Saussure (2002) and Hans Vermeer’s functional equivalence (Vermeer and Reiss 1984). Chapter 4 discusses the practices of audiovisual translating in detail. Although subtitling and dubbing are not at the forefront in this study, it is important to explore some principles that may affect how a translator might translate a script (time restrictions, extra-linguistic elements) and the multimodality of translating literary and audiovisual content for children.

Chapter 5 introduces my material and methods. My research data was collected via a survey questionnaire from children aged 7 to 9 in Joensuu Normaalikoulu primary school. The materials used

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include two different dubs of a ten minute episode from the 90s children’s animated television series My Little Pony Tales.

Results and analysis is discussed in detail in chapter 6 and concluding chapter 7 will critically consider the validity of this thesis.

In this study I have chosen to purposefully use the gender neutral singular they (Huddleston 2002: 492) as my preferred pronoun in place of the cumbersome she/he and her/him or the particularly tiresome generic he. This is a conscious choice to use inclusive language in my part as the author. It is also utilized for the purpose of blurring the lines between survey respondents to further protect their identities.

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2 Personal names in children’s literature

"What's the use of their having names," the Gnat said, "if they won't answer to them."

"No use to them," said Alice; "but it's useful to the people that name them, I suppose. If not, why do things have names at all?"

Gnat and Alice, Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass, page 152

In this chapter I will explore the functions of personal names in literature with a particular focus on names that appear in My Little Pony, conventional and descriptive names and their utility, as well as personal name translation. I will also discuss personal names as a characterization tool, and how descriptive names may affect characterization.

One could argue that characters are a quite-essential building block for any good story and the most important piece of narrative. Their function is to provide the intended audience a point of reference, an active participant in the storytelling and someone (something) to relate to (Bertills 2003: 48). A character only becomes one when they are specifically and explicitly described by the author (Nikolajeva 2002).

Often a character is distinguished from the background humdrum of non-important descriptions of other people, animals and objects by giving them a distinguishing personal name.

Furthermore, Yvonne Bertills (2003: 48) suggests that personal names also serve the function of signifying importance or relevance of the characters. In the case of classic fairytales in particular, plot-related key characters (or main characters, such as the protagonist or hero) are assigned personal names as a sign of importance (such as Little Red Riding Hood) whereas minor characters are only given simple appellations such as wolf, grandmother or huntsman despite their important roles in the narrative (there would, after all, be little story to tell with any of these characters missing).

Personal names in literature serve multiple, complex functions. Most notably the function of a name is to distinguish the character from their surroundings and other characters, and to allow the reader to orient themselves within the narrative (Bertills 2003: 48). A name has been purposefully chosen for the character to draw attention to what is significant about them (for example, female name vs male name, a prestigious heritage name such as the German nobiliary particle ‘von’, unconventional made up name or a descriptive name). A lack of a name is a purposeful decision by the author and equally meaningful as far

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as the narrative and the character is concerned (ibid.). A name serves a dynamic narrative tool, and the author can choose to impart additional knowledge about the characters personality, origin or appearance by choosing character names that are transparently descriptive or meaningful (Ainiala et al. 2008: 338).

Furthermore, the functions of personal names according to Jan Van Coillie include: to identify the character, to provide information about the character, to entertain or even amuse the reader (2006:

123). This is particularly true in children’s literature, where names serve aesthetic purposes through whimsy and imaginativeness, such as alliteration, poetic rhythm or word play (consider Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum). Understand the functions in the source language and source culture is important for the translator so that they might stay faithful, as demanded by Bertills (2003: 194), to the purpose of the author when translating, whether the function is formal, semantic or otherwise. Bertills also notes that this is what makes translating for children particularly challenging. However, Van Coillie implies that any purpose or intent of the author is not known to the translator and hangs in the balance of interpretation of possible function, and any effect on the reader is not in the author’s or the translator’s power to determine as each reader will have their own interpretation (2006: 123).

2.1 Conventional and descriptive names

Fictive names are bound by the confines of the rules that govern any particular fictive world; where conventional names are often found in our real world lexicon and serve little purpose besides labeling to set one person apart from another (Bertills 2003: 17), in the world of fiction names are a textual tool for explicating innate knowledge about the character (Bertills 2003: 55–56). Conventional names in literature often carry meaning, and are used to allude to real life bearers of the name, or to other works of fiction or popular culture (Bertills 2003: 42). Examples of this could include biblical names, which have been widely adopted into conventional name lexicon, but in fiction are used as an allusive tool for carrying connotative value; consider a character named Judas, for example. Judas as a name is infused with the notions of deceit and ultimate betrayal, Maria on the other hand with the essence of purity and piety.

Moreover, even when a conventional name does not appear to have an immediate point of reference, it gives the reader some information of its bearer; whether the character is a female, old or young, or if their name ‘exotic’ in the fictive context, etc. (Bertills 2003: 42).

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In this thesis I frequently use the terms semantic and semantic element when referring to descriptive names. Semantics, in brief, is the study of meaning. According to Ferdinand Saussure (2002: 48), meaning can be derived from signifiers, such as words, symbols and signs, and their ideational signified, what they stand for (and to some degree referent, their real-life signified). Denotation is the apparent meaning, and connotation a culture-specific meaning (Diaz-Cintas 2009: 78).

By the term semantic I intend to signify that a word has particular meaning and that it refers to an intangible idea or concept, or a tangible real life referent. Furthermore, a semantic element is used to isolate words or elements (lexemes) within words that signify a meaningful connection to a referent. In this study there are semantic names, that is, the name itself refers to a concept (such as the name Starlight). Alternatively there are also names that only contain semantic elements. That is, the name itself may not be fully meaningful but parts of it are, or that a word that has a meaning is ingrained within an otherwise meaningless name (see also Cruse 2004: 86 on word forms and lexemes for further reading). An example of a meaningful lexeme within a meaningless name is Cheerilee, which can be determined to have the stem Cheer, with a meaningless suffix particle -ilee.

In My Little Pony, conventional names are sometimes used, although they are not very common. In the Ponyverse, or the fictive world that the characters inhabit, descriptive names are more common.

Descriptive names (also semantic names and semantically loaded names (Docherty 1986: 45, Bertills 2003: 206)) mean names that have semantic elements or carry connotative meaning to describe the name bearer. Names like these are the most common in children’s literature (consider the Big Bad Wolf), as well as fantasy genre literature. The functions descriptive names perform are not limited to identifying characters. Descriptive names are used to inform the audience to the nature or appearance of the character, and can be used for comedic effect when there is direct mismatch between the character’s descriptive name and their actual description, like would be the case with a giant named Tiny or a little fluffy lapdog named Killer. The functions of these names are to draw attention to what is significant about these characters, and to amuse the reader with the apparent discrepancy and oxymoron. A descriptive name can function on multiple levels simultaneously, performing functions as a means of relaying information, identifying the character, and amusing the reader, or any other combination.

Descriptive as defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

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adjective

a) : giving information about how something or someone looks, sounds, etc. : using words to describe what something or someone is like

b) : serving to describe <a descriptive account>

For the purposes of this study, descriptive name is reserved to names that adequately fulfill the task of descriptiveness as defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

In his master’s thesis, Joni Rahja (2013) argues that unconventional, or invented names (Bertills 2003:

210) are most common in fantasy and sci-fi genres. This supports Bertills’s argument that sometimes the fictive world demands a unique name that is outside the ordinary lexicon in order to convey a certain milieu (2003: 41). An unconventional name is neither a descriptive name, nor a conventional name from an existing onomasticon (Bertills 2003). Onomasticon refers to names that are accepted in their source culture and/or language as personal names. An onomasticon is never constant, it evolves with time and cultural exchange), though it may contain elements of one or both. Invented names often function as identifiers, and satisfy the aesthetic functions and norms of their fictive context. Unconventional names are coined without a direct relation to our common reality, but rather in keeping with the fictive world in which they belong. However, it is not thoroughly impossible for these types of names to eventually become a conventional name (for example Tolkien’s Bilbo and Legolas have been adopted into conventional name lexicon in some countries).

I have chosen to use the term descriptive name to refer to personal names that have descriptive elements such as allusions (or, references) to:

a) appearance, b) profession, c) or personality

This term has also been used by Nord (2003: 183). I propose to define this term in more clarity in relation to this specific study. The definition I am using is my own adaptation refined from terms I have previously

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used in my bachelor’s thesis, such as the term semantically loaded name, which was also used by Bertills (2003: 206). It will be used as a replacement for the terms semantically loaded name, semantic name and name with semantic elements. A semantic element means a part of the name that holds semantic meaning; a name may not be fully semantic, but it may have semantic lexemes embedded in it (consider Cheerilee), or as a part of a full name (Pippi Longstocking). However the aforementioned terms are not without merit and can be used when it is necessary to draw attention to a particular aspect of a name or its translation. In the next section I will explain what the term descriptive name means in the context of this particular study.

A descriptive name is personal a name that contains elements that have meaning and/or allude to something concrete (tangible or intangible) about the character, or imply something about the character, whether explicitly or implicitly, in a way that can be understood from the semantic meaning or context derived from the name. In simpler terms, a descriptive name serves a purpose as providing the reader with information on the nature of the character (Van Coillie 2006: 124).

Descriptive names are an effective characterization tool in literature, as they provide the reader transparent and direct information about the character. Names that fit the definition of a descriptive name can be used in the real world (e.g. Hope, Amber, Jay) as identifying labels without inherent meaning (Bertills 2003). However, in the literary context where they have a distinct purpose besides identification they are most common in children’s literature and to some extent in fantasy genre (Rahja 2013). Many are familiar with characters such as the Grimm’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, where descriptive names allude both to physical attributes (Snow White for her ivory skin) as well as personality disposition (Grumpy for his sour mood). Similar use of descriptive names can be found also in Pierre Curriford’s The Smurfs, where characters are named either in relation to their

a) occupation (Doctor, Poet), b) personality (Lazy, Grouchy) c) color (Black)

d) implicit qualities (Papa as the patriarch, Smurfette as a female smurf).

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Although these examples are focused on children’s literature, it should be noted that the use of descriptive names is not strictly limited to this genre, and can be used in practically any other genre of literature. However they are perhaps the most frequent in fantasy and sci-fi genres.

2.1.1. Descriptive names in My Little Pony

Having explored descriptive names as a relatively common literary tool for authors, I aim to briefly expand on what descriptive names means as a term, and how descriptive names are used in the Ponyverse.

Much like in The Smurfs, descriptive names are used in the Ponyverse to refer to a character’s profession, color, age, type (flying Pegasus-pony, magical unicorn-pony, water-dwelling mer-pony), personality, origin or “cutie mark” (all ponies present an image on their flank in relation to whatever sets that pony apart from the others, oftentimes referring to a calling, special talent or a primary personality attribute).

Figure 1. Patch’s cutie mark is a patch of fabric, which directly alludes to the character’s name. Screen capture of My Little Pony Tales, 1992.

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Names can be explicitly descriptive, such as single word names Valiant or Sweetheart. They can be implicitly descriptive, such as multiword names Sky Whirler or Bon Bon. Furthermore, not all personal names in My Little Pony are descriptive, or the level of transparency in descriptiveness can be varied.

Consider the name Cheerilee, which contains a semantic element (or lexeme, Cruse 2004: 86) cheer with a suffix particle -lee, but as a whole is neither descriptive nor conventional, or the twin names Ting-a-Ling and Jing-a-Ling which allude to the onomatopoetic sound of musical jingling, but are not fully transparent in descriptiveness nor meaningful as standalone words.

It should also be noted that sometimes a reference may also be lost despite a perfectly understandable descriptive name. As a case in point a My Little Pony character, Chevalier, whose name was retained in both English original and Finnish dub. English speaking children might make the connection to chivalry and knighthood, as the character’s French name strongly resonates with its English cousin chivalry, and as such may be recognized by English speaking audience. Chevalier is assigned a French identity (he has a French name and speaks in a thick French accent). However Finnish children, with Finnish language being relatively distant to French, might not pick up on the otherwise fairly obvious allusion to the personality attributes of chivalry. Furthermore, ballet instructor Madame Percheron’s French accent might not seem out of place because French ballet teacher seems like an appropriate trope; however the name has a clever allusion that may not be apparent to an average child viewer; Percheron is a breed of French horse. Retention of these names, however, could be supported by Christiane Stolt’s (1978) idea of names as a means of retaining a certain cultural milieu (see chapter 3.2 on translation strategies), in this case the exoticism of French identity that clearly defines these characters. Madame Percheron is translated in the Finnish context Nordic Agapio dub as Neiti Ranskanen, to make this allusion more available to the Finnish audience while still retaining a sense of foreign identity.

2.2 Characterization

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Characterization is the act of describing or characterizing a person or a thing, and the act of an author creating a representation of a fictitious character to function as a literary tool within the narrative. An author has many ways of facilitating characterization, which will be explored next.

In her master’s thesis Suvi Nordenswan (2014) explains that characterization can be divided into two categories; direct and indirect characterization based on the observations of Maria Nikolaveja (2002, 2005).

Direct characterization encompasses the things we as readers know, more specifically the things that the author will explicitly spell out for us, or that we can objectively see in illustrations. These include attributes such as sex, attire, actions and reactions or thoughts that are given to the reader by the authoritative author. Although these attributes may be incomplete or even unreliable (say, when a character describes another or when a character describes themselves and we cannot trust the description to be accurate), the reader will often have to accept what is offered to them by the narrator.

Unless the author has established that the narration cannot be trusted either by directly telling the reader the narrator or character is lying or coloring the story (much like Tom Sawyer who tells tall tales in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), there is little room for personal interpretation or doubt. Characterization that relies on external factors that can be perceived (such as clothing, hair or general cleanliness) are often used in children’s literature, however implicit attributes can be a powerful characterization tool (Nikolajeva 2002: 268-277). In audiovisual media such as animation, the marriage of the text (such as plot and narration, as well as dialogue) and the visual content is all the more apparent and the reader (or, viewer) is all the more likely to use visuals to make their characterization, as they can see and interpret what is happening and what the characters look like. Visuals and text is often also supported by other auditory cues, such as music or sound effects.

Indirect characterization consists of more implicit attributes, such as age, preferences and indeed, personal names. Implicit attributes can be directly addressed (Joe did not like broccoli) or implicitly addressed (Joe looked at the broccoli in disgust), where the reader is allowed to infer the purported meaning the author is conveying about the character. From the previous examples we can deduce that Joe is male, he does not enjoy broccoli and maybe he does not enjoy greens in general, he reacts rudely, perhaps he is young. However these are subjective rather than objective interpretations and their

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correctness is entirely dependent on the author and whether or not the author will expand on the subject (Nikolajeva 2005: 161). For all we know, it could turn out that Joe is in fact a female character. As such, it can be argued that indirect characterizations in translated literature rely on the interpretation of the translator and the ensuing translation (unless the translator has the privilege of contacting the author directly or vice versa to correct misunderstandings). Furthermore, it should also be mentioned that it has been argued that all translation is an adaptation because it always relies on translator interpretation (Kapari 2005).

In My Little Pony, as an animated series where illustration is equally prominent as the text (dialogue and narration), both indirect and direct characterizations are employed. The characters have both externally determined attributes such as color, body type, mane style, and cutie marks. A cutie mark is an image portraying special talent or affinity which can also be considered an implicit characterization tool, as it does not explicitly state anything about the character but the viewer is able to infer qualities about the character based on its image. The ponies are also assigned other determining characteristics, such as professions (nurse, teacher, janitor, ballet instructor) and nationality implied by accents or a particular tone (Madame Percheron’s and Chevalier’s French accent). The children can, and likely will use some or all of these when asked to describe the characters. The results will be discussed in later chapters.

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Figure 2. Bulk Biceps (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic 2014) is named in accordance to his physique.

He is not very bright, which is a stereotypical brawn over brain bodybuilder trope. Screen capture.

Moreover, though personal names fall within the category of implicit attributes (Nikolajeva 2005), in the case of the Ponyverse names could be seen as direct characterizations; they can allude to external, explicit and apparent factors such as coloration or physique. As such, it could also be interpreted that personal names function as determinants to what is relevant or unique about the character (Bertills 2003 :88, 102), like one’s ability to fly or being heavily built, thus setting them apart from other characters who cannot or are not. Personal names also make explicit what otherwise would be implicit, such as by alluding to character’s profession or age (Mr. Cake, Granny Smith). Nordenswan (2014), much like Nikolajeva (2005) and Bertills (2003), argues that in literature, no personal name is left to chance and that all personal names can act as a powerful characterization tool for authors. The next chapter will explore this further.

Figure 3. Clover (pictured behind Sweetheart) is an exhibition of a personal name’s humorous function.

Her cutie mark is a four leaf clover which is a symbol of good luck, but she is insufferably unlucky. Screen capture from My Little Pony Tales 1992.

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15 2.3 Personal names and characterization

In the previous chapter I suggested that there are two types of characterization as defined by Nikolajeva (2005). Personal names fall in the category of indirect characterization. However I also suggested that in the case of My Little Pony, wherein the names also contain semantics elements or are directly and transparently descriptive, personal names could also be seen as a direct characterization tool.

Although scholars agree that the primary tools for assigning traits to a fictional character is through direct actions, speech, description or narration (see Nikolajeva 2002 quoted in Bertills 2003: 51), personal names can be used as devices of giving a character substance. This is particularly true for personal names with semantic elements that are transparent and as such, tangible to the reader. According to Docherty (1986: 45, quoted in Bertills 2003: 48), if a character is assigned a semantically loaded name (term in correspondence with descriptive name), the name clearly defines the name-bearer and renders the character somewhat limited in their possible interpretations. Even when the name is not in correspondence with the character (for example a character of enormous proportions being called Tiny), it still draws attention to a specific character trait (Tiny’s relevant character trait is its size).

Bertills draws attention to the notion that both conventional and semantically loaded names are carriers of connotative value, although their power and target of allusion, denotation and connotation are different (2003: 52). If you were to look at conventional names such as George and Tatyana, you are very likely to have already drawn conclusions of the character’s attributes (possible interpretations including age, sex and ethnicity). If you are then given names Logan and Sweetheart, your perception of these characters may be very different because of the differences in their names, and perhaps the interpretation will include presumed personality attributes (such as kindness for Sweetheart) due to the connotation of the semantic element in the name. Although in My Little Pony both conventional names as well as descriptive names are used, I would suggest that descriptive names serve a larger role as being directly affective to characterization. The justification for this statement lies in the naming conventions of the Ponyverse, which was discussed in the previous chapter 2.2, and will be discussed further in chapter 3

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3 Translating for children with reference to translating personal names

This chapter will briefly discuss some general ideas regarding translating for children, or alternatively, translating children’s literature. Some key ideas involve the author-audience dichotomy where an adult author and child audience is involved, as well as notions on fidelity and translator ethics and functional equivalence. Although most of these theories revolve around works of literature, they can be applied to audiovisual content. Children’s literature often incorporates the multimodality of text and illustration, where imagery is intended to support the text or provide more information than what can be interpreted from text alone.

The definition of children, children’s culture, literature and childhood in general is not clear, but rather something that has remained fluid throughout time periods. Riitta Oittinen (2000) approaches childhood as an indefinite, subjective experience that all adults have had and is different for each individual. Thus, it cannot be defined in a strictly prescriptive way. She also discusses whether children’s culture is culture intended for children (as chosen, produced and censored by adults), or if it means a culture children create among themselves, or perhaps a collaboration where both adults and children create a culture together (Oittinen 2000: 84).

A similar divide could be made for children’s literature: is it literature that is intended for children (as appropriated by adult authors and readers), or literature children read. Examples of children’s literature that was originally intended for adult audiences but was adopted by child readers includes but is not limited to Kipling’s Tarzan, Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe and Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. Shavit (1986 quoted in Oittinen 2000: 64) also supports the argument that children’s literature can have a dual audience, where the content can be enjoyed by both child and adult readers on their separate levels. Examples of such literary ambivalence include Milne’s Winnie the Pooh, Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Jansson’s Moomin books.

Children’s literature has its own uniqueness that stems from the duality of audiences. It has to be appropriate to the audience in terms of language and syntax, as children’s reading abilities are not like those of an adult. Similarly the language must be recitable, as children’s literature is often read aloud by adults: this also applies to dubbing, where the lines must be recitable in order for the dub to be successful. Adults are the secondary audience to children’s literature, as the literature has to appeal to

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both adults who choose what books to buy and read to children (or what movies or television shows they are allowed to watch), as well as the child audience that chooses to listen (or consume independently) (Oittinen 2000: 69).

According to Gillian Lathey (2006), children’s literature is considered to be in the periphery of the literary polysystem. Furthermore, Lathey argues that it is not without sacrifice, as translating for children has been regarded to be a low skill profession, which can hurt a translator’s reputation. Lathey is not alone in these assertions, which mirror Riitta Oittinen’s (2000) observation that the apparent lack of acknowledgement may be the symptom of patriarchy; where the work of women (writing and translating for children has been, at least in Finland, dominated by women since 20^th century) and subsequently children’s culture is not as highly regarded as the work of men or adult culture. Appreciation is low in the public eye, and within the discipline translating for children is apparently regarded with, if not quite equal, considerable apathy. According to Oittinen (2000: 68), there are few universities with departments for children’s literature and it is a subject most often found as an elective in other disciplines such as psychology or pedagogy.

Perhaps this peripheral position and low appreciation also bring positives in terms of the act of translating? Translators are permitted greater creativity and freedom when it comes to employing strategies to the text, and strategies ranging from aggressive adaptation and omission to minor simplification of subject matter are all available when translating for children (Oittinen 2000, Bertills 2003). These strategies and freedom can also be extended to personal name translations. Jaana Kapari- Jatta (2008) argues in favor of the translator’s freedom to choose strategies on a case by case basis, rather than having to decide on any single strategy and commit to it with disregard to the translation needs and problems that may arise later.

Translating children’s literature is often not a task of preserving formal equivalence, but rather to translate an idea. In this regard, functional equivalence (formerly dynamic equivalence, Nida 1964: 129) could be considered to be a theoretical cornerstone when translating for children. For the purposes of this study Hans Vermeer’s skopos theory (Reiss and Vermeer 1984) felt the most appropriate basis of functional translation theory from the perspective of children’s literature (and audiovisual material) translation. Vermeer suggested that fidelity to the source text was not a priority, but rather that a text should be translated in accordance to its purpose. Moreover, he argued that the purpose of the translation could result in different translations of the same source text (Vermeer 2004: 234). This could

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be seen as complimentary to general ideas about translating for children where a translator is considered to have more freedom in terms of fidelity, and a moral responsibility towards their audience more so than the original author (Shavit 1986: 26). Children’s literature can have multiple purposes as discussed by Van Coillie (2006: 123), such as to educate, or to amuse. Anthony Pym has argued that a translator can have a different purpose than the original author. The original text could aim to amuse, but the translator could decide that this purpose is not as important, and translate (adapt) the text to make it more educational (2010: 48).

Skopos theory intends to shift the focus from source text equivalence to a more dynamic, functional equivalence. Vermeer (as well as Holtz-Mänttäri 1984 and Nord 1997) argues that the intended purpose of the text should be the determining factor for the translation. The audience (reader, end user) becomes the master. However, Vermeer also argued that although the purpose may be the end that justifies the means, a translator is also bound by their commissioner; who may or may not be the end user. Consider this in the context of animation dubbing script translation. The commissioner will be the publishing company that has bought rights to the animation script. However the end user will not be the publishing company (though they will use the translation and ensuing dub), the end user will be the audience;

children. However, it should also be noted that children’s literature (and its translations) is affected by the adult author child reader dichotomy (Bertills 2003, Nikolajeva 2002), where the author (and subsequently translator) acts as an agent with more experience and knowledge and has to pre-determine not only what the child reader will be able to understand, but also what is appropriate for a child audience; thus writing (and translating) for children.

It is seldom possible to discuss children’s literature without discussing the special relationship between illustration and the text. Children’s literature is often illustrated (and in the case of animation, the imagery is the text), and it is the translator’s duty to ensure that the resulting translation does not conflict or detract from the illustrations (Oittinen 2000: 4). A disruption between text and illustration and the resulting dissonance can affect the reading/viewing experience negatively (Van Coillie 2006). This is all very relevant also in the realm of audiovisual translation and translating both script and dialogue for children’s animated television series and movies, where disruption and a dissonance between the text and the audiovisual content (for example an error in script writing assigning a line in dialogue to the wrong character, so the character seen speaking has the wrong voice) can detract from the viewing experience and break the illusion of the story. Audiovisual translation will be discussed in further detail in chapter 4. Oittinen (2000: 6, 76) argues that all translation is adaptation, and that adapting a text for a

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target audience is an essential part of translating for children. This is a much more liberal stance on adaptation, for example Ritva Leppihalme (2007) argues to use caution when adapting and domesticating children’s literature, as authoritative adults should not determine so strictly what content and language is appropriate for children and should not risk censoring the original, but to respect the author’s intended purposes (such as to amuse or to educate) when translating.

3.1 Translating personal names

In Kapari et al. (2002), Jaana Kapari mentions that the trend in Finland in the 1990s was to translate all personal names in literature aimed at child and teen audiences to make them easier to read by an audience only fluent in one language, Finnish. In her master’s thesis Terhi Leskinen (1995) notes that there has been a shift from the 90’s trend of translating personal names from English to Finnish to a more modern practice of leaving personal names intact (quoted in Oittinen 2000). Kapari-Jatta (2008: 71–72) also supports this idea and argues that not all names require translation and that children are nowadays more accustomed to foreign languages, making systematic translation of all personal names a strategy more befitting of literature aimed at ever younger audiences (Kapari et al. 2002: 4). This shift in translation conventions and attitude could be considered a display of potential freedom of choice, but also a development stemming from the complexity of the definition of children’s literature.

If the personal names in My Little Pony were intended to be meaningful characterization tools (as they appear to be in the original to the source language users), translating the names so that they serve this function could be one skopos. In short it could be described as follows; the names should allude to qualities physical or psychological as intended by the original. If this were an assigned skopos, would a translation where the names failed their purpose be a correct, or at the very least, a good enough (or adequate (Toury 1995 quoted in Venuti 2004: 216) or instrumental (Nord 1997: 47–52)) translation at all?

Ultimately, the skopos of the translation determines what the parameters of an acceptable, adequate or good enough translation are.

Although it is not without warranted criticism (Vermeer 2004: 230–234, Pym 2010: 56–59), skopos theory provides particularly useful tools for determining whether translated and non-translated personal names serve their intended purpose for the intended audience in this particular study. Translation strategies for personal names are discussed in more detail in chapter 3.2.

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Understanding the function of a fictive personal name is key to preserving the desired effect, however subtle the reference or function may be. Because personal names have a dynamic role in the narrative, Yvonne Bertills (2003: 194) argues that when translating personal names, especially when they carry semantic value and allusions, the function of the name should remain faithful to the original and the translator should be aware of the cultural context the original name has. For example, translator Alice Martin retained British names in her translation of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland when the characters belonged to the real world to indicate the mundane, but changed or translated the names of characters originating from Wonderland to highlight the curious (Oittinen 1997: 54), which could be seen as a translator choosing a strategy to achieve a desired effect (functional equivalence, Vermeer 2004) and is in keeping with Nord’s observation that translators can utilize many strategies within a single text (Nord 2003: 182–183, see also Kapari 2008).

Bertills (2003: 207) suggested the following categorization for translation strategies for the translation of personal names, and continues that a translator can, or in fact must employ multiple strategies when translating personal names with connotative value. Bertills’s categorizations are based on the categories provided by Hermans (1988), which she expanded upon and are as follows:

1) copying: name is transferred completely unchanged from source text to target text, so that it appears exactly as it was in the original

2) transcription: name is transliterated and adapted on different levels, such as spelling or phonology

3) substitution: name is changed to a point where it no longer represents the original in form 4) translation: if name has semantic content, it can be translated to match source language meaning

in target text

5) non-translation: name is omitted in target text 6) replacement: name is replaced with a proper noun

From the above we can deduce that there are a number of strategies a translator can employ when translating personal names. Not all translation strategies are actively used in personal name translation. A translator may choose to use just one or two strategies, such as retention or domestication and direct translation, or a combination of any number of strategies (Hermans 1988, Nord 2003). The translator may also choose to change their strategy or solve translation problems on a case by case basis (Kapari 2008:

71-72).

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21 3.2 Translation strategies for personal names

When studying what translation strategies were used in the two translations of My Little Pony Tales, I used a list of strategies I adapted from the works of Nord (2003: 194–195), Hermans (1988 quoted in Bertills 2003: 207) and Čičelytė and Jaleniauskienė (2009) and used as a categorization tool for my bachelor’s thesis (Hirvonen 2012). Other terms have been used for these strategies; my choice of terms has been a matter of personal preference over predetermined terminology (for example Bertills and Hermans use different terminology and categorization). For the purposes of this study my original categorization was insufficient, while Hermans’s and Bertills’s categorization seemed too sprawling and imprecise, I re-adapted my original list of strategies as follows:

1) retention

2) domestication/Adaptation 3) direct translation

4) substitution 5) other

I will briefly define what each translation strategy means in my categorization.

1 Retention

Also called copying by Hermans, and direct translation by Čičelytė and Jaleniauskienė. The name is retained and transferred unchanged to the target text. Retention can be utilized when a name is easily read and understood in the target language. It can also function as a way of introducing the reader to a foreign culture or creating a culture specific milieu (Stolt 1978: 137), such as the Harry Potter books (where English milieu is nurtured via retention of personal names but not always proper names, like in Jaana Kapari-Jatta’s translations of Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, but Likusteritie and Tylyaho).

However sometimes retention does not appear to serve a specific purpose and the reasons for retention are unclear, with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic as a case in point. One possible reason for retention could be that the commissioner of the translation (author, publisher, trademark holder) wishes to maintain brand integrity; that the names be same in every country. Because of this, Rarity remains Rarity and Fluttershy is Fluttershy in the Finnish translation of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic despite there being no apparent need for retention (no milieu to retain).

2 Domestication/Adaptation

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Domestication refers to the act of translating a conventional foreign name into target language equivalent or otherwise. This strategy is most often used in children’s literature (Stolt 1978: 135–136, Leppihalme 2007: 371), although it could be argued that all translation is in a way adaptation. It is a common strategy for translating conventional personal names, as well as personal names with titles.

Examples of these include historic names such as Alexander the Great (Aleksanteri Suuri), King Carl Gustaf (kuningas Kaarle Kustaa), as well as children’s literature characters Pippi Långstrump (Peppi Pitkätossu), Emil I Lönneberga (Vaahteramäen Eemeli) and Kirsi Kunnas’s translation of Alice to Liisa.

In My Little Pony Tales, domestication is primarily used for conventional names. For example, Mr. Tidwell (the school janitor) is translated as herra Jokinen, Logan is translated as Jaakko and the Barringtons translates to Marjaset. These also fit the criteria for adaptation, where the name is not an apparent equivalent to the original, but does not fit the criteria for substitution. Other domesticating adaptations include a plural name Peaches adapted to singular Persikka, Meadowlark from bird to a grass Niittyheinä and Daisy to a different type of flower Kielo.

3 Direct translation

Direct translation means that the elements have been translated word-for-word, or to their target language equivalent (Bertills 2003: 207). It is utilized primarily for descriptive names or names that contain descriptive elements (lexemes), and thus abovementioned conventional names do not meet the criteria for this category. A conventional name can be translated to its perceived equivalent, or assigned an appropriate conventional name in target language and culture, which by my categorization would fall in the realm of domestication.

In My Little Pony Tales, many descriptive names are translated word-for-word when a direct translation is possible. Examples include Amber (Meripihka), Peach Blossom (Persikan Kukka), Sugar (Sokeri) and Spot (Täplä).

4 Substitution

A translator can choose to forgo the original name altogether and create a new name. When substitution is used as a strategy, the resulting name can be domestically localized or foreign, ideally in preserving the method that has been employed throughout. Substitution can also be used when there is no direct equivalent in the target language or when other types of (such as phonetic) equivalence is preserved.

Substitution can also be used in place of direct translation, where names that would have an equivalent are instead translated to something other than this perceived equivalent.

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For this translation category, names can be non-descriptive or descriptive. Conventional names, even when substituted, could still fall within the category of domestication rather than substitution. To meet the criteria for substitution, the name must diverge from the original meaning, or not meet a perceivable target language equivalent. In My Little Pony Tales, the name of a farm animal, Yorkie and its translation Jörkki, belonged in this category. The translation could not sufficiently fulfill the criteria for translation or adaptation, but appeared to be an attempt to preserve phonetic equivalence. Similarly, the pony character name Squire and its translation Kuoro (en. choir) fit the criteria for substitution, where the translation does not meet its target language equivalent of asemies or aseenkantaja (although on personal note, this appears to be a translation error and not a conscious translation strategy, as the English words squire and choir are pronounced similarly and are easily confused if the translator does not have the original script and is translating from audio alone, see chapter 4.1).

Replacing the personal name with a proper noun or a personal pronoun could also fall in this category, though there were not many instances of this type of substitution. Most notably in My Little Pony Tales, Ms. Hackney is substituted with the appellative noun teacher, and Mr. Tidwell with the appellative noun janitor instead of being referred to by personal names in the episode.

5 Other

Other strategies, such as omission or addition, are sometimes used when the name or character is not deemed important or relevant to the reader/audience such as when the character is not seen or the inclusion of the character is not important to the narrative. Omission is used to conserve time and space especially in audiovisual translating and dubbing.

It should be noted that both omission and addition could be their own non-translation category and studied separately. This is recommended if omission and/or addition seem to be a strong trend in a translation, or when omission occurs as a way of substituting personal name with proper nouns or personal pronouns (though in my categorization, this is included in substitution). In the case of my materials both omission and addition are uncommon strategies consisting entirely of additions and omissions, and all other names fit more specific categories, leaving no ambiguity in the other-category. In My Little Pony Tales, the name Half Note is omitted for no discernable reason. The character is seen on screen, but the dialogue with the name is omitted. In another instance, the name Riitta is added to a line in dialogue that did not have a name in the original.

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As discussed earlier and as suggested by Kapari-Jatta (2008), translators can use different strategies to achieve an adequate translation, and are not confined to only using one or two strategies when translating personal names. For example, in the two translations of My Little Pony Tales, all of the five strategies defined above have been used to create the onomasticon (Bertills 2003) for their respective Ponyverses.

Table 1 demonstrates how different strategies have been used in My Little Pony Tales, the results in this table have been collected from two dubs of the same series, one by Nordic Agapio Oy (NA) which used a domesticating approach and the other by Golden Voice Ab (GV) which employed a retentive strategy. The numbers 1-5 correspond with the number of strategies listed above (retention, domestication/adaptation, direct translation, substitution and other), the letter D stands for descriptive name and C for conventional name. Not all names are included in table 1, as it is intended only to showcase how different strategies can be used within one text (I use the term text loosely here, meaning a dub translation). For a full list of all names and their categorization, see Hirvonen (2012).

Table 1. Translations of some personal names in Finnish dubs of My Little Pony Tales.

Name in original Translation Dub D C 1 2 3 4 5

Clover Clover GV D x

Chevalier Chevalier GV/NA D x

Madame Percheron Madame Percheron GV D x

Madame Percheron Neiti Ranskanen NA D x

Amber Meripihka NA D x

Half Note Puolinuotti NA D x

Half Note - (omission) GV D x

Logan Jaakko NA C x

Yorkie Jörkki NA C x

Meadowlark Niittyheinä NA D x

Starlight Tähti NA D x

- Robert (addition) GV C x

Ms Hackney Opettaja GV C x

Ms Hackney Neiti Simanen NA C x

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Squire Kuoro NA D x

In table 1, we see examples of the category 5 (other), strategies. These include an omission: where the character Half-Note is seen on screen and her name is spoken in the original, but is omitted in the translation, as well as addition: where the original line does not mention a character name, but the translation has added a name of a character that is not seen on screen.

As Table 1 indicates, in the Nordic Agapio dub, several complementary translation strategies (adaptation, direct translation and substitution) are used together to create a Finnish language context and onomasticon. According to Bertills (2003: 194), when translating personal names in children’s literature, the function of the name should be carried over to the resulting translation. It could be argued that if personal names had a distinct function (such as to describe the character), the names should be translated so that the function can be fulfilled also in the target language. However the translator has the freedom to choose their translation strategy, and can choose to use retentive rather than adaptive strategies. Or like Kapari-Jatta (2008) argues, choose a strategy on a case-by-case basis. The commissioner of the translation can also have an effect on how personal names are translated.

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4 Audiovisual translating and dubbing

In this chapter I will discuss pragmatic approaches to the theories and rules that are closely linked with my chosen material. Firstly, I will explore the field of audiovisual translation, subtitling and dubbing. Of these two dubbing is naturally more relevant to this particular study, but subtitling must also be considered in this regard. Secondly, I will briefly consider the challenges recitability presents in the field of dubbing.

4.1 Subtitling and dubbing

Worldwide, dubbing and voice-overs have been and still are used to make foreign language audiovisual available to the audience. Dubbing is more common in some European countries, for example in Spain and Italy content for all audiences, including adults, can be dubbed. In Finland dubbing is traditionally used for translating children’s media (namely animations), however there are exceptions (e.g.

documentaries). A European Commission requested study indicates that reasons for subtitling, dubbing and voice-overs are political (such as nationalistic identity), social (literacy and foreign language knowledge), economic (level of demand) and cultural (preference or habit) (Media Consulting Group 2011: 23).

Subtitling is commonly used for foreign media aimed at literate (adult) audiences. It is more economical to produce (Vertanen 2007: 150) and a preferred method for translation in countries with a high literacy rate as well as high demand (Media Consulting Group 2011). However, in countries that produce a large volume of content in native language (e.g. The United States and the United Kingdom) consumers may feel more comfortable with a dub, as they are not accustomed to reading subtitles while watching television, movies or games and would rather avoid it.

Next I will discuss dubbing in more detail. Tatu Tiihonen defines dubbing as a specific type of audiovisual translation which incorporates theatrical translation, subtitling and poetry translation. Moreover, dubbing shares principles with all these special fields of translation and is subject to similar considerations and restrictions (2007: 171). Texts intended for dubbing require oral recitability much like theatrical scripts, the timeframe for a speech act is limited and the quality of the mouth animation affects requirements for

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phonetic equivalence in terms of vowel harmony as well as rhythm of syllables (ibid.). I will look into this in more detail in the succeeding chapter.

According to Tiihonen, translators have previously had limited access to the content they were translating, and would often translate directly from script or after only a single viewing of the source content. The script would then be rehearsed and further post-translation script processing (such as corrections, omissions and additions) would be fine-tuned during recording. Studio equipment as well as animation quality have developed in recent years, requiring better quality translations to meet the demands posed by more accurate mouth animation. Technological advances have made recording and post-recording processing more efficient for voice actors and audiovisual designers, so fixing errors and recording re-takes can now be done with relative ease compared to the equipment of yesteryear.

(Tiihonen 2007: 181).

Figure 4. Screen capture from My Little Pony Tales, 1992. Mouth animation makes some vowel sounds more appropriate than others. Here the exclamation “Aah!” is more likely than “Eek!”

Nomen est Omen : reception of translated and non-translated descriptive names in My Little Pony Tales

Table of Contents

1 Introduction

2 Personal names in children’s literature

3 Translating for children with reference to translating personal names

4 Audiovisual translating and dubbing