Translating Polish Fantasy – translational challenges and problems concerning culture‑rooted elements

• Authors: Mucha Aleksandra

Title variants

EN

Tłumacząc polską fantasy – wyzwania i problemy tłumaczeniowe związane z elementami kulturowymi

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The present article discusses the difficulties and problems that a translator may face while translating Polish fantasy novels into English. Special attention is given to the characteristics of this literary genre and its history in Polish literary tradition. The second part of the present article is devoted to possible challenges of translating the fantasy genre presented by Guttfeld [2008] and those concerning the rendition of elements rooted in cultures discussed by Hejwowski [2004]. The third part contains selected examples of culture‑bound items, along with their translations, derived from two available translations of novels written by Polish fantasy author – Andrzej Sapkowski. The aim of this article is to show how difficult and challenging translating fantasy genre is, whose popularity currently increases.

Keywords

EN

fantasy; translation; Sapkowski; culture‑bound items

• Publisher: Księgarnia Akademicka
• Journal: Między Oryginałem a Przekładem
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 28
• Pages: 55-71

Contributors

author

Mucha Aleksandra

• Uniwersytet Opolski

References

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• Cuddon, B.J.A., Preston, C.E. (1999), Dictionary of Literary Terms & Literary Theory, Penguin Group, London.
• Dowden, K. (2000), European Paganism. The realities of cult from antiquity to the Middle Ages, Routledge, London–New York.
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• Gieysztor, A. (2006), Mitologia Słowian [Mythology of Slavonic people], Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Warszawa.
• Guttfeld, D. (2008), English‑Polish Translations of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Grado, Toruń.
• Hejwowski, K. (2004), Translation: A Cognitive‑Communicative Approach, Wydawnictwo Wszechnicy Mazurskiej – Acta Universitatis Masuriensis, Olecko.
• Hornby, A.S., Turnbull, J. (ed.) (2010), Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English, Oxford University Press, New York.
• Sapkowski, A. (1993, 2005), Ostatnie Życzenie, superNOWA, Warszawa.
• Sapkowski, A. (1994, 2011), Krew Elfów, superNOWA, Warszawa.
• Sapkowski, A. (2007), The Last Wish, Orbit, New York–London.
• Sapkowski, A. (2008), The Blood of Elves, Orbit, New York–London.
• Stevenson, A., Elliot, J., Jones, R. (2001), The Oxford Colour Dictionary, Oxford University Press, New York.

Identifiers

DOI

10.12797/MOaP.21.2015.28.05