Reader’s Choice For Children’s Literature Translation

Children’s literature is a special branch of literature for its unique reader-awareness.The target readers of children’s literature translation naturally involve both children readers and adult readers.Therefore,the study of the reader’s choice for children’s literature translation is a pivotal part of children’s literature translation research.Centering around the reader’s choice for children’s literature translation,this research unveils the tendency of gravitating toward adult readers in Ma Ainong’s Chinese translation of Anne of Green Gables and explores the underlying causes and rationality of such a translation strategy.Unlike traditional literary theories,reception theory emphasizes the role and status of readers.This thesis introduces the origin of reception theory,elaborates its main concepts: the reader’s role,horizon of expectation,and indeterminacy,and summarizes the significance of reception theory for children’s literature translation.On this basis,this study conducts a comparative analysis of the classic children’s literary work Anne of Green Gables and Ma Ainong’s Chinese translation from four aspects: lexicology,syntax,rhetoric and culture.In this way,the reader’s choice for children’s literature translation is discussed in depth.This research finds that Ma Ainong attaches more importance to adult readers rather than children readers in her translation.Inevitably,Ma’s Chinese version of Anne of Green Gables has a certain degree of “adultization”,which is exactly in line with the feature of classic children’s literature.Adults love reading children’s literature for innocence and beauty in children’s literature.On the other hand,to make children better educated,adults shoulder the responsibility of selecting reading materials for children.It is usually after the filter of adult’s awareness that children’s literature is made available to children.Therefore,the translation of children’s literature,particularly classic children’s literature,should consider not only children readers but also adult readers to retain its literariness and make it more accessible toboth target readers.This discovery has some reference values for children’s literature translation in theory and practice.