Strategy Per Category

Now that the translation procedures per CSI category have been discussed in detail, the results of the previous seven subsections can be summarized. This subsection does so by determining the dominant translation strategy for each category to find out whether any of the categories are more likely to be foreignized or domesticated than the others, and if so, which. To do so, the results of both book series will be compared to find general patterns per category. The results of this analysis can be found in Table 2 below.

Table 2

Translation Strategy Per Category

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Dork Diaries

Category Freq. % Category Freq. %

Educational References Domestication Foreignization 49 100 Educational References Domestication Foreignization 39 100 44 89.8 34 87.2 5 10.2 5 12.8 Foods Domestication Foreignization 21 100 Foods Domestication Foreignization 43 100 19 90.5 32 74.4 2 9.5 11 25.6 Locations Domestication Foreignization 15 100 Locations Domestication Foreignization 21 100 13 86.7 7 33.3 2 13.3 14 66.7 Made-Up CSI Domestication Foreignization 30 100 Made-Up CSI Domestication Foreignization 46 100 24 80 25 54.3 6 20 21 45.7

Pop Culture and Celebrities Domestication

Foreignization

4 100 Pop Culture and Celebrities Domestication Foreignization 54 100 1 25 11 20.4 3 75 43 79.6 Products Domestication Foreignization 11 100 Products Domestication Foreignization 30 100 8 72.7 14 46.7 3 27.3 16 53.3

Sports and Customs Domestication Foreignization

92 100 Sports and Customs Domestication Foreignization 101 100 58 63 55 54.4 34 37 46 45.6 Total 222 Total 334

The most striking results in Table 2 can be found in the categories ‘educational references’ and ‘foods’. What both book series have in common is that these two categories contain the highest percentages of domestication: respectively, 89.8% and 90.5% for WK; and 87.2% and 74.4% for DD. The high percentage of domestication in ‘educational references’

was to be expected because the American school system is an important aspect of both book series and Dutch children cannot be expected to understand how this system works. Although ‘domestication’ is the dominant strategy in both book series, section 4.1.1 demonstrated that the translators dealt with educational references in a very different way, nonetheless. Whereas Majoor adapted the American school system to the Dutch one, Engelsman applied either deletion or absolute universalization to help the child reader. The percentage of domestication for ‘foods’, on the other hand, is higher than foreseen. As was shown in section 4.1.2, both translators chose to generalize food CSI’s which is reflected in the translation procedures that were used. Most of the food references in DD were translated with an absolute

universalization, as were those in WK. However, besides this procedure, Majoor also used a lot of naturalization and deletion.

The translation strategies for ‘locations’ in the book series are very different. Whereas WK has a high percentage of domestication (86.7%), the locations in DD are mostly

foreignized (66.7%). This category most accurately reflects the localization that has taken place in the translation of WK. Whereas Engelsman used repetition to maintain the original locations in the translation, Majoor either adapted them through naturalization or deleted them altogether (see section 4.1.3). Made-up CSI’s were also translated quite differently. In WK, there is once again a high percentage of domestication (80%), with naturalization as the most frequently used procedure. The strategy in DD, on the other hand, is more mixed with 54.3% domestication, mostly through naturalization, and 45.7% foreignization, mostly through repetition (see section 4.1.4).

‘Pop culture and celebrities’ and ‘products’ were both categories with a lot of instances in DD but not in WK. Presumably, this is because both are topics that girls find more interesting than boys. Interestingly, the dominant strategy for ‘pop culture’ is

foreignization in both book series. It is also the only category where ‘foreignization’ is the dominant strategy in WK. It should be noted, however, that the number of instances in WK is too small to draw any general conclusions for this category in WK. Nevertheless, ‘pop

culture’ is also the category with the highest degree of foreignization in DD as well (79.6%). These were primarily translated with the procedure ‘repetition’ (section 4.1.5). Children are probably more familiar with these CSI’s because of references in television programs,

magazines, and social media; which is why the high percentages of foreignization are not very surprising. The CSI’s in ‘products’, much like those in ‘foods’, were mostly brand names in DD. Still, the dominant strategy in this category is foreignization instead of domestication. This is probably because Dutch children might be familiar with the brand names through

commercials or social media, as was the case in the category ‘pop culture and celebrities’. The product CSI’s in WK, on the other hand, did not usually include brand names, like those in DD. This is why they were easier to generalize using ‘absolute universalization’ (section 4.1.6) and why there is more domestication for WK in this category.

Finally, the CSI’s in ‘sports and customs’ were translated much like those in the category ‘made-up CSI’. Whereas the translations of WK normally contain considerably more domestication than foreignization, this category is somewhat more balanced (63% vs 37%). The numbers in DD are a little more even in this category as well: 54.4% domestication vs 45.6% foreignization. Section 4.1.7 revealed that the number translation procedures used in this category was the largest, which corresponds to the large number of CSI’s in this category. The pattern found in this category resembles those of the other categories, with a high number of repetitions in DD and naturalizations in WK. Overall, it was established that the categories ‘educational references’ and ‘foods’ contain the most domestication and that ‘pop culture and celebrities’ is the category with the most foreignization. Additionally, the strategy for ‘sports and customs’ is more mixed than in the other categories in both book series. The book series’ strategies for the other three categories, ‘made-up CSI’, ‘locations’, and ‘products’, differ greatly from one another, and will be discussed in more detail in the next section in which a comparative approach will reveal the major differences between the translators’ choice of strategies and procedures.