On the Translation of La Fontaine Fairy Tales to Turkish

This study is based on the evaluation of translations which have been done on several fairy tales chosen thematically among the La Fontaine fables. The focus will be on the equality and translation strategies throughout the translations. It will analyse how much translators relied on the original source as well as the level of acceptability and sufficiency of the adaptations made in the translations. As the topics of the fairy tales, The Ant and the Grasshopper is for advising working and being hard working; The cock and the fox is for cunning; The Lion and the Mouse is for cooperation; and the Fox and the Grapes is for blaming greediness for the desired things. As the translations, there will be two studies considered here: that of Sabahattin Eyüboğlu and of Orhan Veli Kanık. In both translations, different translation strategies were detected. It was seen that translation made by Orhan Veli Kanık was more dependent on the original source in terms of form. Though it was satisfactory in this sense, it was seen that the register and the vocabulary choice was challenging for the target audience. Regarding translations made by Sabahattin Eyüboğlu, it was noticed that adaptation, adding, and omission were the mainly used strategies. In terms of register, it was seen to be more appropriate to fairy tales and easier for children to comprehend. As a result, it was seen that translation of fairy tales is not an easy task and no matter how similar it is to the original source, translation includes rewriting and reinterpretation in the target language.

Keywords

La Fontaine, Fable, Fairy Tales, Tanslation, Equality, Translation Strategies