Abstract:
Abstract The aim of intercultural translation is to communicate. Communication is acted via verbal as well as visual means. The interaction of verbal and visual means of communication makes a set of complex situations which demand special attention in translation. One context in which the interaction of visual and verbal elements gets vital importance is children’s picture books. Color is an integral part of children's books and a visual mode of communication. For the translator, to interpret symbolic colors, cultural knowledge of the source and the target cultures is required. To see how the cultural meaning of colors can be transferred and how the interrelationship of words and colors can be achieved, Nida and De Waard’s (1986) Adaptation Theory was utilized in this study. The theory was applied to eight children’s colored picture books aimed for school-aged children. Six of the books were originally written in English and translated into Persian and two of them were the other way round. The analysis of the data showed that the required features of the above-stated theory was rarely followed by translators and illustrators, and, except in one case, color symbolism was not considered by them. Findings of the study indicate that since visuals are inseparable elements of translating children's picture books, translators/illustrators should be dressed with enough information of visual-cultural aspects of translation in general, and of color symbolism in particular.
Machine summary:
Rainbow of Translation: A semiotic approach to intercultural transfer of colors in children's picture books Firoozeh Mohammadi Hassanabadi, PhD candidate of semiotics and culture studies, University of Tartu, Estonia Arsh_kebriya15@yahoo.
Findings of the study indicate that since visuals are inseparable elements of translating children's picture books, translators/illustrators should be dressed with enough information of visual-cultural aspects of translation in general, and of color symbolism in particular.
47 For the purposes of the present research, symbolic meanings of colors in Persian, American, and New Zealand cultures were analyzed regarding each of the following picture books: The Red Three (Shan Tan, 2001) My Many Colored Days (Theodore Seuss Geisel, 1996) Something Else (Kathryn Cave, 1994) Seven Blind Mice (Ed Young, 1992) Little Blue and Little Yellow (Leo Lionni, 1959) Love You Forever ( Robert Munch, 1986) بزرگراه /bozorg rᾱh/ (Afsaneh Sha’bannejad, 2007) صلح راه /Rᾱh-e Solh/ (MaziyarTehrani, 2004) (See more on the books in Appendix I).
In what follows, the first 4 tables are related to the books translated from English into Persian which have preserved the original source illustrations in the target texts.
Color symbolism in ‘Seven Blind Mice’ {مراجعه شود به فایل جدول الحاقی} Little Blue and Little Yellow Lionni, the author of this book, believes that by using the meaning of colors and their emotive values, the personal differences between individuals are made clear.