Vaikų literatūros vertimo problemos: J. K. Rowling „Hario Poterio“ serijos veikėjų vardai
The Problems of Translating Children’s Literature: the Case of Translating Characters’ Names in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Series

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with the problems of translating the names of literary characters in children’s literature, namely in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, into other languages, mostly into Lithuanian. Due to the increased popularity and the specific genre of the Harry Potter series the translators face many unique problems. In translating proper names they have a choice of domestication and foreignization (Venuti, 1995). Some translators opt for domesticating the proper names, some are inclined to foreignization, some apply the more or less logical or eclectic mixture of the two. The article analyses the potential problems of all three approaches. As an illustration, the analysis of the Lithuanian translation of J. K. Rowling’s character names is provided. The conclusion of the article is that although the translation of characters’ names should be connected to the local cultural context and therefore creative adaptation of children’s literature to the Lithuanian readers may be desirable, this particular translation is in many cases quite inadequate, which may harm the quality and cultural integrity of translation text as well as its overall reception in Lithuania. The question of whether the proper names of J. K. Rowling’s characters should be translated at all is also raised.

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