Unlocking New Worlds: An English Translation of Cornelia Funke’s Herr der Diebe

Abstract

Literary translation is a skill, both technical and creative in nature, the end result of which allows readers to have access to and enjoy stories written by authors in different countries around the world. ‘Unlocking New Worlds: An English Translation of Cornelia Funke’s Herr der Diebe’ consists of five sections. Section One examines the types of challenges translators face when rendering a literary work from one language into another, with a particular focus on children’s stories, and also includes a discussion of Cornelia Funke and the source text. Section Two comprises my translation (entitled ‘Master of Thieves’) of 15 chapters from Cornelia Funke’s Herr der Diebe. From my translation of the original German text, I gained a practical insight into the process and issues involved with rendering parts of this novel into English. Section Three details some of the most intriguing problems associated with translating this children’s book: names and titles, explanatory notes, swearwords, illustrations, the use of pronouns, English versus German conventions and idiomatic expressions. Section Four consists of a comparison between the solutions I decided on for my target text and some of those employed by Oliver Latsch in the official English version, The Thief Lord, published by The Chicken House in 2003. Section Five is a summary of my findings. My research revealed that, though many varying opinions exist amongst translation theorists, there is no definitive guide on the ‘rules’ of translation. The features belonging to each individual literary work will determine how a translator might decide to reproduce the author’s original creation in a foreign language, as has been demonstrated by this case study of Cornelia Funke’s Venetian adventure story.