In my degree thesis, I will analyze and compare three translations, the direct official translation
and two unofficial fan-made translations, a direct and an indirect one of the Japanese manga
One Piece in terms of the translation methods used to translate culturally specific terms (CSI)
and proper nouns (names and toponyms). The theoretical part of the thesis covers the definition
of manga and the phenomenon of scanslators. The concepts of translation and CSI are also
defined in more detail. In the case of CSI, I categorized them using Newmark’s categorization
(2000), based on the entity they refer to, and Aixela’s categorization (1996) of foreignization
and domestication translation strategies based on the translation strategy used. The theoretical
part also includes the definition of the concepts of proper names (personal names and toponyms),
and an overview of the translation strategies proposed by Vermes (2001) to categorize the
translation strategies used when translating proper names. In the last two chapters, I briefly
introduce the Japanese writing system and its romanization and finally, in the last chapter, I
present the romanization system of Japanese toponyms. The empirical part of the thesis includes
a comparative analysis of the translation of CSI, personal proper names, and toponyms in the
three translations of One Piece. Using the translation strategies and classification described
above, I analyzed the differences between the three translations to determine the general
tendencies in the translation process regarding the conservation or the replacement approach
when translating cultural elements, proper nouns and toponyms.
|
