Lost in Translation: Winnie-the-Pooh in Russian and English

Xenia Tashlitsky

In translations of children’s literature, the balance between conveying the meaning of individual words and the message of the work as a whole often tips towards communicating the spirit and style of the author rather than the word-for-word translation of the text. Zahar Shavit alleges that the literary community does not apply the same standards of accuracy to translations of children’s literature because children’s literature is at the bottom of the literary food chain. However, Riitta Oittinen asserts that the literary community benefits when children’s books are translated in accordance with the cultural context of the reading audience. I would like to argue that we should expand our criteria for evaluating translations to include not only textual accuracy but cultural relevance. In other words, we should ask not only “Is this translation accurate?” but also “Is this translation appropriate for the message of the author in the context of the age, society, and culture of the audience?”

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Published: Wednesday, April 09, 2008