Čudnovate zgode šegrta Hlapića: vertalend bruggen bouwen

Up until now there wasn't a Dutch translation of Čudnovate zgode šegrta Hlapića, the famous Croatian book for children, written in the early 1900's by the celebrated author Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić. It tells the universal story of an orphaned boy who is abused by his guardian and decides to escape which leads him on a seven-day journey. This article discusses the translation process and the choices made with a focus on the position of children's literature and its translation within the field of literary translations. In adult literature the goals of the authors are mainly literary, in children's literature the didactic and educational aspect is also included. A translator of children's literature has to take into account the different characteristics and functions of a book written for children which gives more freedom, but can also cause conflicts between the different function of a children's book. The translators of Čudnovate zgode šegrta Hlapića decided to stay as close as possible to the source but to implement adaptations that help the process of identification of the reader and the readability. The main focus of this article is on the translation of the meaningful names of the characters mainly using a naturalising strategy, trying to find a functional equivalent name which has, through sound or emotion, a similar effect as in the source text. Also adaptions in wording and phrasing were needed to bring an early twentieth century book to the twenty first century.