Translating for Children: Responsibility, Dialogue and the Role of the Translator

Translators occupy a privileged position when translating works written for a young audience as they are simultaneously ideal readers and authors of the target texts. The apparently easy task of translating children’s literature relies on the translator’s responsibility to keep the author of the source text and the readership in mind. If we consider children’s literature as an opportunity for young readers to shape their own image of the world and – with reference to youth literature – reflect on their identity, translations can nurture a silent dialogue between the reader and the book during reading. This paper outlines the position of children’s literature in academia and the shared multidisciplinary dimension with translation in order to discuss the value of translations and the role of translators as responsible for nurturing a narrative dialogue with young readers.