[[alternative]]Varying Strategies Used in the Taiwan and Mainland Chinese Translations of the Harry Potter Series Novels

[[abstract]]This study observes the varying strategies used in the Taiwan and Mainland Chinese translations of the first four books of the Harry Potter series. The strategies are discussed drawing upon relevant aspects of translation theory to provide a reference for future translation of literary works. Chapter 1 gives a brief introduction of the Harry Potter series novels and a summary of stories in the first four books, as well as publication information regarding English and Chinese editions (including mainland and Taiwan) of the series. Chapter 2 reviews the theoretical background of the study, and states the perspectives underlying the discussions of the two Chinese editions, including choices between domesticating and foreignizing translation approaches and whether the strategies used echo theories pertaining to translation of children’s literature. Chapter 3 describes strategies in the translation of proper names, Chapter 4 looks at the translation of other nominal terminology in the books, and Chapter 5 discusses the rendering of metalinguistic elements. Chapter 6 summarizes findings of the study and concludes that Taiwan and Mainland translators show different strategy preferences, namely the Taiwan edition prefers domesticating whereas mainland Chinese translators use foreignizing approaches more freely. Greater efforts are used in the Taiwan edition to reproduce effects of the original text and overcome obstacles arising from differences between source and target languages. The Taiwan translation’s use of “artistic license” and creativity produce shorter and more interesting translations of names and terms, making them easy to remember, and convey metalinguistic elements more effectively than the Mainland edition, which can be somewhat inconsistent in its adoption of translation strategy and communicates noticeably fewer connotations and effects of the original text.